"Fuck!" Luca said while trying to stifle a yawn with the back of his right hand. He placed his hand back on his left shoulder, massaging the tender joint. As expected, yesterday’s job had left him more than a little bit sore. He really should have listened to his own advice and refrained from working in such a cramped space. It was too late to do anything but bear the pain, now, anyway.

Luca rolled his shoulder one more time. He couldn’t spend all day worrying about it, anyway. There was work to be done, and appointments to keep. His first wasn’t for a few hours yet, but he needed to get ready. Considering how many renovations were going on around the place, there was more than enough work to keep the town’s tradesmen busy.

A splash of cold water on the face did the trick to get the last of the previous evening’s sleep out of Luca’s mellow green eyes. He grabbed a tube of hair gel from the medicine cabinet and slicked back his inky black locks.

Next to the vanity was a small window that looked out over the front yard. Luca leaned over and peered through the blinds, wedging two slats open with his fingers. There wasn’t much going on yet, which wasn’t much of a surprise for such a small town.

In a way, Luca had lived most of his life in a small town. He grew up in a little, tight-knit community right by the Mississippi. Even though he moved away from home at 18, he ended up living in, more or less, a little tight-knit community right by the Mississippi.

After he finished shaving and brushing his teeth, Luca flashed a grin at his reflection. He was attractive, in that conventional way, and he knew it. Not because he had a good sense of what was attractive and what wasn’t—since his upbringing had made sure to ruin that—but because he’d had more than a few ex-girlfriends and clients who told him so.

Luca traced his fingers along the edge of his muscular jaw to check the smoothness of the shave. It was satisfactory. His right hand continued down along the curve of his neck and over the firm muscle of his chest, thumb grazing the nub of his left nipple.

It was amazing what a proper diet and a little hard work could do. Sometimes, Luca still struggled to believe that this was actually his body. There was a certain sense of awe and accomplishment that washed over him as his fingers brushed over the rock-hard cobbles of his abs. He had been a lanky kid, once, and now he was cut like a marble statue of a Greek god.

Though sheltered growing up, Luca wasn’t naïve. He might have been, once upon a time, but he understood the concept of "sex sells." If he ever wanted to give up being a tradesman, he knew he could probably make a killing being an underwear model, but he didn’t think that was ever something he could do.

Although Luca didn’t think he believed in the same God that his parents believed in, the conservative way they’d brought him up had stuck with him. Intimacy was difficult for him, and even seeing his girlfriends naked was profoundly uncomfortable.

That was where the tight shirts and pants came in. He liked to make an honest living, but with the economy as it was, he needed every last little bit. Wearing tight shirts and pants that kept him covered up but still showed off the goods was a great way to get big tips.

---

Walking down the driveway to his truck, Luca noticed his new next-door neighbor watching him while watering the front lawn. He still remembered the little old lady, Mrs. Gillibrand, that used to live in that house. She’d moved away about two months ago to be with family, and hers was one of the first houses to be renovated for sale in town.

The new neighbor couldn’t have been more different from Mrs. Gillibrand if he wanted. The new guy seemed to be in his mid-thirties, rather tall and quite stocky. The tank top he wore showed off his broad shoulders and thick arms, while his shorts highlighted his muscular thighs.

If Luca remembered correctly, from when the movers had been in, the man was one Mr. Duncan. He’d never really talked to Mrs. Gillibrand, and he hoped that he could have a more amicable relationship with the new neighbor, so he waved and said, "Morning! Mr. Duncan, right? Lawn’s looking great. Used to be, it was pretty spotty when old Mrs. Gillibrand still lived there."

Mr. Duncan chuckled. His steel grey gaze was intense. Luca felt like Mr. Duncan was looking straight into the depths of his soul. "Call me Harold!" said Mr. Duncan. "And thank you. It’s been a bit of a journey to get here, and it still worries me sometimes, but fingers crossed we’re out of reach of disaster. Anyway, good morning to you, too! I don’t think we’ve met, though."

Luca meandered over to the low hedge separating the two properties. Harold met him there and they shook hands. He had time to spare before he had to get to his first appointment. "Luca. Nice to meet you, Harold."

"Nice to meet you, too, Luca," said Harold. His smile was dazzling, teeth all nice and straight in his mouth. Luca didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone with such a perfect smile since moving out here. "Hey, I hope you don’t mind my asking, but I got the impression that you’re some kind of tradesman? What kind of work do you do?"

Luca glanced over his shoulder. His truck was a mess of tools and ladders and buckets. It was no wonder Harold got that particular impression of him. "I don’t mind. Yeah. I am. I mostly do electrical work, but I do all sorts of other things every now and again. I’m actually off to do some work in a little bit."

"Oh," said Harold. The way he smiled made Luca feel strange things. He wasn’t sure he liked it, but he wasn’t sure he didn’t, either. "Well, don’t let me keep you. I don’t have to work until this afternoon so I’m just wasting time this morning."

"It’s alright," said Luca, with a laugh. "I wish I could start work in the afternoons. Anyway, I should probably get going. Have a good day. It was great meeting you, Harold," said Luca.

"Likewise," said Harold. He extended a hand and shook Luca’s, again. Just as Luca was about to pull away, he tightened his grip and said, "Oh, do you think I could get your number? Just in case something needs fixing, or whatever."

"Of course," said Luca. He tried to ignore the weird fluttering in his stomach as he looked into Harold’s steel-grey eyes. He fished a business card out of his shirt pocket and pressed it into Harold’s hand.

Luca swallowed, audibly, and slipped his hand out of Harold’s grip. "Don’t hesitate to call," he said. "I’ll even give you the good neighbor discount. And if it’s not something I can help with, I’ll refer you to one of my other buddies who might be able to help."

"Oh, that’d be great," said Harold. He pocketed the business card and gave Luca a little wave. "Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind. Hope you have a great day, Luca. It really was nice getting in touch."

---

As he drove through the neighborhood, Luca found it difficult to miss how much the little town had changed from just a few years ago. He was relatively new to the place, so he didn’t know much about the people yet, but he knew enough to think it all a bit strange.

Luca had lived long enough with a conspiracy nut to be wary of jumping to conclusions. There had to be a simple explanation for all the changes going on around the place, and he had his suspicions as to what it was.

Like Luca, the people of Sweetbrook, Wisconsin were small-town folk. Luca certainly appreciated the quiet life, but he had no qualms about there being a bit more excitement about town. He could imagine that the other residents probably would.

Fact of the matter was, Sweetbrook was growing. Over the summer, a pretty major company moved in and built an office in the middle of town. It brought with it a good number of new residents and only hired for a dozen or so positions from the community.

That same month, two new stores opened up in town and were the talk of the neighborhood for a good couple of weeks. Before long, Luca knew, probably in less than two or three years, Sweetbrook would be more than just another little nowhere along the Mississippi.

There was a pretty good chance most people saw the writing on the wall, then. Pretty much all the older folk left to be with family from out of town. A few stayed, too stubborn to accept the reality of a modernizing world, but Luca had his doubts they’d be around for too much longer.

Sweetbrook was changing quickly enough that Luca seriously considered leaving, himself. However, he was glad to have stayed. If he was being honest, he felt he’d already had his fair share of moving around. Besides, he didn’t think he could have left in good conscience when his grandparents had willed the property to him.

Younger folk tended to be less willing to move away. Younger men, particularly, were reluctant. Many of Luca’s tradesmen buddies talked about how difficult it would be to set up shop in a new town, and seemed more than willing to ride out all the uncertainty while Sweetbrook was transitioning from being a small town to more than that.

Luca agreed with his friends, there. Times were changing, which meant a lot of uncertainty, but he had his hopes that things would end up better in the long-run. If anything, a bigger town meant more business, and there wasn’t such a thing as enough money for a middle-class tradesman.

A silver car pulling out of a driveway in front of him brought Luca back to reality. He honked his horn, though he tried to not be too much of an asshole about it. A hand waved apologetically out the driver’s side window and he returned the gesture.

Making his way to his first appointment, Luca had to drive through the middle of town. He’d seen the office a few times out of the corner of his eye, but this time he actually wanted to see what the company was called.

"Hierarch Industries," said the letters above the main entrance, as Luca drove past. He’d never heard of it, though it was supposedly a pretty big company. It certainly looked like a place that had a fair bit of money. The new building was nice and clean and sparkly compared to everything else in the immediate vicinity and most of the cars parked in the employee lot looked brand new.

Luca figured the company had its own contacts for electrical work and other such things, but it probably wouldn’t hurt if he dropped by and left his contact information. Business from the company could only be good for his bottom line—even if a tight shirt was unlikely to work as well for getting tips.

There was a chance Luca could drop by just before finishing up for the day. He didn’t catch any office hours on the door as he drove past. Since his last appointment was around the same area as his first, he had an opportunity to drop by on the way home and he hoped the office would still be open by then.

---

It became abundantly clear that Luca’s first appointment would be to a house that had undergone pretty significant renovation the moment he got close enough to see the driveway. A fair amount of material was on the pad of concrete leading up to the garage, including a few planks of wood, bags of cement, and cans of paint.

Luca was familiar with the area, and it was one of the parts of Sweetbrook that had undergone the most change over the past few months. The house he was coming up on, in particular, used to be quite run-down. It actually looked quite presentable, now, and he could only imagine how much it had cost to get the structural issues hammered out and the old siding replaced.

The people moving into Sweetbrook seemed quite affluent, which only served to confirm Luca’s suspicion that Hierarch Industries paid its employees very well. He didn’t have enough experience with the company to know for sure, but if it was true, then Hierarch Industries would prove to be an even bigger boon to the local economy than he’d first thought.

Luca pulled up right in front of the house. There wasn’t enough space on the driveway to park, so he ended up having to line up with the curb. He swung around the back of his truck and picked up his toolbox before making his way up the path to the front door.

As he stood in the shade of the porch while waiting for someone to answer the door, Luca noted the smell of fresh wood stain. Though it wasn’t strong as it could have been, it had to have been rather recent to still be detectable. He guessed a fresh coat had been applied just two or three days ago, judging by how intense the odor was.

Luca was about to ring the doorbell a second time when the front door opened. "Good morning," said the strapping young man on the other side of the door. He was probably around Luca’s age, and not exactly the kind of guy he would have expected to own a house. much less one that had had so much work done to it.

The young man was wearing a tight black tank top that was stretched taut across his broad shoulders. The cotton was relatively thin and soaked through with sweat. The fabric hugged every inch of Derek’s torso and did little to cover up the fact that he had chiseled abs much like Luca’s.

"You must be Luca," said the young man, flashing his teeth as he extended a hand and grinned. He must have just finished working out or at least doing something physically strenuous because there was sweat on his forearms. The young man glanced at his glistening hand, pulled it back, and wiped it on his tight gym shorts. He held it out to Luca again, only marginally drier than the first time.

"Sorry about this," said the young man. Not that he needed to be sorry for anything. Luca didn’t mind a little bit of sweat. In fact, he appreciated someone who knew how to take care of his own body. "I was just working out and kind of lost track of time."

Luca chuckled. He tucked his toolbox under his left arm and shook the young man’s hand. "It’s okay, man," he said. Normally he tried to be professional, but he felt he could be a fair bit more casual around this particular client. "I totally get it. I love to work out, too. At least, when I have the time. I can come back if you need to finish up…"

"No, man, it’s fine. I was just about to finish up, anyway" said the young man. He stood aside and motioned for Luca to enter. "Name’s Derek, by the way. I hope you don’t mind if I call you Luca."

"It’s my name. Might as well use it, right?" said Luca, as he stepped through the threshold after Derek. He really didn’t expect someone so young to have the means to not just buy a house but renovate it pretty spectacularly, too. The interior was impeccable, if still a little bit bare. "Nice place," he said.

"Thanks," said Derek. "You should have seen it before the crew got here. It was a bit of a mess. There was a point I didn’t think it was salvageable, but the guys really came through. It’s a small town, though, so you must know some of them."

"Yeah, I used to see this place all the time. It’s hard to see this and think about what it used to be," said Luca. It was hard not to know the local contractor, especially as a tradesman who was often called in to do some work with them. "Those boys are some of the most hardworking people I know so I’m not surprised they did a great job."

Derek chuckled. "They were hardworking, alright," he said, with a whistle. "You wouldn’t happen to know if any of those boys are single, would you?"

That comment gave Luca pause. Despite his conservative upbringing, he didn’t have anything against gay men. He supported the idea that they should get to marry each other if they wanted to. He’d just never been in the presence of someone so open about it, before.

Come to think of it, Luca didn’t know if any of the boys were single. He didn’t know if any of them were in relationships, either. "Sorry," he said. "Guess I never really paid too much attention." Romantic entanglements had always been more of a private thing for him, and locker-room talk made him uncomfortable so he mostly tuned it out.

Luca could feel Derek’s eyes on him, looking him up and down. He was fairly certain he didn’t swing that way, but like Harold’s smile earlier, looking at Derek made him feel strange things inside. "Are you?" said Derek.

"Yeah," said Luca. The word leaped to his mouth before he could even think of why he was being so forthright about his relationship status. Warmth spreading across his cheeks, he clarified, "But—but I don’t swing that way."

Derek clicked his tongue. "That’s a shame," he said. "I’d love to take you out for dinner some time if you did."

"I appreciate that, but I’ll have to say no," said Luca. He felt as if he’d made a fool of himself. It was embarrassing, to say the least. But if there was a silver lining, it probably meant Derek would tip well if he showed his body off a little.

---

"How much did this all cost?" said Luca, as he was tidying up after himself. The work had ended up going faster than he expected. He’d blocked off an entire hour of the day to attend to the issue Derek had called him about and he’d only used up about half of that time.

The task wasn’t particularly difficult, to begin with, even if it was a bit tedious. Luca was glad that the contractors had left things in a way that made it easy for him to get in, fix things, and get out with little trouble.

Derek was sitting nearby. He’d been there the whole time, just watching Luca work. "It didn’t cost anything," said Derek. Luca raised an eyebrow. It didn’t sound like the guys he knew to do work for free. "Well, it didn’t cost me anything, anyway. Hierarch Industries paid for the renovations."

"Oh," said Luca. He’d never heard of a company going so far for an employee. It must be nice to not have to worry about getting a place to live. He was lucky enough to have his grandparents’ fully-paid off property, but not everyone was so fortunate. "Is Hierarch bankrolling all of the employees’ housing?"

"What can I say? We like to keep our employees happy," said Derek. "The less that they have to worry about things at home, the more dedicated and productive they can be at work."

Luca wiped the sweat from his brow. It was hot inside the house since Derek hadn’t gotten the A/C guys in yet. "Mind if I take this off?" he said, tugging on his button-up shirt. Derek raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. "I thought I’d ask," said Luca, with a grin.

A quiet sigh of relief escaped Luca as he shucked the shirt off. His undershirt was soaked with sweat and left very little to the imagination. A little bit more moisture and the whole damn thing would have been translucent. "Do they also take care of mortgages and taxes? Doesn’t that cost a lot?"

Derek chuckled. "Hierarch Industries pulls in a lot of revenue. The higher-ups just see it as an investment in a more productive, more loyal workforce and I have to say it works. Sorry about the heat again, by the way. Can I get you anything to drink? Cold beer?"

Luca shook his head. "I don’t drink," he said. He hadn’t touched a single drop in his life that he didn’t have to. "But some water would be nice, though…"

The corner of Derek’s mouth quirked into a small smile. He jerked his head over toward the kitchen and Luca followed him there. "Anyway, it must be a nice place to work, then? You probably get a lot of benefits if the company’s willing to go so far," said Luca

"Uh, yeah," said Derek as he went to the fridge. He pulled out a beer and popped the cap off with his thumb. Luca didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone do that before. "It’s a great place to work. Don’t think I’ve got any bottled water. Will some ice and tap water be good?"

"For sure. I wouldn’t want to impose, anyway," said Luca. He gratefully accepted the glass from Derek while the other took a deep swig from his bottle. The water was nice and cold on the way down Luca’s throat—very refreshing. "Tap water around here’s probably the best I’ve ever had, anyway."

Derek grinned. "I bet it is," he said. He was openly staring at Luca as Luca drained the glass. "Hierarch Industries had a hand in that. I didn’t work in that project directly, but I did some of the research leading up to it."

"Wow," said Luca. He never would have pinned Hierarch Industries as having anything to do with the water supply looking at their office building in the middle of town. "I thought you guys would mostly do desk work. Do you get to go out into the field a lot?"

Derek took a moment to respond. "It depends on the kind of project that you’re working on," he said. "Some call for more fieldwork than others. Honestly, I don’t blame you for thinking we mostly do desk jobs. The culture at Hierarch is great, but it can take some getting used to."

Leaning back, Derek barked a laugh. "There was actually a point where I quit the company," he said.

"Why?" Luca raised an eyebrow. Hierarch Industries sounded like it was too good to be true, but if it was true, he couldn’t think of why anyone would want to leave.

"I guess I just couldn’t appreciate the company culture of Hierarch Industries for what it was until I had experience elsewhere," said Derek. He shook his head and chuckled. "I was young and stupid. Watched a couple too many movies with conspiracies and all that shit."

"I figured out that Hierarch Industries wasn’t being completely forthcoming about the project I was working on and I immediately jumped to the worst conclusion," said Derek. Luca could relate to that. His father had been much the same. "Turns out they were just trying to make the world a better place."

Derek sighed and took another swig of his beer. "I even tried to get a journalist to help "expose" Hierarch Industries. I’m just glad that didn’t end up going anywhere. I don’t think I could have lived with the shame if I damaged the company like that."

Luca didn’t even know why Derek was telling him all this, but he was enamored with the story. Particularly, the genuine emotion Derek was telling it with spoke to him. "What brought you back?" he said. Derek looked up at him. "Like, why did you join Hierarch Industries again?"

"I tried working a few other jobs after Hierarch," said Derek. "They were okay, but they lacked a certain something that Hierarch Industries had. I didn’t know what I was taking for granted until I was missing it. So I talked with someone I knew on the inside and he helped me understand the way things were."

Luca took another sip of water. Sweetbrook tap water really was the best after doing some work in the heat. He leaned against the wall and looked at Derek. "I see… That’s good, right? I imagine you’re happy with your job now?"

Derek chuckled and set his beer down on the kitchen counter behind him. "It’s good. Very good," said Derek. "I think you could even say that I feel like I’m finally where I was meant to be."

Luca thought that was maybe a bit much, though he certainly wouldn’t have been complaining had he been in Derek’s shoes. He had to wonder what it was like, living with financial security. He’d never had to feed himself on scraps but his life hadn’t exactly been luxurious either.

Leaning against the wall, Luca tried to ignore the way that Derek was looking him up and down. He didn’t even know why he hadn’t left yet. He felt as if he was waiting for something—only he didn’t know what.

"Tell me something about you," said Derek. His voice startled Luca out of his thoughts. He raised an eyebrow at Derek. "Come on, it’s only fair, isn’t it? I told you about a pretty big part of my life so you should at least tell me something interesting about yours."

Luca couldn’t argue with that. Unsolicited as Derek’s story might have been, he had chosen to stay and listen. He tapped his fingers on his lips for a little bit. There was one big thing that he could talk about, but he wasn’t sure it was the kind of story he should be telling someone new to the neighborhood.

"Aw, come on. It can’t be that hard to think of something interesting that happened in your life," said Derek. He walked up to Luca and placed a hand on Luca’s shoulder. "Come on. Just tell me the first thing that popped into your head. I haven’t given you any reason not to trust me, have I? I promise I won’t tell another soul."

Luca chuckled and pushed Derek away gently. "Okay, alright, I’ll tell you. Jesus," he said. "It’s just… embarrassing, okay? Here goes. My parents were suckered into a cult."

Derek blinked. He made his way back over to the kitchen island. He leaned his elbows against it and said, "Seriously?"

Luca nodded.

"Damn, Luca," said Derek. He laughed. "I wasn’t expecting that. Well, I have to hear about it, now. Like, what kind of cult was it? Was it all ‘end-times are coming, let’s drink the Kool-Aid’ or something like that?"

The topic wasn’t something that Luca liked to talk about, pretty much ever, so he wasn’t entirely sure how to react to Derek’s enthusiasm. "No, no, nothing like that… I think… I never really paid too much attention."

Luca scratched the back of his head and looked down at the tiled floor. The boots he’d been wearing to work for the last couple of years were scuffed and worn. They’d certainly seen better days. "I mostly just did what I was told and followed the rules I was given. Didn’t care for the justification."

The expression on Derek’s face softened. "Ah, shit," he said. "I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make fun of your experiences. I just assumed that it was a short-term thing that they got over quickly since you don’t act like you were too affected by the cult."

"It’s okay," said Luca, rubbing his arm. "And no, it wasn’t a short-term thing. I don’t know if they’re still in it, but they were when I left. I realized when I was fifteen that I needed to get out. The moment I turned 18, I made sure I did."

It was toward the end of his 18th summer that Luca made his escape. By then he’d been working at the local grocery store, and had a friend who was sympathetic to his situation. He figured his grandparents didn’t agree with what his parents were doing because of how much his mother badmouthed them, so he got in contact and was lucky enough that they were more than happy to take him in.

"Honestly, sometimes I still have trouble accepting that it had been a cult," said Luca. Derek was silent, watching him. "It never felt like a cult, but when I look back, that’s the only thing it could have been."

"I’m sorry," said Derek. He reached for his beer and took a swig. He didn’t break eye-contact with Luca for a single second as he did so. "I’m sorry you had to go through that. Would you ever want to reconnect to them?"

"No. Not really," said Luca. The last thing he wanted was his parents’ judgment in his life. They’d done enough damage to him, bringing him up as he had been. All the hang-ups he had about sex could probably be traced back to that tiny little house near the riverbank in Mississippi.

"I bet you were pretty sheltered, growing up," said Derek. Luca said nothing, but that was an answer in and of itself. "Let me ask you a question, then… And I hope you won’t be offended by this… But how do you know you don’t swing this way? Or even both ways?"

"I’ve had girlfriends," said Luca, with a touch more haste than he would have liked. He looked away, tearing his gaze from Derek’s sky-blue eyes. "I’ve slept with women…" he said, though how well he had was another question entirely.

"So what?" said Derek. Luca looked up in surprise as Derek crossed the distance between them, coming so close that he could feel the heat radiating off Derek’s skin. "That doesn’t mean you can’t swing both ways… Or that your body wouldn’t appreciate the touch of a man…"

Luca didn’t know what possessed him, but instead of jerking away when Derek traced the side of his face, he leaned into the touch. The tips of Derek’s fingers made him tingle, leaving trails of heat on his skin as they swept along the curve of his cheek.

"No…" Luca murmured, as Derek’s fingernails grazed his lips. His neck felt hot, the warmth spreading into his cheeks. When he watched Derek lick his lips, he shivered. "I’ve never thought of other guys like that, before… I’ve never had any interest in fooling around or experimenting… I-I’m straight…"

Derek leaned in so close that Luca could feel the heat of his breath ghosting across the sensitive skin of his face. "You’ve got a guy in front of you right now…" Derek murmured. "Why don’t you try thinking about it now? Are you still not interested?"

Luca gulped audibly. He wanted to look away from Derek’s bright blue eyes, but Derek was so close the only other place he could look was Derek’s lips, and they made him feel weird things in the pit of his stomach. He could only wonder how it had come to this. He didn’t even know why he hadn’t already pushed Derek off him already.

"You’re still here… A part of you must want this," said Derek. Out of the corner of his eye, Luca watched the corner of Derek’s lips curl into a smirk. "You can walk away any time you want and I won’t stop you. But if you stay…"

What Luca needed to do was push Derek off him, leave, and never come back. But he didn’t do that. He couldn’t do that. He didn’t have the will to. Derek being so close made it impossible to even begin to contemplate leaving. He felt like he was going to suffocate in all the heat he could feel radiating off him.

"Would it help if I treated it like business?" said Derek, leaning in to whisper the words right against the side of Luca’s face. "Do you do any plumbing work?"

"I-I know a little," Luca stammered. He didn’t know why, but it did help. This, at least, was familiar. "I-I can do minor things but… But Johnson’s the guy to ask about plumbing in Sweetbrook… W-Why do you ask? Is… Is something wrong with the pipes?"

"Just one," said Derek. His fingers hovered over the skin of Luca’s arm as he brought them down to grab Luca by the wrist. A wry grin lingered on Derek’s lips. "It’s a pretty big pipe… And it’s been backed up for weeks. I was hoping that maybe you could help me clear it out… Maybe blast all the gunk out?"

Luca’s breath hitched in his throat as his fingers touched the lump of Derek’s cock for the first time. A strange electric thrill surged up along his hand into his arm, making his heart thump in his chest. "I-I don’t know… I-I don’t have any tools for that right now…"

"That’s okay," said Derek. He pushed his hips into Luca’s hands, forcing Luca’s fingers to form around the obscene outline of his cock in his shorts. "I’m sure you can help out with just your hands… You just have to shake it loose, and it will all come out…"

"Fuck," Luca said, under his breath. He glanced at Derek’s lips and licked his own. He could feel his blood thundering in his ears, his stomach fluttering like there was a horde of butterflies inside. "I-I can try… This is the first time I’m doing this so I can’t promise—"

"Shh…" said Derek, placing his other hand on Luca’s shoulder. "Just do what feels right… But before you start, I think you should get closer to the thick pipe you’re going to be working with…"

Luca gulped as Derek bore down on his shoulder. Derek was strong, and Luca’s legs weren’t exactly at their steadiest. There wasn’t much he could do to resist and before he knew it he was on his knees, pinned between Derek’s crotch and the wall behind him, his hand still pressed up against Derek’s cock by Derek’s iron grip.

A pretty shade of pink blossomed on Luca’s cheeks as he looked up at Derek. "W-What am I supposed to do now?" he said.

The corner of Derek’s mouth twitched. "Take it out," he said, pressing his crotch even harder into the palm of Luca’s hand. "You have to touch it if you want to work on it…"

Heat suffused the exhalation that escaped Luca’s lips. His fingers twitched against the side of Derek’s cock as the grip on his wrist loosened and fell away. Licking his lips, Luca crept his right hand up to the waistband of Derek’s shorts and brought his other to join it.

Luca pulled down on Derek’s shorts. They slid smoothly down Derek’s legs until the waistband caught on the head of Derek’s hard cock. He pulled against the resistance and jumped when Derek’s cock sprang free of its confinement, flinging a single clear strand of pre-cum onto Luca’s face.

The thick member bobbed up and down in front of Luca as he worked Derek’s shorts down to his knees. Luca took a deep breath, unaware that he’d even held it, and let out an involuntary moan. In that first lungful, his nose was suffused with the heady, musky scent of Derek’s manhood.

It was intoxicating. It filled Luca with heat, made his fingers tremble and his head spin. "Go on, touch it," said Derek, and without really thinking too much about what he was doing, Luca did as he was told.

The first time he traced his fingers along the length of Derek’s cock, Luca’s touch was exploratory and tentative. He knew what a cock felt like, in general, because he’d touched himself before. He’d just never touched a cock that was attached to another man’s body before, and he’d never realized just how hot it could feel against his skin.

Luca sucked in a sharp breath as he wrapped his fingers around the girth of Derek’s erection. It was too big for him to close his fingers around, and he could feel it throbbing against his palm. A single bead of glistening pre-cum formed on the tip and dripped off, leaving a single clear strand in its trail.

"Yeah. Just like that. Squeeze a little harder, maybe," said Derek. Luca looked up, face flushing. It felt so weird, so incongruous to who he thought he was. And yet, it also felt so right to be on his knees in front of another man, with another man’s cock in his hands.

Luca tightened his grip on Derek’s member and felt a thrill up his spine at the low, gravelly groan that it elicited from Derek. He didn’t know why this was turning him on so much, only that his own cock was hard against his thigh.

"Now stroke it," said Derek, a harsher edge in his voice than before. It was a command, not a request, delivered with expectation rather than gentleness.

The shift in tone was compelling. The authority in Derek’s voice made Luca’s heart skip a beat. Caught up in it all, he moved his hand slowly up and down Derek’s shaft and shivered at the way that Derek groaned as he did.

Pre-cum trickled from the tip of Derek’s cock, along the underside, and over the back of Luca’s hand. Every stroke smeared the slick, warm slime along the velvety skin of Derek’s throbbing erection and made it glisten in the light.

Looking up, Luca’s gaze caught Derek’s bright blue one as he slid his fingers up and down along the length of his erection. A small smirk graced Derek’s lips, sending a strange thrill down Luca’s spine as he said, "Faster." The quiet moan that escaped Derek’s parted lips elicited an involuntary little gasp from Luca as heat pooled in his stomach.

Luca’s grip tightened around Derek’s cock. The feeling of another man’s throbbing shaft was different from what he felt when he had his own in his hands. As he stroked Derek’s cock, faster as per Derek’s instructions, he felt less like he was pleasuring Derek and more like he was fucking his hand on Derek’s thick member.

Bang. Bang. Luca jumped. He’d felt the wall tremble against his back as Derek slammed his hands against the drywall. "Did I tell you to stop?" Derek hissed. "Keep going. Faster. Harder." Again, his voice carried that edge of expectation, of authority, and it brought a tinge of red to Luca’s cheeks.

Luca was so fucking turned on and he didn’t even know why. He had never lusted after men before, had actively avoided looking at them in what little porn he did end up watching. And yet here he was, hand wrapped around the cock of a guy he’d only just met, palming himself through the denim of his jeans. And yet he was harder now than he had ever been at any point with any of the girls he’d dated before.

Faster. Tighter. Just as Luca was told. He pistoned his hand along Derek’s hard cock and moaned as he rubbed himself through his pants. He felt so hot—like he was burning up from the inside—and the thick, heady scent of Derek’s manhood only served to fan the flames.

Every breath felt like a gulp of liquid sex. It smelled so good and felt so good that every breath seemed to seep into Luca’s head. His mind felt foggy, fuzzy, like what he imagined being drunk or high felt like, and his thoughts, even the simplest ones, felt like they were wading through molasses.

Derek rolled his hips to meet the rhythm of Luca’s hand. Every time he pulled away, Derek did the same. Every time he pumped down, Derek thrust his cock into his fingers. For some twisted reason, that just made it feel so much better.

Tension coiled in the pit of Luca’s stomach. He didn’t know how much more he could take of this. He felt like he was going to explode and just for jerking off a guy he barely even knew. He was just fortunate that it seemed Derek couldn’t take much more, either.

"I-I’m gonna…" Derek grunted.

Luca was staring right down the barrel of the gun. Pre-cum dripped liberally from the tip of Derek’s throbbing cock. Luca’s fingers were like a blur as he stroked it. Faster. Harder. It pulsed and throbbed and swelled in his grip and yet he felt neither the need nor the desire to move out of the way of what was coming.

Derek let out a low, animalistic growl as his cock twitched one last time in Luca’s hand. The world seemed to slow down as the first pearly-white bead of cum formed at the tip of Derek’s cock, as the first thick rope blasted from the thick piece of meat and sailed right for his face.

Hot seed splattered right across Luca’s face. It was thick and hot. It dripped from the bridge of his nose over his cheek. It smelled so intensely of Derek, that Luca felt as if he was going to float away.

Luca moaned, lost in the pleasure of it all, his fingers digging into the denim of his jeans as he rubbed himself through his pants. Lust like wildfire raced through his body, flooding him with liquid bliss as spurt after spurt after spurt of pearly white cum drenched his face.

"You okay?" said Derek, shattering the fragile serenity that Luca had somehow achieved while being cum on.

Luca’s eyes flew open. The realization of what he’d just done, of what he’d let happen to him, hit him like a sack of bricks. Thorny brambles of dread squeezed around his heart as he leaped to his feet. He grabbed his tools and was out the door before Derek could even get another word in.

Everything from Derek’s kitchen to Luca’s car was a blur until he felt the truck rock underneath him from the force of his closing it. He sat in the driver’s seat, unable to move, unable to think, unable to do anything but grip the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

Doing his best to ignore the sticky wetness in the front of his pants, Luca reached up and pulled down the car’s sun visor. His heart was racing, his fingers trembling. He could feel the cum slowly dripping down his face as he bounced his right leg up and down.

There was no point in delaying anything. Luca flipped open the lid on the mirror in the back of the visor. He was soaked. It was in his hair, in his eyelashes, splattered across his forehead, and draped in thick ropes across his nose and cheekbones. There was so much of it that he looked like someone had squirted a whole bag of royal icing all over his face.

The smell of it was so thick and heady it didn’t take long for his truck to smell like filthy, dirty, animalistic sex. Despite what had just happened, despite the alarm he felt, the scent of Derek made Luca hot.

Luca could scarcely even believe it. He’d just jerked off another guy. He’d let a near-total stranger cum on his face. And he’d enjoyed it. He’d gotten so into it he didn’t even notice his own orgasm. He was sure he wasn’t gay and yet he’d just gotten off on pleasuring another man.

A tiny sliver of cum dripped into Luca’s mouth as he took a breath. His thoughts ground to a halt. His arms trembled. It tasted like heaven on his tongue and it felt like fireworks were going off in his head. It took all of his willpower to not scoop up all the cum on his face to shovel it all into his mouth.

Luca wrenched the glove compartment open and pulled out a small hand towel he usually used to wipe sweat off his brow. He buried his face in it and wiped as much of Derek’s cum off him as he could. When he was satisfied, when he couldn’t see any of the thick white stuff on his face anymore, he tossed the towel into the passenger’s seat, as far away from him as he could.

Shaking, Luca leaned his head against the steering wheel. He had no idea what was happening to him, or why he didn’t feel like he needed to run away screaming.

A chirp from his phone did Luca the mercy of sparing him from thinking on the matter any further. His next appointment was due soon and he really couldn’t afford to be freaking out when he got there.

Luca grabbed the water bottle he kept in a cupholder below the console and took a deep swig. It was cool and refreshing. It made him tingle on the way down and helped to settle his nerves, somehow.

Trying his best not to crash, Luca pulled away from the curb and drove off. He had to resist the temptation to slam his foot down on the accelerator to get away from Derek as quickly as possible.

---

The next client was a middle-aged woman looking to make her house attractive to Hierarch Industries buyers. From what he could gather, she was looking to sell as soon as possible so that she could finally move the family to a "warmer" state, whatever that meant.

It wasn’t really until then that Luca learned Hierarch Industries was paying above-market rates for properties in Sweetbrook. It certainly helped put into perspective why people were so willing to jump ship despite having lived in town for probably generations. It also signaled that Hierarch Industries was looking at Sweetbrook as an investment in the future. Whether that would be a good thing or not, only time could tell.

Intrusive thoughts of the past hour of his life led Luca to a beginner mistake. His mind kept flashing back to the sensation of holding Derek’s hot, hard cock in his hands, the feeling of it throbbing right under his fingertips. A short from a botched connection forced him to redo much of what he’d done and set him back a good half hour.

It only went downhill from there. Everywhere he went, the specter of what he’d done with Derek followed him. Fortunately, most of his clients were older folks who’d lived in town, looking to get some last-minute work on their homes done before putting them up for sale.

It wasn’t until around five in the evening, when he was running a good two hours late, that he encountered his next Hierarch Industries employee fresh home from work. He’d already called ahead to his other clients that he wouldn’t be able to make it until the next day.

"Sorry for being so late," said Luca said, stumbling past the threshold into the house. He wasn’t just tired, he was winded, which was a new thing for him. "I got caught up in a job that was harder than it was supposed to be."

"I bet it was," said the client, Alvin, who ducked out the door to look at the darkening sky. "It’s okay. I just got home, anyway."

As Luca was taking off his boots by the entranceway, he took a moment to look at his client. For once, thoughts of Derek didn’t intrude on his thoughts. What was new was the fact that the moment his gaze touched on the high cheekbones, dimples, long lashes, and sorrowful brown eyes on Alvin, he knew he was looking at a drop-dead-gorgeous man.

"What was it you needed to get done again?" said Luca, tearing his gaze away from Alvin’s face. God damn it. He could feel Alvin’s eyes roaming appreciatively up and down his body and he couldn’t even be angry as moments ago he’d been doing the same for Alvin’s tight, lean musculature.

All his life, Luca had lived blissfully unaware of how attractive he was, of how attractive other men were. The only reason he knew which women were hot was because his cock reacted, and in a single day, he’d not only jerked a guy off, he was now ogling another.

"Oh, there seems to be a problem with the wiring in the kitchen. A couple of the wall sockets aren’t providing any power," said Alvin, motioning for Luca to follow him into the house.

As they walked through the living room, Luca had to wonder if being beautiful and successful was a requirement for being hired into Hierarch Industries. It was a dumb idea, a stupid idea in the extreme, considering everything that had happened today, but there was a part of Luca that wanted to know whether he would qualify to work there.

The two crossed into the kitchen, and the sight of it brought back memories of what Luca had allowed Derek to do to him. His cock twitched in his pants, but he tried his best to ignore it. "W-Which ones?" he stammered. Alvin pointed at all the outlets above the counter that ran along the length of the kitchen.

Luca set his toolbox down on the kitchen island and used his multimeter to check the outlets that Alvin had pointed out. "Hm. That’s weird…" he said. "It looks like they should all be working. How did you figure out that they weren’t?"

Alvin walked over to the coffee machine, plugged it in, and switched it on. The LED indicator that it was on didn’t light up, and as far as Luca could tell, nothing was happening, either. "See? It’s not working," said Alvin.

"Okay… Can you show me a socket that you know works?" said Luca. Alvin nodded and motioned for him to follow. He picked up the coffee machine and walked after Alvin into the living room, where Alvin unplugged the television, which had been on. Luca tested the coffee machine with that socket and the result was the same. "I think it’s your coffee machine that has a problem," said Luca.

"Oh," said Alvin. He scratched the back of his head and chuckled under his breath. "Well, don’t I feel stupid for making such a fuss…"

Luca smiled and shook his head. "It’s okay," he said. "It happens all the time." More often than it should, if he was being honest. He was still getting paid, so he didn’t particularly care. And he didn’t feel bad for charging for such nominal "service" since the Hierarch Industries guys were clearly well-off.

"I’ll put this back and I think I’ll be on my way," said Luca, marching back into the kitchen to set the coffee maker back where he’d found it. He walked over to the kitchen island and started putting away his tools.

"There’s a repair shop near the Hierarch Industries office. If you take your coffee maker there and tell them I sent you they should give you a good price, if it’s fixable," said Luca, as Alvin walked in after him.

"Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind," said Alvin.

Luca had time. If he left now, he’d be able to make his next appointment, but he’d already called ahead that he wouldn’t be able to make it and didn’t want to sound unprofessional by saying "Oops, I was wrong, I can come, after all." Considering the day he’d had, though, couldn’t object to the idea of just heading home early.

"Oh, there was one other thing that I hoped you might help me out with," said Alvin, his voice low and sultry. Luca froze, not sure what to make of the situation, his mind flashing back to what he’d done to Derek. "Don’t pretend… I’ve seen the way you look at me…" Alvin drawled.

Luca gulped. Heat blossomed across his cheeks as his mouth and throat ran dry. "I-I need some water," he croaked. Alvin pointed at one of the cupboards behind him. He grabbed a glass, filled it with water from the tap, and guzzled it like his life depended on it.

The glass emptied out so fast that Luca hardly felt the water go down his throat but the refreshing coolness of it helped center him and soothe his frayed nerves. "I-I really have to go," he said. "I was already late for this appointment… And I have a few more to do before I go home tonight…"

"But you barely even took five minutes to diagnose the problem…" said Alvin, his plump lips protruding in a little pout. "Oh… I see the issue… Derek did say you like to think of it as work."

Luca backed away from Alvin as he came around the corner of the kitchen island. The fridge stopped him, the cold metal tips of fridge magnets from all over the world poking him in the back. "Maybe if I put it this way, you’ll be more… receptive…" whispered Alvin, walking two fingers up along the center of Luca’s chest.

"W-What way?" Luca stammered, struggling not to look into Alvin’s smoldering brown eyes. The last thing he needed right now was to be enchanted by another handsome stranger. He was questioning his sexuality enough with just Derek. He didn’t need Alvin to confuse him even more.

"Oh, Mr. Handyman, sir… I’ve got a tight little socket that I think needs a little loosening up…" said Alvin, murmuring the words right up against the side of Luca’s head. "Won’t you give me a hand, Mr. Handyman, sir? I really need to make cream tonight, and I can’t do that without your help!"

"Fuck!" said Luca. He hadn’t meant to say it out loud. "Fuck," he repeated, under his breath. His cock was rock hard and Alvin’s lips were right there. He leaned forward, eyes fluttering closed. He expected to get slapped or pushed away, but that never happened. Instead, he felt fireworks.

Luca was breathless when Alvin pulled away and broke their kiss. He’d never felt anything like that before. It had been hot. Sizzling, even, if he had to find a word to describe what had just happened. He struggled to wrap his mind around the fact that a man, and a stranger, no less, had kissed him better than even his longest girlfriend.

"Does that mean you’ll do it, Mr. Handyman, sir?" said Alvin, the faux innocence in his voice belied by the small smirk playing on his lips. "I’d really appreciate it if you could help me…"

As Alvin looked up at him with those wide, doe-like eyes that made his cock so, so hard, Luca realized he had a chance to leave. If he walked away, right then and there, he could spare his dignity. But his legs wouldn’t move, and he failed to find the will to make them. "F-Fine," he stammered.

Alvin’s demeanor changed immediately. A devilish grin spread across his face as he took Luca by the wrist into the living room. "Lie down on the rug," he said, an edge of authority in his voice not unlike what had been in Derek’s. "That way you’ll have easier access to the socket that needs loosening…"

The will to resist had long since abandoned Luca. He did as he was told, lying flat against the plush rug, which turned out to be rather comfortable. "W-What now?" he said.

Alvin stood with his back to Luca, his legs on either side of Luca’s waist. He unbuckled his belt, unfastened his pants, and pushed them down his legs. He wasn’t wearing any underwear underneath, and from his vantage point on the floor, Luca could see Alvin’s pendulous balls and thick, hard cock swing free of Alvin’s slacks.

Luca’s cock twitched as Alvin got down on all fours. From so close, Alvin’s manly scent was thick in the air, and it only got thicker as he backed up along Luca’s body until his round, muscular ass was hovering right in front of Luca’s face.

Enthralled by the sight of the smooth, taut globes, Luca reached up and brushed his thumb against the hairless pink hole. "That’s it…" said Alvin, voice low and husky. "Maybe use your tongue to ease it open, and then your fingers can do the stretching."

Luca’s first instinct was that he should have been revolted at the suggestion. The idea of shoving his face into another man’s ass-crack was depraved, or at least, that was what his upbringing told him. On the other hand, Alvin’s words had made his cock as hard as a steel rod.

Licking his lips, Luca glommed his hands onto Alvin’s ass cheeks and pulled them apart. They were hot against his palms and firm but pliable. He squeezed, the pressure eliciting a low, sultry moan from Alvin. Holy shit, he thought to himself. Alvin’s ass felt better in his hands than tits.

Mouth dry, Luca used his leverage on Alvin’s ass to shove his face as deep into that manly, musky crack as he could. He moaned, the smell of Alvin’s most private of parts intoxicating to him. Earthy, heady, and slightly sweet. His spine tingled and his cock throbbed as his tongue swirled around and around Alvin’s quivering pucker.

The taste was strange, but not unpleasant. It was earthy, gamy, slightly-salty. It didn’t take long for Luca to get used to it at all, and when he did, he couldn’t get enough of it. He shoved his tongue as deep into Alvin’s hole as he could, swirling it around the inside until he could feel it clenching and unclenching on his tongue.

"That’s it. That’s enough," said Alvin. His voice was hard, his breathing heavy. He reached back over his ass to thread his fingers into Luca’s locks and push him away. "Use your fingers now," he said.

Luca let out a little groan of disappointment as Alvin forced him off his ass, but he felt no desire to object to the command. Alvin’s hole winking right in front of his eyes. He let go of one of Alvin’s ass cheeks and slid two fingers right up to the knuckle.

Luca worked his fingers in and out in a sawing motion. At first, it was a little bit of a tight squeeze but Alvin’s hole became pliable after long. He added a little it of a twist to his thrusting, corkscrewing his fingers in and out of Alvin’s hole, moving them apart and together to stretch Alvin out even more.

Alvin groaned. "Trust a handyman to know how to work a man’s pussy with his fingers…" said Alvin. The words were like a shot of adrenaline to Luca. His heart thumped against his chest, his blood raced, he inserted a third finger and moaned just as loudly as Alvin did.

"Okay. That’s enough of that," said Alvin. Luca pulled his fingers out before Alvin even managed to finish. "Shove your tongue as deep inside me as you can."

Luca let out a little grunt of surprise as Alvin backed all the way onto his face. He could barely get enough air, his nose wedged between Alvin’s thick, muscular ass cheeks as Alvin shook his rump onto his tongue. It didn’t take Luca even half a second to get his tongue stabbing into Alvin’s tight ring.

Reaching up, Luca grabbed hold of Alvin’s hips and pulled down so that he could get even deeper. He swirled his tongue around Alvin’s insides, savoring the strange earthy taste. It felt good. So good. His cock was rock hard and he knew he wasn’t going to last for much longer.

Above Luca, Alvin was trembling and shaking. At first, Luca thought it was because of his tongue, but he quickly realized that Alvin was jerking off on top of him. For some reason, he found the idea extremely arousing.

Alvin rolled his hips, grinding his asshole back onto Luca’s nose and tongue. "Fuck," he grunted, the air filling with wet squelching and slapping sounds as he pounded his fist down the length of his hardness. "I’m gonna cum," he breathed. "I’m gonna cum all over you, Mr. Handyman."

Whether he had objections to the idea, Luca couldn’t voice them. His tongue was so deep inside Alvin he could feel Alvin’s walls squeezing around it. Alvin trembled, his knees drawing tight against Luca’s sides. Alvin’s hole clamped down around Luca’s tongue as the first hot blast of pre-cum splattered all over his shirt.

Alvin tapped his cock on Luca’s chest a few times to clean off the last little dribbles of cum from his piss slit and got back up to his feet. He reached behind him and stuffed a few fingers in his hole, groaning as he fucked them in and out. Luca could only lie there, watching, as his cock twitched and throbbed in his pants.

Eventually, Luca managed to muster the willpower to stand. He reached up, grabbed the edge of the coffee table, and pushed himself up off the ground. His shirt was drenched in Alvin’s cum. The smell of it filled his lungs with every breath. It made his head spin, and his legs weak.

Luca felt like his life was spinning out of his control. In the span of just a few hours, he’d not just jerked another man off, but had shoved his tongue in another man’s ass and enjoyed it.

Numb, Luca stumbled back to the kitchen and retrieved his tools. He staggered out of Alvin’s house and made his way back to his car, barely able to walk in a straight line. Alvin’s thick, heady scent filled his nose and lungs even despite the gentle breeze. He felt so light-headed he thought he was going to pass out.

Luca crawled into the driver’s seat after tossing his tools in the back. He was hard. So hard. Every motion made his cock rub up against his thigh. Every lungful of Alvin’s scent sent waves of pulsing heat through his body.

A gulp of water helped Luca cool down, but not nearly enough. The scent of Alvin, now mingled with the smell of Derek that still lingered in the truck, was intoxicating. He tugged on the collar of his undershirt with one hand, and slipped the other down the front of his pants to squeeze and stroke his cock through his boxer-briefs.

Luca came with a broken, shuddering cry, his forehead resting against the steering wheel. He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, had another sip of water, and took a few deep breaths to steady himself before driving home.

---

When Luca woke the next morning, there was only one word to describe how he felt: horny. His cock was hard, not as hard as it had been while he jerked Derek off, or while he ate Alvin out, but nevertheless harder than any other time he’d woken up in the past few years.

It was inevitable that as he was trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes, Luca’s hand made its way down to that place between his legs. He rubbed over the firm shelf of his pecs, rubbed his fingers along the honed, cut gutters of his abs, and slid them right past the little treasure trail that led to his hard cock.

A quiet moan escaped Luca as he wrapped his fingers around the base of his cock. He was more sensitive than he remembered being. A single stroke up the length of his erection made his back arch off the bed. The rough calluses on his hands sent his cock into sensory overload. It was too much.

A strange new sensation asserted itself as heat pooling in the pit of Luca’s stomach, seeping down through his groin and into his ass. The tingling heat also spread out across his body, but it was concentrated inside of him.

Luca’s hiked his legs apart on instinct, slipping his fingers down between his thighs, his fingernails grazing his balls on their descent. He spread his legs even wider to give himself better access and planted his feet on the bed to push his ass into the air.

A low, guttural sound of need ripped itself from Luca’s throat as his fingers rubbed over his taint. His hole twitched and fluttered, the heat inside of him intensifying with every inch that his hand drew closer to that most private part of him.

As he traced a single finger up along the length of his crack, Luca’s hungry hole seemed to suck it in. He moaned, rubbing the pad of his finger against the sensitive pucker, the coarse callouses sending tiny electric sparks of pleasure up his spine.

For a brief moment, Luca realized what he was doing and recoiled, jerking his hand away from his hole as he clung to the illusion of his heterosexuality. But the heat inside of him was too much, the desire, the need welling in his ass too commanding to ignore. With a loud groan, he stuck his fingers in his mouth and flipped onto his stomach while he sucked on them.

Luca couldn’t believe what he was doing, what he was considering, but there was no stopping the inevitable even if he wanted to—and he didn’t, not really. He planted his knees on the mattress and arched his back, pushing his ass out and into the air as he reached back and rubbed his spit-slicked fingers along his quivering little hole.

A half-delirious moan slipped past Luca’s parted lips as he dug his fingers into his hole. The stretch burned, but it wasn’t as painful as he expected. If anything, the pain accentuated the pleasure that he felt as his fingers pushed past the tight ring of his ass and slid into the velvety heat of his chute.

It was a revelatory moment for Luca, a sudden epiphany of why someone as manly as Alvin had wanted to feel something up his ass. The feeling he got as he eased his fingers into his hole, all the way down to the knuckle, was divine in a way that his words failed to express. And it even traipsed into the realm of rapturous when his fingers inadvertently rubbed up against that button inside of him that tore a strangled gasp out of his throat.

Lost in a haze of lust that made it impossible to think, Luca failed to notice the door to his room opening.

"Luca? Are you alright?" said a familiar voice, sending a jolt of terror and shame up Luca’s spine. Even despite that, he couldn’t muster the willpower to pull his fingers out of his ass. It just felt too good to give up. "Oh. I see. Maybe I should come back later…" said Harold.

"W-What do you need?" Luca stammered, through gritted teeth. He looked to the side, but given the orientation of his bed and the way he was positioned on top of it, he had no hope of seeing Harold standing by the door. "I-I won’t take too long," he said, as a familiar tension coiled in his groin, and another shuddering moan escaped him.

"Actually… I think you might be able to help me as you are right now," said Harold. "You see, there’s this appliance I have that’s been getting on in years and it hasn’t been working as well as it used to. I was hoping that maybe you could help me plug it in and see if there’s anything that can be done about it."

Luca grunted as he shoved a third finger up his ass. He watched as a pair of legs came into view, clad in tight gym shorts stretched over thick thighs.

While Luca watched, Harold grabbed the front of his pants and gave his bulge a shake. "This appliance right here," said Harold. "Maybe I should let you get a feel for it before we plug it in. What do you think?"

Luca let out a little moan. Harold’s presence, the faint trace of his manly scent in the air, spiked the lust and arousal that he was feeling. "Y-Yeah, I think that’s a good idea," he said, licking his lips as Harold hooked his fingers into the waistband of his shorts and pushed them down to release his thick, gorgeous cock.

Harold was bigger than either Derek or Alvin. It bobbed up and down, pulsing as if to the beat of Harold’s heart. A strand of pre-cum clung to the end as Harold shuffled over to stick his cock over the edge of the bed.

Luca reached out for the thick member and wrapped his fingers around it in wonder. It was hot. Firm. Hard. It was everything that a cock should be and more, and having it in his grasp made the heat he felt in his ass, the desperate need to be filled, intensify.

"I-I think it’s working just fine," said Luca, inserting a fourth finger as he knew that three wouldn’t be enough to prepare him for Harold’s thick piece. He moaned, bucking his hips backward, fucking his virgin asshole on his own hand as he spread his hole wider than it had ever been before. "B-But you should plug it in just to be sure… W-What is it supposed to do?"

Harold grinned. He stripped off his shirt and clambered onto the bed behind Luca. His thick fingers dug into the flesh of Luca’s hips as he grabbed hold of him with an iron grip. "It’s supposed to inject cream rather forcefully into a set of eager, greedy buns," said Harold, his thumb stroking along the curve of Luca’s ass.

Luca sucked in a sharp breath as Harold pushed his cock up against his crack. It was so big and so thick and so hot that Luca couldn’t help but shiver at the sensation of it sliding up and down the cleft of his bottom. He didn’t know if he would be able to take such a monster, only that he would be split in half regardless by the sheer size of it.

The last vain attempt of Luca’s mind to hold on to the heterosexuality he’d been so sure of for most of his life was squashed by the sensation of Harold’s blunt cock head pressing up against his hole. Luca moaned, the sound long, low, and keening, as the pressure on his tender entrance built and built and built.

When the resistance of Luca’s body was finally overcome by Harold’s cock, the head slipped in with a wet pop. Luca’s back arched and his fingers curled like claws in the sheets. It hurt like a bitch. He felt like his hole was going to get ripped right in half. And yet he had never felt anything so good or so right in his life before then.

It felt seemed to take forever for Harold to slide all the way to the hilt inside of Luca. Luca felt full. Complete. Stuffed in a profoundly pleasurable way that sent tingles up his spine whenever he felt Harold’s cock twitch inside of him.

The reprieve Luca received to give his hole time to adjust was over before he could process how full he felt. Though the pace was slow, glacial, and torturous at first, it didn’t take long before Harold slid into a full-on rut.

Loud strangled cries of pleasure and yelps and moans and grunts were ripped straight from Luca’s throat as Harold pummeled his tight, once-straight ass into his bed. The fuck was so intense that the frame shook forward and back to the rhythm of Harold’s thrusts.

The wood groaned and creaked underneath the two of them as Harold jackhammered his cock into Luca. As the pain gave way entirely to pleasure, there was nothing Luca could do but hold on for the ride and hope that he wouldn’t get washed away by the intense, rapturous sensations coursing through his body.

The tension coiling in the pit of Luca’s stomach built and built and built until all at once, like a dam bursting, the orgasm ripped through him. Searing hot pleasure like wildfire exploded from Luca’s ass, crashing over his body like wave after wave of blissful oblivion that all melded together into one long orgasm that ebbed and flowed with the spasming of his walls around Harold’s cock.

But the pleasure was still building. Harold hadn’t stopped. He pounded his cock into Luca’s hole with increasing savagery until with an almighty groan the bedframe broke underneath them and Luca felt hot cum like magma flooding his insides.

The one long orgasm that he’d been experiencing shot into a whole other dimension of pleasure and he lost himself to the blank white bliss of it all, his cock forgotten as it splattered the bed underneath him with an amount of cum that paled in comparison to the volume flooding into his guts, making his cut hard stomach round and soft.

---

Luca lugged his toolbox into Derek’s house. It had been a week since the first time they met and he would have been back for the shirt he’d left behind but his Alpha, Harold, had been hoarding him from the other Alphas. It had taken some time for him to adapt to his new role, but he understood his place in the order of things, now, as Harold’s omega.

A small part of Luca couldn’t believe that the catalyst for his life’s dramatic transformation had been in the water all along. If he hadn’t been so insistent on drinking just water, things might have turned out differently. Though now that he thought about it, he didn’t know if he would have wanted things to turn out differently.

Luca had resisted the change at first. At the time, he’d thought that it was wrong, something that he didn’t want, but the more that Harold had fucked him, the more he realized it was what he needed, it was right, it was where he belonged.

Derek was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen with a small smirk as Luca set down the toolbox on the island. He was sexy, wearing just a tight white tank top and a sleek red jockstrap.

Luca was surprised to learn what the relationship between Alpha and omega truly meant, how much latitude he had to determine his way in life. One of the things he’d insisted on was continuing to work, though with Hierarch Industries coming through, there wouldn’t be much use for his skills as an electrician once upgrades to the homes came through.

The rustle of cloth against cloth filled the kitchen as Luca stepped out of his clothes. As he and Harold had agreed, he was going to continue work as usual. He would go around doing jobs for people around town, at least the ones who hadn’t yet received the gift of the Hierarchy, and whenever an Alpha called on him, he would provide his services as a "handyman."

Luca popped open his toolbox and spun it around toward Derek. "Take your pick, sir," he said, eyeing the large purple dildo inside and hoping that Derek would choose that one out of all the sex toys to use.

It wasn’t exactly the life Luca imagined he would lead, but he was happy. He looked at Derek and grinned, the trepidation he’d once felt at so openly admiring another man gone like ashes in the wind.

"I’m here to do whatever you want me to do, sir," said Luca, his heart racing with anticipation for what was to come next.