MITCH watched surreptitiously as Will ran a hand through his dark hair.  It was a familiar gesture of his, he used it to play for time.  Mitch knew he’d be weighing up whether Mitch’s comments needed a reply.  He’d already announced that he’d cook dinner that night, but he also had some planning papers to catch up on later.  And they still had to find time for each other; Mitch had plenty of plans for that and he suspected Will had a few of his own.  Will liked to play – Mitch knew that, as well – but he also treasured his leisure time.  Will’s opinion would be that the evening was too short to surrender to blatant curiosity.

But Mitch knew he’d make him surrender, regardless.

Will frowned at him, as if he suspected he was being out-maneuvered.  “What book’s that?”

Mitch smiled a victory smile to himself.  “Twenty Tips to Hotter Sex,” he murmured.  His fingers stroked gently at the surprisingly slim volume, covered in lurid red binding.  He ran his eyes over what must have been about chapter six, but he managed to glance over his shoulder, too, concentrating on Will’s reactions.  Will was watching him closely.  Mitch often teased the tip of his tongue between his teeth when he read – he did the same thing, now, but deliberately.

 He knew how much Will liked to watch that sexy little gesture.

“So why the hell are you reading that?”

Mitch smirked, rolling gently on his belly to peer down at the book again.  “Call it what you like.  Research.  Personal development.  The shameless quest for scientific porn.”

“Beats surfing the net for it,” grunted Will.  It was an ongoing joke between them; Mitch worked in IT and spent a disproportionate part of the day – and sometimes the nights – on the internet, including remote access to his work’s server.  He worked hard, and maybe that was why he partied so hard as well, once he was free of it.  Personally, he’d never bothered looking for reasons, though plenty of guys in the past had tried to tell him what they did – and didn’t – like about his lifestyle.  Will had never done that.  Admittedly, Will refused to let him go online when he came around but – surprisingly, even to himself – Mitch had accepted that so far.  Okay, so it helped that he was freelance and could flex his hours of working, but that still meant a certain degree of compromise on his part.

Mitch had never minded compromise, so long as it brought rewards.

“Whatever.  Don’t get paranoid, Will, but this chapter is particularly fascinating.”

Will grimaced, as if he refused to rise to such pathetic bait.  But he still did.  “Which chapter?”

Mitch teased casually at the edge of a page.  “On concurrent orgasm.  On coming together.  On -”

“I know what it means!” Will snapped.

Mitch nodded, scratched lazily at the top of his left thigh, and smirked again. 

The room felt too damned hot, though in all honesty, Will knew the central heating was rarely at a comfortable level when Mitch was around. 

“We do.  Don’t we?  Sometimes.”  He glared at the back of Mitch’s head, where his companion pored back over the book.  The page flipping was way too casual to be… casual.  Will couldn’t believe he was even having this conversation.  Why on earth should he feel the need to discuss performance targets for their sex life at all?

Privately, he answered his own question.  His eyes raked over Mitch, from the soft-haired skin at the nape of the man’s neck down to the small of his back, where the dip into his shorts promised destination at the tight curves of his ass.  The material had creased up under his left buttock, showing the muscled line of his thigh.

Yes, thought Will.  Their sex life was always a ripe topic for discussion.

“Sure, sure we do,” Mitch was answering.  “Told you not to get paranoid.”  His head turned to the side so that Will could see his tongue dart out and lick around his lips as if they were dry.  Now they were wet, and Will couldn’t take his eyes off them.  It was like that thing Mitch did with his teeth and the tip of his tongue… The newspaper sagged in Will’s grip, neglected now. 

“But there’s nothing wrong with getting there more often, is there?”  Mitch sighed in a careless way that didn’t fool Will for a second.  “Hey, don’t get me wrong, I know I get way too excited - I’m usually first.  Can’t hold it back!  I just get that tingle up my thighs - that feeling of a hot, clenched fist in my groin…“

Your head goes back, thought Will.  Your eyes close, but just half way.  There’s that certain kind of strangled gasp you give that tells me I’ve hit the spot JUST right…

He clutched at the newspaper.  Couldn’t remember what they were meant to be having for supper.  Struggled to recall whether he’d been asked a question, or been answering one.

“That’s just in the movies - in fiction,” he muttered.  “Everyone has different reaction times, that’s all.”  He was amazed his voice still sounded calm.  “I like to savor it.”

Mitch grinned broadly.  He rolled over on the floor, on to his back so that he gazed up at the other man.  He bent one leg up and stretched it out to the side, as if he exercised a lazy muscle.  He put his hands behind his head and sighed again, more loudly.

Will was watching him, eyes never wavering.  Mitch’s nude torso… legs slim and long, with bare, bony feet.  When he sighed and lifted his arms like that, the muscles on his belly shivered, tight and smooth.  Will exhaled gently and shifted awkwardly on his seat - he felt the joints of his shoulders start to knot up with the tension.