Naughty Neighbors

Eric

 I was halfway down the Tower.

What if I’m wrong? I’ll never be able to save my love. I clutched the Cristal in my hand tight enough to feel it break skin as the ground came closer and closer.

I closed my eyes and tried to relax, resigning myself to my fate. I reopened my eyes just as I passed through the rocks at the bottom of the Tower. On the other side of the illusion, I was in a room, falling toward the floor. I felt myself slowing as I grew closer, then touched down lightly on the stone. My legs shook. Whether in fear, shock, or relief, I wasn’t sure.

My heart gave a dramatic thump as I heard a rock clatter behind me. When I turned toward the noise, I saw that I was surrounded by total darkness. The only light in the room was a large area around me in a perfect circle. I heard footsteps, skin on stone, as something walked toward me from the pitch black surrounding me. I backed to the edge of the circle of light, looking in the direction of the noise, waiting for whomever it was to come into view. My jaw dropped when I saw him.

He was a child, wearing a burlap sack like a dress.

Surely, this was some kind of trick. This was the Dark Tower, after all.

“Your instincts are sharp,” the child said. “I can see we won’t be able to fool you.”

Could he hear my thoughts?

“We can hear your thoughts. We are The Lingerers in the Dark.”

“I came to the Tower to find—”

“—we know what it is you seek,” a voice said behind me, causing me to jump. “It is our job to make sure you are worthy.”

I skirt around the edge of the circle, keeping the first boy in view as another child, this one a girl, stepped into the light. She, too, wore a burlap sack.

“We are currently judging against you for bringing that creature to the Tower,” said the girl.

“Cretian? She followed me. I didn’t bring her.”

“She is a black creature. You are a white one,” said the boy.

“She could not have passed through the Veil without your assistance,” said the girl.

“But I—”

“There is no point in arguing with us,” said the boy. “We know you are not directly at fault for her presence here.”

“But it is your fault all the same,” said the girl. “If you wish for us to restore the form of your true love, you must prove to us that you are worthy.”

“How? What do I have to do?”

Would they ask me to kill Cretian?

“We know the beast cannot be slain,” said the boy.

“Nor do we wish for our home to stained with its blood,” said the girl.

“Then how—”

“A simple trial,” the boy said. Without meaning to, I huffed in irritation. I was getting sick of them interrupting me. They looked at each other for a moment before returning their gazes to me.

              “Sorry,” I said, knowing they could hear my thoughts. “What’s this trial?”

“You must answer a question,” said the girl.

“If you get it right, we will open the door that will lead you to where you need to go,” said the boy.

“If you get it wrong, we will attack,” said the girl.

I wasn’t fooled by their disguises. Whatever these lingerers are, I knew I’d have a hard time fighting them off.

“If you do not wish to answer the question—” began the boy.

“—you may leave here on your own and find your own path,” finished the girl.

“But be warned. Many of the paths lead to trials far harder than ours and all but one have lingerers to slow you down,” said the boy.

“So choose wisely,” they said in unison.

I had to be careful. Now that my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, I could see that the room I stood in was circular. A quick count told me twelve doors lined the walls, each with a different pattern. If I choose the wrong one, I could walk into a pit of vipers or find myself face-to-face with a manticore. And I doubted very highly that I would be able to return to this room.

“Very well,” I said. “What’s the question?”

“You were bound by time and the strongest of magic, yet your time in the Tower has taken many things from you,” said the girl.

“Yet, they exist within you still,” said the boy, pointing at me, “in your heart.”

“So if you wish to return to the land above—” began the girl.

“—tell us the name of your one true love,” finished the boy.

My skin went cold. I hadn’t been able to remember his name since I stepped foot in the Tower. I gripped the Cristal again, trying to will his soul to whisper his name to me.

After several moments, I realized it was no use. I couldn’t remember.

“What a shame,” the lingerers said in unison. As they continued, their voices changed from child-like to demon-like, gravelly, and dire. “What a damn shame.”

They dropped to their hands and knees, their legs extending. Their eyes rolled back until they were only white and tears of blood flowed from their sockets.

The girl lunged at me and—

***

Eric’s phone began ringing, distracting him from his book. A moment later, he didn’t care when he saw it was Marshall calling him. Smiling, he answered.

“Hey, cutie,” he said to Marshall, putting his bookmark firmly in the spine of The Dark Tower and closing it. He looked out his window and wished he hadn’t. Diego was in his bedroom, shirtless and doing exercises. Eric could see Cassidy sitting on Diego’s bed wearing one of his shirts and an extremely short pair of shorts.

Cassidy and Diego had been hanging out for the last four days since they met on the float trip. Eric knew he should get over Diego, who was obviously straight, especially now that he and Marshall were becoming a thing. He still hadn’t told Diego he was gay. He was worried it’d make things weird between them.

“Hey,” Marshall said, “you still there?”

“W-what?”

“You didn’t hear anything I just said, did you?”

“Nope. Sorry. I got distracted.”

“By what?” Outside, Eric saw Marshall’s Toyota 4Runner pull up. He got out and looked over to Diego’s. “Oh, I see,” he said, looking at Eric through this window.

“Whatever. Just get in the house,” Eric told him before hanging up. The front door opened as he approached and Marshall stood in the doorway, looking at him.

“Hi,” Eric said, smiling.

“Hi,” Marshall said back, then leaned in for a kiss.

“Not here!” Eric said, dodging him. He pulled Marshall farther inside and pushed him up against the door after shutting it, then planted a kiss on Marshall’s lips. Marshall wrapped his arms around Eric and pulled him closer to him, letting his tongue slide into his mouth.

“We have some time before we have to go to Diego’s house,” Eric said, looking at him slyly.

“I know exactly how we should spend it,” Marshall said, retreating into Eric’s living room, pulling Eric along with him.

He pushed Eric down onto the couch and sat on top of him with his legs on either side of Eric’s. Marshall kissed him again, rubbing himself up against Eric who moaned into Marshall’s mouth. They broke apart slightly and Eric stuck out his tongue, wiggling it against Marshall’s.

Marshall moved to Eric’s neck, kissing and licking just above the collarbone, a touchy spot for Eric, before running his tongue up the side of Eric’s neck and onto his ear lobe. As he swirled his tongue over the tissue, Eric moaned.

“You like that, baby?” Marshall whispered in his ear.

“Fuck yes,” Eric said. He was dismayed when Marshall pulled back, until he took his shirt off, then helped Eric out of his. Marshall wasted no time as he began kissing his way down Eric’s chest, stopping at his nipple.

“You want me to lick it?” Marshall said, putting his tongue out but stopping millimeters away from Eric’s nipple.

“Yes,” Eric breathed.

“Tell me.”

“I want it. I want you to lick my nipple. Please,” Eric begged, “don’t make me wait any longer.”

Marshall didn’t. He flicked his tongue over the hard skin, earning a shudder from Eric. Marshall moved his hand down to Eric’s hard cock and rubbed it through his shorts. When he bit down on Eric’s nipple, Eric gave a moan of pleasure and his cock twitched in Marshall’s hand.

Marshall stood up, pulling his hands off Eric, who gave a moan of longing. He looked at Eric’s shorts which poked straight out from his hard cock. Eric pulled his shorts down and kicked them away, exposing his seven-inch, cut dick.

“Get over here,” Marshall commanded, and Eric didn’t hesitate to obey. He had never been with someone as dominant as Marshall, but he’d enjoyed every minute of it.

Marshall looked down at Eric, who was on his knees before him. He often did this, just looking down at him as though he were a king observing one of his subjects. Marshall grabbed a fistful of Eric’s red hair in one hand and his cock in the other. He slapped Eric’s cheek with it a couple times before swirling his precum over the tip. As he pulled his hand away, a string of precum clung to his finger. He put it in Eric’s mouth and smiled as Eric sucked the precum from the digit.

“I want you to choke on my cock,” Marshall said to him. “You want that too, don’t you?”

Eric nodded, but Marshall made a tsk, tsk, tsk sound.

“Say it.”

“I want to choke on your cock. Please, sir, let me choke on it.”

Eric opened his mouth and accepted Marshall’s dick into it. He shoved it all the way back into Eric’s throat, gripping both sides of Eric’s head. Eric was a master deep throater, so he could easily get face fucked without choking, but he knew Marshall liked it so he made gagging sounds every time Marshall thrust.

Marshall groaned in pleasure as his cock slid in and out of Eric’s throat.

Marshall pulled himself completely out of Eric’s mouth and looked down at him hungrily.

“Go to the couch and take off those fucking shorts.”

“Yes, sir,” Eric said, hastening to obey. He dropped his shorts and kicked them over to where Marshall’s lay. He was about to ask Marshall what position he wanted him in when Marshall appeared behind him and bent him forward then pushed him onto the couch so his knees were on the cushions and his hands were on the back.

Marshall got down on his knees behind Eric and spread his cheeks aside.

“I love your fucking hole,” Marshall said as he admired the pink opening. Then, he put his face in between Eric’s cheeks, and dug his tongue into Eric’s asshole. Eric moaned in pleasure as Marshall’s tongue slid over his hole, periodically entering and rooting around. Marshall reached between Eric’s legs and stroked his cock as he ate his ass out. He pulled back and inserted a finger into Eric’s now slick hole, finding his prostate and rubbing it, causing Eric to shudder.

“Oh, that feels so fucking good,” Eric said, rocking himself backward, begging Marshall to dig his finger in deeper. Marshall obliged, but only after adding a second finger.

Marshall pulled his fingers out, causing Eric to look back sadly.

“No, please don’t stop,” he begged.

“Calm down. I’m just getting the lube,” he said, looking at Eric. Before he moved, he stuck his fingers—the ones that had been in Eric’s ass—into his mouth and looked very pleased when Eric sucked them clean.

Marshall pulled open the drawer in the end table and pulled out a small bottle of lube, then applied it liberally to his fingers. He put one knee on the couch and got close to Eric, almost face-to-face. He ran his slick fingers up and down Eric’s crack twice before plunging three fingers into his ass, all the way down to the knuckles. He worked his fingers in and out, causing Eric to moan as they kept their eyes locked.

“Yes, baby, finger my ass, it feels so good!” Eric moaned. Marshall wrapped a hand around Eric’s throat and squeezed. In seconds, Eric started to feel lightheaded, but in a good way. Marshall found Eric’s prostate again and started to massage it, sending wave after wave of euphoric pleasure radiating through Eric’s body.

“I can’t take any more of this,” Eric said. “I need your cock in me.”

Marshall pulled his fingers from Eric’s hole.

“Beg.”

“Please, sir,” Eric begged, “please fuck me. I want your cock inside me. I’m begging you to fuck me like the little slut I am.”

“Good boy.” Marshall stood behind Eric and slathered his cock with lube. Without giving warning, he slipped his cock into Eric’s ass, all the way down to the balls. Eric moaned in ecstasy, thankful he’d stretched his hole out before Marshall had arrived. This would have hurt otherwise. Eric started abusing Eric’s hole, thrusting in and out, enjoying the sound of their skin slapping together. He reached around and grabbed Eric’s cock with his slicked hand and worked it furiously, twisting each time his hand got to the head.

“Oh yes, fuck me!” Eric moaned.

“Tell me you like it,” Marshall said, grabbing Eric by the throat and pulling him so his back was pressing against Marshall’s chest.

“I love it so much. It feels so fucking good. You have an amazing cock! It’s pushing me…over the edge.” Eric could feel his orgasm coming on and he knew Marshall could tell as well.

“I want you to cum for me, slut.”

Eric felt his balls tense up and, as the orgasm built, he squeezed his ass around Marshall’s cock, then shot thick ropes of cum onto his couch.

“What the?!”

The shout from the door made Marshall stop and both he and Eric looked to see Diego standing in the doorway of Eric’s living room, looking right at them. He and Eric made eye contact, and Diego scrambled.

“I am sorry for the intruding!” he shouted, covering his eyes and backing away, bumping into the wall. One of the pictures hanging there fell and the glass shattered. He finally found his way to the hall and Eric heard the door slam behind him.

“Oh, fuck, I’m cumming!” Marshall said, still fucking Eric. A moment later, Marshall slammed his cock deep into Eric and exploded inside him, filling him with his seed.

“You didn’t stop when he came in.” Eric said. It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

“Sorry. Getting caught is so hot. I couldn’t stop.” Marshall pulled Eric into a hug, his cock still in his ass. “Are you mad?”

“No,” Eric told him. “We should probably go talk to him. Let’s get cleaned up.”

***

Diego

Eric’s door slammed behind Diego and he ran over to his house, ignoring Cassidy as she asked him what was wrong, and retreating into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

“Diego?” she said, knocking on the door.

“I am okay,” he told her. “I think game night is cancelled. You should go home. I will call you later.”

“Did I do something?”

“No, of course not, mi amor, you are wonderful.”

“O-okay. I’ll see you later.”

Diego threw himself onto his toilet, ripping his pants down. His cock was hard in seconds and he started working the shaft, the picture of Eric getting fucked by Marshall and of shooting his load all over the place fresh in his mind. He spit onto his hand to make it slick and imagined he had been fucking Eric instead. He groaned as he slid his hand up and down, up and down, swirling his finger over the tip when precum had started to seep out of the slit.

It didn’t take long for him to cum. He scooted back on the seat, aimed his dick down into the bowl, and shot his load into the water, groaning in pleasure.

When he’d finished in the bathroom, he went out to his living room, thinking.

Eric was having sex with a man. Did this make him gay? Diego remembered the woman at the supermarket. Maybe Eric was bi?

Why hadn’t he told Diego? Did he think Diego was homophobic? Surely, he knew Diego was bisexual. Although Diego couldn’t remember telling Eric he was bi.

He waited in his living room, hoping Eric would come over or text. After a half hour, he started to think it would never happen, until a knock sounded on his door. He got up and answered it.

It was Eric.

“Hey,” Eric said, “can I come in?”

In answer, Diego stepped back from the door and let Eric in, and he went straight through to Diego’s living room, Diego following closely behind him.

Eric opened his mouth to speak, but Diego started speaking first.

“Eric, I am so sorry for the barging into your house. I had no suspicions that you were doing the sex with Marshall. If I had known you were into guys—” Diego wanted to say that he and Eric would have been doing the sex together instead of him and Marshall. Instead, he finished, “—I would have knocked.”

“Wait, so you’re not mad?”

“Mad? Why would I be mad?”

“Because I didn’t tell you that I’m gay.”

“I am confused, but not angry. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know,” Eric said. “There were lots of reasons. At first, it was because I didn’t know how you’d react. Then when we started hanging out with Marshall, I knew you weren’t homophobic, but I’ve never had a friendship like ours. We’re so close and I didn’t want it to change anything, and—” Eric stopped talking when Diego stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him.

“It will change nothing between us,” Diego said, pulling back but keeping his hands on Eric’s shoulders. “Eric, I am bisexual. I think that it is good you are with Marshall. He is very nice and quite handsome. Nothing will change in our friendship.”

Diego felt his stomach drop a little at his words. In truth, he wanted things to change between him and Eric. Now that he knew Eric was into men, he wanted to pull Eric into his bedroom, rip off their clothes, and fuck him until he couldn’t remember his own name.

“And Cassidy is pretty great, too,” Eric said.

“Yes, I suppose so. She is pretty, but if I’m being honest, she’s a bit boring. I don’t really see it going anywhere. I prefer guys anyway.”

“Well, I’m glad we cleared the air. I told Marshall I’d call him once we’d spoken. I’ll see you later, Diego.”

“Yes, of course. Goodbye.”

***

Eric

As he crossed the street back to his house, Eric felt a sour pit form in his stomach.

Nothing will change in our friendship.

Diego’s words bounced around in Eric’s mind. He liked Marshall, and loved getting fucked by Marshall, but Eric really wanted Diego. Eric cursed himself as he closed his front door behind him. If only he had been honest with Diego from the beginning. Maybe they could have skipped all this bullshit and they could be together right now.

Still, Marshall hadn’t done anything wrong. On the contrary, Marshall had been treating him really well. If Diego didn’t want anything in their friendship to change, Eric wouldn’t force it.

He pulled out his phone, pulled up Marshall’s number, and hit Call.