Active Duty: Gay Military Erotic Romance (9 page)

Mike didn’t ask whether the cane and Danny’s limp had been part of that. It wasn’t something he usually mentioned, though he was always at least a little aware of it when they were together. So long after the accident, compensating where Danny needed him to was almost as much second nature for him as it was for Danny. “He doesn’t have any jackets with elbow patches. Or geek slogan T-shirts.”

Freddie made a noise that could have meant almost anything to someone who hadn’t bunked with him for two years. Since Mike had, he knew what that noise meant. “You’re picturing him without a shirt right now, aren’t you?”

Freddie’s head appeared over the side of his bunk, upside down and only faintly repentant around his dark eyes. “He’s built, for an academic.”

Mike blinked. It didn’t do a great deal for the sudden image of Danny and Freddie together. Freddie was tanned, like Mike, in sharp contrast to Danny’s pale skin and freckles, and had a good foot of height on Danny. They’d look good together, Mike thought, Freddie on his knees sucking Danny off, Danny’s hands trying and failing to grip Freddie’s even-shorter-than-regulation dark hair while Freddie’s eyes went nearly black with how turned on he was. Or, even better, Freddie prepping Danny for Mike’s cock. Freddie didn’t have the kind of overt muscles that some military guys had, but there was a sort of clean definition to his body regardless. When he wasn’t wearing any clothes, it made every movement very compelling. When he wasn’t wearing any clothes and was working Danny open… “Huh,” Mike said intelligently.

Danny would love getting a blow job from Freddie, who had possibly the best mouth of anyone Mike had done that with. Mike stuck himself into the fantasy, curled behind Danny where he was sitting on the bed, rubbing his dick against the small of Danny’s back, smudging precome over the smooth skin there as Danny gasped and Freddie did that thing with his tongue that had made Mike’s vision go fuzzy, the first time Freddie had done it.

Freddie cleared his throat very pointedly. “You want me to give you a minute?”

When Mike looked up, Freddie was checking out the bulge in his pants. “No,” Mike said, letting his hand drift down to rest against his semi-hard dick. “I want you to give me a hand with this.”

“Jesus,” Freddie groaned, not looking away. “I don’t know
whether I’m more bothered by your terrible lines or by the fact that you’re trying to get me into your bed after spending a week fucking your hot friend.”

Mike very carefully didn’t tease—Freddie had the worst luck with men, something that he preferred to talk about only when he was very drunk. “Which one is more likely to help persuade you to get me off?”

“Well, when you put it that way…” Freddie rolled his eyes, but he did it while he was swinging down into Mike’s bunk, so Mike didn’t call him on it. “You want me to suck you off?” Freddie asked.

Mike’s dick twitched in his uniform pants. “Will you do it on your knees?”

Freddie didn’t answer, just slid down to his knees and reached for Mike’s fly. Mike patted his head a little, but the angle was awkward. “Hold on.”

Freddie leaned backward, one hand on the floor behind him. It pushed his hips up, distracting Mike for a moment. He really was hot, especially on his knees in his uniform. Mike dropped his left foot to the floor, giving Freddie room to get his hands onto Mike’s thighs, ducking his head to breathe warmly over Mike’s cock.

Mike made a low noise in the back of his throat, resting his hand on the back of Freddie’s head again. “That’s nice.”

Freddie huffed a low laugh. “Gonna be better than nice,” he promised, and pulled Mike’s cock out of his underwear. His hand was dry and cool on Mike. “You got a condom?”

Mike blinked, swallowed down the first words in his head, that he’d used them all up with Danny. It was true, but not exactly tactful. “Do you?”

“No.” Freddie huffed out a breath that did approximately nothing for how turned on Mike was. “Maybe I could—”
Freddie pushed into a crouch like he was meaning to stand.

Before he could, Mike caught his shoulder, tugging. Freddie half-caught himself on the edge of Mike’s bunk, then, when Mike tugged again, tipped forward to sprawl over him. Both of them groaned at the press of their bodies together, and Mike took advantage of their new proximity to kiss Freddie, putting a little teeth into it so that Freddie gasped. “Take your pants off.”

“Yes, sir.” Freddie pushed himself up, only just avoiding hitting his head on the underside of the top bunk. “Um.”

Mike laughed a little, pressing another kiss to Freddie’s neck so he wouldn’t be offended. “Maybe let me do it.”

Freddie shifted his weight until he was in something more like a push-up. Mike took a moment to just admire how he looked doing it, before fumbling at Freddie’s pants. He was already hard, maybe from talking about Danny, maybe from being on his knees for Mike.

“Gonna hold that position?”

“Hell, no.” Freddie dropped out of the push-up, but carefully, so his full weight didn’t land on Mike. “Now what?”

Mike didn’t bother to answer, just got his hand around both their cocks, stroking firmly. “Yeah?”

Freddie snuggled closer, mouthing at Mike’s neck above the collar of his shirt. “Yeah.”

The first few strokes weren’t quite right, too dry, but getting off on a ship full of people meant learning how to do it quickly. It didn’t take long before they were leaking against each other, Mike’s hand slick as he worked both of them. Freddie rolled his hips into their hands, his breath huffing against Mike’s neck. Mike was pretty sure they were going to regret doing this while fully dressed, but he was equally sure that he didn’t really care.

“You close?”

“Yeah,” Freddie said, sounding almost sleepy. “Yeah, close.” Mike squeezed, gasping a little at how good it felt, Freddie’s dick against his. Even with Freddie’s words, the first pulse of come over his fingers was a surprise, warm and slick and—“Fuck,” he groaned against Freddie’s hair as his own orgasm washed over him like an echo of Freddie’s.

Unfortunately, he’d been right: hot and sticky was great for about thirty seconds, and then he was mostly dressed with come on his pants and the blanket scratchy against his bare skin. “Ugh.”

“Yeah, that’s what a guy wants to hear,” Freddie said, but he was already climbing to his feet and reaching for a towel. “Come on, before the others rock up.”

“So much for the moment,” Mike grumbled, swinging his right foot down to join his left, but he was smiling, and the thought of sailing away from Danny wasn’t as bad as it had been.

Still on 4 Pride?
Mike texted Danny, while trying to come up with a way to explain in the report how his team had ended up nearly drowning during an exercise.

It took Danny fifty-three minutes to text back, which probably meant he’d been in class.
Yes, if you promise not to wear your uniform.
Mike only rolled his eyes a little bit at the way Danny always texted in full, perfectly grammatical sentences, which Danny said was on account of being in academia, and Mike said was on account of not being able to figure out the acronyms.

U think im hot in my uniform.
At least, Mike assumed that was why Danny’d talked him into having sex while wearing it. The buttons against Danny’s bare skin couldn’t have been comfortable.

Why do you think I’m making you promise?

Mike hesitated, turning the phone end over end twice. On his screen, the cursor blinked a reminder that he was supposed to be finishing the damn report, not engaging in fairly pornographic fantasies of his two closest friends.
Thought id ask Freddie if he wants 2 come w/,
he texted eventually. That was probably vague enough.

Tell me what you’re planning before I say yes or no
.

Or not. Danny knew him way too well not to be suspicious.

U’ll like him, he’ll like u
, Mike sent. Then, in case Danny somehow got the wrong idea,
I like both of u.

The pause was long enough after that for Mike to check the clock, wondering if Danny could have gone back into class already. No, it was three thirty, and he finished early on Thursdays.

You are exactly what the conservatives were worried about when the repeal went through,
Danny texted back eventually, with a smiling face to take the sting out of the remark. Mike was pretty sure the conservatives had actually been worried about gay soldiers seducing their straight teammates over to the rainbow side, but thinking about that stuff still made his heart ache.
Ask me again when I’ve met him.

Mike sent back his own smiling face, knowing the sound of Danny capitulating, even if it was just in a text message.

“So, tell me again why I’m here.” Freddie frowned at the crowds of people, the rainbow flags and glitter adorning every available surface. The noise was more than Mike could ever remember at Pride, shouting and music and those damn noise-makers going off in his ear, but the contact high he was pretty sure he was getting just by walking down the street made it a lot
less painful than it could have been. “The decorating scheme could use a little work.”

Mike stopped and stared, as much as he could in the crowd. It wasn’t like he never saw Freddie out of his uniform, but he still got a weird little jolt of surprise every time he looked at Freddie. Which may, in fairness, have been because Freddie was wearing a very tight pair of dark blue jeans, the kind that showed off every line and curve. Of course, because he was Freddie, he was wearing a checked shirt over a loose white T-shirt and his uniform boots, but the jeans were a pretty good concession to the event. Mike was probably embodying the stereotypes enough for the both of them, in well-fitted black pants and a tight white T-shirt, hair gelled like he never bothered on ship. “I can’t tell if that comment makes you so incredibly gay you should bleed rainbows, or if it makes you the least gay person I know. Who doesn’t like rainbows and glitter?”

Freddie shrugged, hunching slightly like that would help him hide in the post-parade chaos, awkward being out in the gay community in a way that he wasn’t on the ship. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been asked to have a personal opinion one way or the other.”

“Yeah, well—” Mike caught Freddie’s arm, finally spotting the bar Danny had said to meet at. Trust the Navy to run late the one time he had somewhere to be; he couldn’t believe he’d missed the parade, it was the best part of Pride. “I’m asking you to have one now, and it had better be that you want to get naked and drape yourself in them.”

“I don’t think ‘drape’ is the right verb for glitter,” Freddie said, mock-seriously. “Also, if I’m naked, it’s going to get in some damn awkward places.”

“Rainbow tattoos,” Mike told him. “More than one, and glitter nail polish. Even on your toes.”

Freddie pressed too close, arms going tight around Mike’s waist, pulling him back against Freddie’s solid body. Mike tipped his head up without thinking about it, his breath coming short. Even lost in the crowd, made anonymous by all the people around them, this felt dangerous and obvious, sending a burst of arousal through his veins. “I’ve always been more of a glitter eye shadow person,” Freddie said, close enough for Mike to feel his breath. “But whatever works for you.”

“That”—Mike cleared his throat—“That really, really works for me.”

Freddie stepped away before Mike could say anything else. His grin was smug and pleased, and Mike had no idea why so many good guys overlooked Freddie when he looked like that. “Buy me some, and I’ll wear it to the company Christmas party. Come on, your friend will be wondering where we are.”

“So, he’s the bunk-mate,” Danny said, when Freddie excused himself to use the men’s room.

Mike glanced in the direction Freddie had gone, though there were way too many people to see him. He figured Danny had picked the bar for its selection of microbrews, or maybe because the chairs actually had backs he could lean into. Either that or he’d picked it because there wasn’t a twelve-song club mix playing loud enough to do permanent damage. He sure as hell hadn’t picked it for the quiet, not with what felt like half the gay men of San Francisco packed in with them, all trying to communicate by yelling, and an occasional holler.

“He’s the bunk-mate,” Mike agreed, leaning in so he didn’t have to join the general shouting.

Danny made a small, considering noise that Mike could barely hear. He and Freddie had eyed each other suspiciously for the first ten minutes after Mike introduced them. It had
been just long enough for Mike to decide this had been a huge mistake, and that he likely wasn’t going to be getting any sex at all tonight, let alone sex of the hot threesome variety. Then Danny had mentioned his freshman engineering class, and Freddie had said something about working in his father’s garage as a teenager, and that had been the end of Mike’s involvement in the conversation as they geeked out over cars and engines like the total nerds they both were.

“Taller than I thought he’d be.”

“I showed you a picture.”

“Taller in person, then.” Danny shrugged. “I like him.”

“Told you so.”

Danny kicked his ankle. “Don’t be smug, it doesn’t suit you.”

“I brought you home the best present ever; I deserve to be a little bit smug.”

Danny’s expression went weird, somewhere between charmed and faintly irritated, with something else mixed in that Mike found hard to read. Danny reached over, one hand covering Mike’s. Mike couldn’t quite make himself hold Danny’s hand; he held Danny’s gaze instead, waiting. “You’ll always be the best present I can have,” Danny said, completely serious. “You don’t ever have to bring anything else.”