One Mississippi

This story is fictional and intended for adults only.

Copyright, Boy Mercury X, 2024.

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ONE MISSISSIPPI

Ethan puffed his cheeks like a blowfish and ducked his head into the water, clearing Alec's view of the pool bros. By instinct he held his own breath while Ethan was under. A high school swim champion, he could hold his breath a long time. It felt like for his whole life.

The bros had arrived that morning, three of them, swaggering onto the pool deck in their street clothes. They settled into a corner of the pool, claimed the nearest lounge mattresses as theirs, and stripped, poolside, out of the board shorts, cut off t-shirts and chunky sneakers. They were each athletic and in the thick of their young adult testosterone high, thick necked as young bulls, with rounded asses pulling their swimsuits taut.

After calling out for pitchers of beer to the bar staff they cannonballed into the pool, mindless of the hotel guests they splashed. They swam in long athletic strokes from one side of the pool to the other. When their pitchers arrived, they hoisted themselves out of the pool on their muscular arms to wolf whistle at the bar girl who delivered them. As they drank, they ogled the bikini clad daughters of older hotel guests and the girlfriends of the younger, licking the froth from their lips.

Afterwards they rubbed tanning lotion onto their own heaving limbs and chests and onto each other - "Get my back, bro." Then they lay on their shared poolside mattress, mindlessly resting against each other like drowsing lions, nodding off between turns from one side to the other to tan evenly.

Ethan sprang up through the surface of the pool, snapping Alec to attention.

"Did you see?" he gasped, breathlessly. "A whole minute!"

"What?" Alec asked, refocusing. "Held your breath? No. No. No,"

"I counted!" Ethan replied, incredulous.

"Show me how."

"Onetwothreefour..."

"No," Alec laughed, and Ethan frowned.

"Buddy, look," Alec explained. "Here's how you do it. Count like this: one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi. That's how you pace yourself, when... When there's something you're in a big rush to do."

"Like breathing," Ethan replied, nodding.

Alec stole a glance at the pool bros as one rose up on his muscular arms, triceps swelling, and then flopped back down onto his side, between his buddies

"Like breathing," Alec sighed.

He heard a buzzing sound he knew well, but it seemed distant and remote, so he ignored it.

A moment later it buzzed again, and Ethan asked "Alec?"

Even Ernesto, one of the hotel staff, could hear it, and looked at the brothers.

"Go ahead," Alec said. "I'll be right there."

Ethan dutifully swam to their poolside encampment, marked with towels and bags and books. The alarm buzzed again, reminding them to refresh their sunblock with merciless precision, every four hours.

Standing halfway between Ethan and the pool bros, Alec looked at the pale skin of his own arm, and the soft white hairs on it.

At 18 it was his last summer before college, and he was spending it minding his brother on his father's business trip and writing a paper on a dead poet.

He was so tired of being good.

Alec had practically grown up in hotels. By the time he was ten he knew room service menus, check out times and ratings the way other boys his age knew baseball stats, and was as comfortable on planes as other boys were on bikes.

He, and later Ethan with him, accompanied their father on his business trips. As a single dad he liked to keep the boys nearby. An attorney specializing in mergers and acquisitions in the hospitality industry, he liked to be at meetings in person at key points in the courtships. It's all about relationships, he'd say, and leveraging the trust you build to get all parties to the win/win. The way everyone comes out ahead.

They were always assured a premium suite for the family and VIP treatment as part of their father's contracts with clients. Of all the hotels they most frequented, the Pendry was Alec's favorite, and a fitting choice for his last summer trip before his departure for college.

It was a destination popular with high income families as well as young couples with means and influencers. More modern and less stodgy than other upscale competitors, it was practically a small city of its own. It housed five very different restaurants on-site and a state-of-the-art gym. It even had a champagne vending machine, filled with chilled bottles dispensed for tokens purchased at reception, or given in gratitude to special guests. Alec's father always received a roll of tokens, which went unused.

"Moët," their father once said, looking it over. "Kid stuff."

But the star feature was the pool deck, high above the busy streets below, filled with crystal clear water that ran the length of the hotel. It was flanked by plush lounge chairs and mattresses, with a full-service bar for meals and drinks, worked by an attentive - and attractive - staff.

Alec and Ethan were well known at the Pendry, both because their father was a VIP and because they'd stayed so many times. Whenever they arrived their suite refrigerator was filled with snacks, and all alcoholic beverages removed, at their father's request, not that Alec was ever a risk for drinking them.

The staff were friendly with the boys, and Alec assumed they were tipped extravagantly to keep an eye on them while their father worked. Of them all, Ernesto had been a presence for as long as Alec could remember. He was a bellhop on their first stay and had risen in the ranks to some sort of non-specific supervisor. He seemed to be everywhere at once, with eyes on everything and everyone, including Alec and Ethan.

More recently the Pendry had developed a reciprocal relationship with other hotels - lesser hotels, Alec's father would say - allowing their guests to use the pool deck with day and week passes. This was not to their father's liking. The Pendy's exclusivity was part of what gave him a sense of security for the boys while he worked.

Alec assumed the pool bros came from one of those hotels. Some national chain probably, maybe even the Planet Hollywood hotel a few blocks away. They were louder and raunchier than the usual guests, not upscale families or high earning tech bros with eye candy on their arms. They had a sort of cocky attitude that couldn't be had for money or status, but instead needed only the looks and physicality to back it up.

There were other clues as well that Alec noted with the scrutiny of a spy. They'd arrived on the deck in street clothes, unlike hotel guests who typically came from their rooms like white swans in plush Pendry bathrobes. He'd also noticed, despite staff discretion, an exchange of some sort of paper. Passes, he supposed. And they paid for their bar tab with bank cards, rather than charging expenses to their room.

Although their father might not approve of the pool bros, in his own way he was more like them than like his own sons, Alec thought. He'd grown up rough and tumble, and though he never said much about it he admitted to having gotten into some trouble in his youth. "Until I learned charm could get you the same results, but with a lot fewer black eyes" he said.

For whatever refinement he'd gathered along the way, even at 44 he looked like a jocular wrestler. He had an easy going way, except when he meant business, and would probably hold his own just fine with the pool bros under different circumstances.

Alec knew his father meant the best for him and Ethan, raising them the way he did. But he felt a little cheated, just the same.

The bros were restless as the afternoon sun heated the deck. They were louder, sloppier and, Alec noted, sweatier.

"Buy you a drink baby?" the hairy chested one with the full sleeve tattoo asked a couple of girls maybe Alec's age who scurried along, giggling. He envied them.

The sunblock alarm went off at just about the time the bros ordered more beer and snacks. The bros spoke quietly to each other and laughed out loud. They were always laughing, and Alec longed to know why.

One of the bros, the big blond in the blue swim trunks, climbed up on the lounge mattress they shared to step over another bro. He was the most eye-catching of the three, with sun bleached spiky hair against his golden honey tan, with the biggest build of the three. Even across the pool Alec could hear how gravelly his voice and laugh were.

As he stepped over him, the center bro wolf whistled at him, and they all laughed. He arched his back and pushed his rear out, grinding it in a circular motion. The three howled. He pushed his thumbs into the waistband of his shorts and slid them slowly down, grinding the twin mounds of his ass, exposing the equator marking the divide between the tan top and the pearly underside.

As the bros roared all eyes around the pool turned to see his faux strip tease, but none watched with more intent than Alec, mesmerized by the two dimples at the small of the blond's back just above his beefy rear.

The third bro, the darkest of the three with a body like an action figure, threw dollar bills at the blond who grabbed them out of the air and tucked them into the front of his swim trunks, nestling them in his pubes.

Ernesto arrived at the boys' side with their afternoon snack of frozen fruit and caught sight of the display. Without a word he left the fruit bowl and walked with greater than usual speed to the bros' encampment. Alec couldn't hear the exchange, but he imagined Ernesto pleading, "Sir, please, this is a family pool."

The blond's affect was conciliatory, laughing and putting up his hands, saying "Sorry bro, show's done!"

As he dropped onto his rear, he looked across the pool, and it seemed right at Alec, who looked down into his open book so as not to be seen staring.

Things broke up not too long after that. The boys' father texted to say he'd be late, and to have dinner without him. They ordered from room service and Ethan put on Ocean's 11. He must have made them watch it a hundred times, which left Alec even more disinterested and restless.

He locked himself in the bathroom and flipped through photos he'd snuck of the pool bros, and then looked at himself in the mirror.

He'd been athletic enough in high school. Swim champ, track and field. He had good broad shoulders that tapered to slim hips in an elongated V shape. His abs showed, and a seam of pale downy hair that bisected his belly like the spine of a book. His chest had a swell he thought looked good. He'd even tamed his blond curls with a cut that flattered his even, boyish features.

But the bros had bodies that converted beer and burgers into beefy pecs that cast their own shadow and asses rounded as planets. In comparison Alec felt childish. Even though he was probably as close to their age as Ethan's, he felt anchored down to his brother, far from their boisterous freedom.

In bed he pulled out his summer reading, tuning out the sound of the movie, and opened to his bookmarked page.

I've heard the pool bros laughing, he paraphrased. I do not think they will laugh with me.

The bros returned the next day, to the delight of a few and the consternation of many.

Just as they did the first day, they claimed a corner of the deck and stripped out of their streetwear, drawing Alec's eyes so irresistibly he had to put on his chunky Ray-Bans to hide his ogling, and wore them even in the pool while Ethan practiced holding his breath.

After returning to their encampment to reapply sunblock, Alec left the deck for the cool, dark men's room. He sat in a toilet stall, flipping through photos of the bros he'd surreptitiously taken on his phone earlier in the day.

He had a better sense of them now. There was the affable big blond in a blue swimsuit, the more troublesome stocky tattooed bro with a brown buzzcut and a hawk nose in a black speedo, and the laughing dark skinned good looking one with the chiseled abs and red trunks.

When the door to the men's room swung open, a blinding white light lit the room and Alec sat bolt upright. He fumbled to put his phone down as if he were caught, even though he was still out of sight in one of the stalls. But when he heard the gruff voices and saw under the stall panels the naked feet on the tiled floor he knew it was the bros.

Through a thin slit between the panel and the wall behind him, he could see the tattooed one step up to the sink. He studied his own reflection, shifting his heavy jaw left to right, then running a hand over his chest to adjust the crucifix necklace, centering it to dangle between his furry pecs. He rolled his shoulders back, and then lifted his arms in a body builder pose, biceps swelling.

"Look at those peaks," he said.

"Almost as big as your mom's, Teddy," cracked the darker one in red trunks. "But if she's not around, you'll do."

Alec could see his feet step up to the urinal directly across from the stall door.

"Yeah, fuck you, Chad," sniped the tattooed one - Teddy? He turned to the side and admired his reflected physique, running a hand over his big biceps and shoulders.

It both aroused and confused Alec to see him preen. He'd thought of the bros and guys like them of being less self-aware of their looks, like some genetic lottery they'd stumbled into, rather than something they recognized and even cultivated.

The big blond - recognizable by his raspy voice - stepped up to the sink, setting his sunglasses down and running a hand through his hair. "Get a room, you two."

"Any time, Gabe, any time," laughed Teddy.

"Clowns," Chad laughed, shaking his head.

Alec could see Teddy's feet join Chad's at the urinal and could hear their piss hitting the porcelain interior. When they stepped aside, a third took their place. It was the blond, Gabe, he was pretty sure, and when he opened the stall door he could see, for sure.

From behind his shoulders were like pumpkins and the muscles in his back and his triceps articulated under his golden skin. His legs were spread wide, and the back of his swimsuit was pulled down to under his ass, exposing the two globes, and above them the indentations at the base of his back.

Alec stood like a ghost, pale and unnoticed as, judging from the motion of his arm, Gabe flicked his dick in the urinal. He pulled his swimsuit up over most of his rear and made his way to the door, without ever noticing his observer.

Alec stepped up to the urinal the blond bro had just stood at and dropped the front of his own swimsuit. His dick rolled out, more than half hard just at the thought of standing where Gabe had pissed like a racehorse, as the saying went. And he was sure the big blond had a cock like a racehorse too.

He had no pervy interest in piss, other than the idea that it had come out of the blond bro's cock, which grew bigger by the second in his imagination. Bigger, and so alluring that he reached into the urinal to trace his fingers over whatever lingered of the boisterous sun god's cock spray.

His own dick gushed precum and he thought he could cum on the spot when the door swung open, blinding him with sunlight.

It was the big blond, Gabe. He turned to the sink and picked up the sunglasses he'd left there. Then he turned to see Alec at the urinal, his hand reached into it. He sized the situation up and gave a side smile. "Big bro," he said, and then left Alec, his own erection in one hand, the other touching the cool porcelain.

After washing off with more than usual effort he returned to the encampment where Ethan was applying gray goopy sunblock. He handed the tube to Alec as Ernesto showed up at their side.

"Mr. Alec, Mr. Ethan," he said. He wore a crisp white shirt and black slacks, unlike the pool bar staff who wore coral colored polo shirts and khaki shorts. "Would you like lunch today? Maybe tacos? Cobb salad?"

"Tacos," said Ethan. He was always hungry but had a limited range of what was acceptable.

Alec looked across the pool at the bros whose burgers had only just arrived. Being the Pendry, they looked meaty and succulent. Manly burgers.

"A burger," he answered, surprising himself.

"A burger?" Ernesto asked. Alec had never ordered one before.

"A burger," Alec affirmed, prompting both Ethan and Ernesto to cock their heads at him with surprise.

He capped the tube of sunblock and set it aside.

If he could get away with ordering a beer, he would have.

Their father texted that he'd be done early, and they should plan dinner together.

Things had gone so well he thought the deal would close in just a few days, and that put him in the mood for something tasty. He chose the Crack Shack, in Little Italy, just a short walk away. The name made Ethan laugh, but his father was undaunted.

It was a place run by a TV celebrity chef, adjacent to one of his high-end eateries. That would typically put their father off, being unimpressed by celebrity chefs. But he said this was an exception. It was, in fact, a gathering space for a diverse set, from hip young couples to teens to families of every sort. Something for everyone, their father said.

They ordered and sat in the family area, where rambunctious kids ran by and laughed or cried, just in view of the bar area where the young adults ate. Ethan ordered a fried chicken sandwich and Alec followed suit, and their father ordered a beer, mini biscuits and fried chicken oysters.

"Ew," Ethan said. "Are they chicken or are they oysters?"

"Don't turn your nose up," his father answered, pulling a steaming bit out to hold up for the boys to see. "These tender little morsels are the best part of the chicken. Only two per bird, from the ilium." He pressed a thumb at the base of his own arched back to demonstrate their location. "The French call them sot-l'y-laisse, meaning only the fool leaves it, because amateurs don't bother with them."

He smeared the fried bit in some grainy dip and held it out for Ethan to try, but the boy shook his head in revulsion. His father chuckled and popped the hot meat into his own mouth. "More for me," he said," blowing the steam out.

Alec's eyes wandered to the bar section, longing to be there instead, and were caught by familiar faces. Three familiar faces, in fact. The pool bros.

That's how it is with travel, Alec thought. You could be at a hotel with 500 guests, but you'll keep running into the same ones all the time. In elevators, getting breakfast, checking out. He didn't know why, that's just how it was.

They were not only there, but they were boisterous - of course - hooting at the waitresses, yelling out to the bartender. They ate like men, sloppy and lacking any self-consciousness. Alec could see Teddy licking his fingers, shiny with drippings from his fried chicken sandwich, and Alec longed to feel that tongue on his own flesh.

Alec's sandwich seemed so stupid and bland he could hardly stand to eat it.

"Biscuit?" his father asked, offering one of his.

"Can I try your beer?" Alec asked.

It was their father's way to let the boys sample wine with dinner at home. That was how the French did it, he said. Alec never had much taste for it the way Ethan did, from beer to wine to anything bubbly. But in the moment, he wanted it.

His father had never let them share his drink in a restaurant, but after looking around to see there were no unwelcome eyes on them, he said "A taste," with an approving nod.

Alec took the glass and drank down as much as he could in one gulp, the cold and bitter taste giving him a shudder.

"Slow down buddy," his father said, and Ethan laughed.

With a trace of foam on his lip he turned to face the pool bros, longing for them to see him with a beer. To see he wasn't just a boy.

"You're so weird," Ethan said, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah, well you're..." Alec snapped, with an unusual heat in his voice.

His father shot him a look that stopped him short.

Their father was a kind man. He was patient. But there were certain things that could not be said out loud. Things that, once spoken, could not be taken back.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Alec said, rising to his feet.

In keeping with the theme of the place there were two restrooms, CHICKS and COCKS. Of course.

He finished peeing in an open trough urinal and was washing his hands when Gabe came in. He was wearing blue shorts that were snug on his meaty thighs, flip flops and a blue and black aloha shirt, unbuttoned almost to his belly button, revealing the split between his pecs. His skin almost glowed with his fresh tan and his blond hair seemed even lighter after his days poolside.

He spotted Alec and gave a wink. "Big bro!" he slurred, chuckling.

He steadied himself and unzipped his shorts, his thick cock flopping out and a loud stream of piss hit the side of the trough. His shorts hung halfway down his ass, and he listed now and then, steading himself again.

Alec studied him from the sink, unconcerned about being seen, counting on the big blond's drunkenness for cover. He looked strong as a stallion, and as beautiful, and that cock was fat and heavy.

When he was done, he shook his dick and let it drop so he could use both hands to try to wrap his shorts back up around his package, bringing one side of his shorts up as he lost the other.

Only the fool leaves it.

Alec stepped up, heart pounding in his ears, and reached in to hold one side, cupping the hefty cock and balls so Gabe could bring up the other. He was more than half done before the bro was fully aware that all the hands on or near his junk weren't his own. He turned to face Alec, their faces almost meeting just as two sides of his shorts did.

Without looking down, Alec pulled the zipper up over the blond's mound of cock and balls.

Gabe chuckled and then wrapped his mitts around Alec's face and pressed their lips together, his tongue diving in.

It was over almost before Alec knew what was happening, just getting his bearings as Gabe released him.

The big blond's mouth curled up into a smile. "We gotta stop meeting like this," he guffawed.

He turned and headed back out into the restaurant on strong but wavering legs.

Alec sighed and sat back against the sink, running a hand over his lips, wet with the bro's hoppy spit.

What did that even mean?

Their father liked the walk back to the hotel after dinner. It was a beautiful evening, and he liked to burn off some of the extra calories.

"You hardly ate your dinner," he said to Alec. "How's your Eliot paper going?"

"Fine," Alec shrugged. He hadn't started it yet.

"Do I dare to eat a peach?" his father recited. "I shall walk upon the beach...*"

"That's not it," Alec interrupted. He was close, but Alec had no patience.

"I've heard the mermaids singing each to each," he continued. "Black and white upon the beach. I do not think that they will sing to me."

"Dad, stop," Alec pleaded with annoyance. "Just stop."

"Okay Misery," his father chuckled, and reached out a hand to rest on his son's shoulder.

Alec winced and his breath caught in his chest.

"Al?" his father asked. He tugged at the polo shirt collar and looked at the skin under it. "Jesus Christ, Al... you're sunburned. You're red as a lobster."

Alec shrugged him off but knew it was true. His skin was hot, and he ached under it.

"Al, you know you have to use sunblock. What's wrong with you?"

Alec trudged the rest of the way in silence. In the hotel room his father rubbed lotion onto his neck and back, and the boy shuddered at the cool of his touch. He massaged it into Alec's skin until he lay there sedated, his thoughts flitting over Gabe in the men's room and kissing him.

The three sat in the bed and their father read Eliot to the boys until Alec pretended to fall asleep.

"We have lingered in the chambers of the sea, by sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown," he finished in a whisper, softly closing the book. "Till human voices wake us, and we drown."

Later, Ethan dog paddled in the pool while Alec floated nearby, waving his arms or feet gently to stay afloat when he thought of it. "Watch me," Ethan asked, dunking himself into the pool to test his breath.

The pool bros lay together, their lips pressing together on their handsome faces, grasping at each other's muscled arms and chests, their full swimsuit packages grinding against each other. They were like the porn guys he'd watched online, but maybe hotter.

Ethan sank and sank, like an anchor, into the depths of the pool, where kelp and sea plants waved in the currents.

He didn't know when, but the bros had entered the pool, swimming in loops, racing and playfully wrestling one another as they passed. Their swimsuits were glossy and so were their legs, but their legs weren't legs at all, but trunks like dolphins from the waist down, human in their torsos and in their big cocks and balls that protruded from their sea forms.

Alec thought for a moment he should check on Ethan, who'd been holding his breath for so many minutes, but he couldn't take his eyes from the frolicking merbros. Summer was almost over, and he'd never see the bros again, and Ethan would always be there.

Their muscular arms stretched out, making them sleeker, their big pecs and shoulders drawing Alec's gaze. He was irritated by the distracting tickles at his toes, and he tried to kick them away.

But the bubbles kept coming, tickling up between Alec's toes, running up his legs. It must be Ethan, he thought, down there somewhere at the seabed. He asked for help, but the merbros were oblivious to him, looping around, sometimes butting into his sides as they swam.

Another larger rush of air bubbles rose up to Alec, but his brother was just a lobster, scuttling among the stones and sea plants. Alec took a breath and dove down to retrieve him but could only get so far while he had air in his lungs.

He tried once more to call for Ethan, but looking up he could see the bros weren't half dolphin, but sharks. He had to be quiet, and his words came out as just a gurgle in the dark water as he lost his breath and sank into the dark.

Alec sat up in bed, damp with sweat, his skin tingling and his stomach queasy.

Near him in the king size bed was his father, snoring lightly, curled around Ethan, like an oyster wrapped around a pearl.

He shuddered, feeling feverish and cold at the same time, and lay back down. He flipped his pillow to rest his face against the cold side, thankful for the cool relief.

Alec's skin tingled the next day, but it wasn't as bad as he feared. He ignored his father's warnings to stay in and made his way to the pool deck where he smeared himself with lotion and sat under one of the deck umbrella stands. He was determined to not miss a day with the pool bros, if they showed. Which they did.

But that morning things hit a snag. Alec saw the pool staff, discreet but for the most watchful eyes, showing the bros a bill, and bank cards being passed back and forth. Ernesto was there, so it must have needed his sensitivity. But as had been the case all week, the bros were insensible to the staff's best efforts to provide respectful service.

"This is BULLSHIT!" ranted Teddy, leaning in to face Ernesto. Gabe rolled his eyes and shook his head, and Chad tried to mediate.

Ernesto must have been compelled to try their cards again, because when he left the bros, he carried the bill folder in one hand and bank card in the other as he walked briskly back to the bar. There he appeared to swipe it once more, and then again.

Do I dare disturb the universe? Alec read in his book. In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

He rose to his feet and, saying nothing to Ethan, trotted to Ernesto at the bar.

He could see the ranking staffer was frustrated but turned up a seemingly genuine smile for Alec.

"I'm sorry Mr. Alec," he said. "Would you like something? A frozen fruit bowl? I'm sorry to be distracted."

"No," Alec said, "no... about the distraction... you can charge it to me." He pulled a bank card from his phone case.

For the first time in the years he'd been coming to the hotel he genuinely surprised Ernesto.

"Oh no, Mr. Alec, this is nothing for you to concern yourself with. Just hotel business. Thank you for --"

"I want to do it," Alec implored, holding out his card. "I have my own money."

"Mister Alec, I can't let you buy beer. You must know..."

"I'm not even drinking it," Alec interrupted. "But okay, you can charge it to my room."

Ernesto grimaced. His room was his father's room. The boys had carte blanche in charging expenses for themselves. But this was something different.

"I'm just covering for some new friends," Alec said. "He'd want me to do it. Just what they owe already. Nothing more." Everybody wins, he wanted to say but thought it better to let Ernesto see it himself. "Please."

"Mister Alec," Ernesto began. He looked from Alec to the increasingly heated scene across the pool, and back. For the first time, they faced each other more as equals, the imbalances of adult and child, staff and guest, momentarily suspended. He sighed. "Just the once. Against my better judgment."

Ernesto made his way to the bros, and though Alec couldn't hear their exchange, he saw the bros break out in smiles. Even then they had a cocky air, as if they'd just been proven right rather than bailed out. When Ernesto nodded in Alec's direction the bros looked over and cocked their heads up at Alec. Teddy gave a thumbs up, Chad a wave, and Gabe a smirk.

"What was that?" Ethan asked, as Alec returned to his lounge chair.

"Just disturbing the universe," his brother replied. "But don't tell dad."

He knew in the grand scheme of things their alliance with one another outweighed either's with their father.

As the other two bros pooled some dollar bills together for a pitcher, the big blond stood tall and dove into the sparkling pool. He swam its length in long strong strokes and emerged at the other end. He hoisted himself out and up on his powerful arms, rising at the feet of Alec and Ethan.

He stepped closer, blocking the sun but for the corona around his head like a spiky halo, and shook his head vigorously, spraying droplets onto the boys.

"Hey," he said in his gruff voice.

"Hey," Alec said back.

"You didn't have to do that," he said.

"It's not a thing," Alec replied, shrugging slightly.

The big blond held out his hand and Alec shook it. "Gabe," he said.

"Alec."

"And who's your bud?" he asked.

"Ethan," Alec's brother replied. "Ethan Wojcik." He said it as if it should be obvious.

Gabe's glanced over his shoulder as his bros grew loud again.

"Just wanted to say thanks," he said. "Before we head out."

"What? Why?" Alec asked, losing his feigned cool.

"No credit, no beer. Party's over. Here, anyway."

"No," Alec blurted. "The party's... just starting."

The big blond looked at him with raised eyebrows, as if to say yeah?

"In my room. It's a suite."

He tore out one of the mostly blank pages from the front of his Eliot book and wrote the room number on it, and the word Noon.

"Sweet," the blond chuckled. "Maybe I'll see you then."

"There's... there's booze," Alec added.

"Okay bro," he replied, nodding.

He walked away, his ass like two firm melons in a sling.

Alec's eyes followed him from behind his chunky sunglasses, and without turning he spoke to Ethan.

"I have something I need you to do," he said. "It's kind of a caper."

He knew he had his brother's interest.

The champagne vending machine was out of sight of the reception desk or concierge, but still in a reasonably trafficked hall. Other guests probably wouldn't even notice Alec taking a few bottles, but hotel staff would.

Alec set Ethan at one end of the hall to keep an eye out and to cough out loud if trouble was coming. He'd mostly emptied their pool deck tote bag, and had a pocket full of tokens the hotel gave their father. There were tokens enough for plenty of bottles, but maybe not that much time to not get caught. One bottle per bro, plus himself ought to be enough, he guessed. Four bottles in all.

After checking for approaching staff and getting the thumbs up from Ethan, he slid two tokens in and selected the bottle with the most basic yellow label. There were other bottles too, some looked fancier, some were pink, which obviously wouldn't do for the pool bros. The champagne itself might be a stretch for the beer drinking bros, but he didn't guess they'd be too picky when it came to free drinks.

The machine came to life, one rack twisting the bottle resting on it like a giant corkscrew. With some rumbling, the bottle slid purposefully into a chute that deposited it into a padded receptacle with a door flap. Alec couldn't help but turn to Ethan, thrilled. They grinned in conspiratorial glee.

He pulled the bottle and slid it into his bag and pulled two more tokens from his pocket.

He repeated the process, retrieving a second bottle, and sliding it carefully into his bag as an older couple entered the hall. They never even glanced at him, but he waited for them to amble down and out into the lobby before sliding any more tokens in for a third bottle. When he did, he reflected that it was all so much easier than he'd planned.

The third bottle slid down the chute, and as he bent over to pull it out, he heard Ethan cough. Not once but twice, and then again, even louder.

Alec turned and froze, holding the third bottle by the neck, as two room service staff entered the hall, wheeling a tray table.

He stood there for an eternity, trying to stand at his tallest to seem his most adult. He wondered if he could slide the bottle into the bag without being seen, as both he and the bottle beginning to sweat.

The hotel staff nodded to Ethan who they saw first. "Good morning."

At that moment the sunblock alarm in Alec's bag went off, drawing the attention of the room service staff. As panic rose up in Alec, he heard his brother shout "Hey!"

The hotel staff turned to Ethan.

With their eyes on him, Ethan swayed back and forth, his legs like spaghetti legs, his arms waving in an odd dance. He then dropped on all fours and barked like a dog, panting and wagging his rear.

As the bizarre show went on, Alec backed away from the champagne vending machine and out of the hall, sliding the third bottle into the canvas bag, careful of not letting them sound against each other.

He turned off the alarm before it could buzz again, and hurried up to their room, knowing Ethan would be close behind.

"Why do I have to go?" Ethan whined.

"It's just for a little while," Alec answered, trying to sound patient.

He was more focused on the shortfall of champagne. There were only the three bottles, not the four he'd planned on. They'd have to do. And for serving he put out four short tumblers, not flutes. Nothing fancy. And he ordered chicken wings and wraps from room service. Bro food.

"It's just a little while," Alec offered. "Like practice for when I go to school." His going to school was a cause of concern for them both. "Then we'll do something special, just us, I swear."

Ethan looked glum.

"Okay," Alec said. "Look."

He picked up one of the bottles and removed the foil cap. Holding the cage and cork together in one hand, he began to rotate the base the way he'd seen his father do it. Just a few slow rotations, his father said, and don't go for the pop, it makes the champagne flatten. He applied resistance as the cage and cork pushed out of the bottle, so it opened with a slow "pffffft!"

"Fuck yeah," Alec said, proud of himself, and Ethan giggled at him swearing.

He poured some into Ethan's water bottle and let the bubbles settle. He considered how anxious Ethan might be and poured some more, nearly filing it. That ought to settle his brother down. He might even fall asleep.

He handed Ethan the capped water bottle and set the sunblock timer for two hours and change. Not as long as he wanted, but suspected Ethan would balk at more.

"Just hang out at the pool for... two hours. That's, like, one Ocean's movie long." He could see his brother's resistance softening. "You have to use the timer. Not how long it feels." He held the timer up for Ethan to see.

Ethan nodded. "Like one Mississippi."

"Yes! Like holding your breath. But a little longer. That's all."

Ethan took his water bottle of champagne and left.

He knocked back a glass of champagne, and nervously paced. There were no bros at noon, and not at 15 after. But at about 12:25 there was a rap of knuckles on the room door, and on the other side a gravelly voice, "Big bro, big bro, let me in!"

Alec opened the door to see Gabe alone, resting his weight on one arm against the door frame. He had on his blue board shorts and a loose white tank with a garish sunset under the words San Diego. Basic bro wear, and Alec loved it.

"Where's your... Friends?" Alec asked, peering around him.

"Doin stuff," the blond said, letting himself in, sizing up the suite as he did. "Nice digs."

"My dad's... king of a big deal," Alec said.

"And where's little bro?" Gabe asked, peering around the corners.

"He's at the pool on his own," Alec answered, feeling just the smallest guilt.

"Just us then," the big blond bro grinned.

He picked up two of the green apples in a decorative bowl and tossed them up in the air, juggling them, low and close at first, then in higher arcs. He caught one apple with his teeth and it snapped loudly.

He held the apple out for Alec who bit into it too, sucking up the juice it released from Gabe's bite.

"What're we gonna get up to?" the bro asked, swallowing his bite of apple.

Alec lifted the open champagne bottle to his lips and tried to chug it. His cheeks inflated and it felt as if the top of his head was trying to blow off, and sparkling liquid shot out of his nose.

"Bro!" Gabe laughed as Alec coughed up champagne. "Lemme see."

He cocked his head back and gently shook the bottle just a little, his thumb over the opening. When he released it the pressure shot an arc of champagne out that he caught in his mouth, some of it streaming out and down his face. He wiped it on his palm and beefy forearm.

"God damn," he said, his voice raspier than before.

He passed the bottle back to Alec who drank some, more carefully this time. "Are your friends coming?"

Gabe picked up another bottle and opened it with his thumbs, letting it pop loudly, catching the overflow in the bar sink and in his mouth.

"I figured we had a more private date coming."

Gabe leaned in to kiss Alec, sliding his tongue between the boy's lips and pulled him closer with hands around his waist.

Alec had kissed a little, but never with anyone like Gabe, all muscle and gruff voice, half a head taller than Alec. He felt like the bro could pick him up and fuck him right there standing.

"That's a pretty face," Gabe said between wet smacks, running a thumb over the boy's cheek and pressing it between his lips for him to suck on.

"So, are you... gay?" Alec asked. The big blond defied his every expectation.

Gabe smirked. He drew a hand back and smacked Alec's rear. "Gay enough."

He yanked Alec's shorts down and wrapped a fist around his erect dick, pumping it while he kissed the boy and nuzzled his neck and ear. The faintest bristles on his jaw were like sandpaper on Alec's reddened skin, and he shuddered.

"That okay?" asked Gabe.

"Yeah, just a little... sunburnt," Alec answered. He took a swig of champagne and then another, and added, "We don't have much time."

"Then let's get to it," Gabe said, reaching under Alec's rear to lift him so he could staddle the bro's hips. "Which room?"

Alec's heart raced. It was happening so fast. But he nodded to the room with the king bed he and Ethan shared, and Gabe carried him there.

Gabe's erect cock was, Alec guessed, based on his own, about seven inches, and curved like a banana. It wasn't the first Alec held other than his own, and the first he put in his mouth. The blond bro gasped and encouraged him to get it further in, nudging into his throat. "Yeah bro, that's fucking good."

Alec alternated between wanting to take his time, and then hurrying, fearing that Ethan would return early. Or worse, that his father would show up unexpectedly.

"I want you to fuck me," he said, looking up from Gabe's saliva slicked cock.

Gabe reached down to pull him up to kiss again. As they did, he ran a hand over Alec's smooth belly and down to his dick in a pale bush of hair.

"Fuck, you look good," he rasped, giving Alec's erection a few slow strokes. "That tan line's hot."

"Fuck me," Alec asked again. Time was running out.

In response the big blond spat on his hand and rubbed it up and down on his erection, grinning. He spat again and reached down to smear Alec's rear, fingering it with yet more spit, staring into the boy's eyes as he stretched him, preparing him.

Alec straddled Gabe, pulling the big, curved cock against his own hole. He'd practiced before, with fingers and household items. But never a full-on man cock before, and never with only spit as lube.

"Yeah," Gabe growled, nudging the head in, just a little bit, teasing. It was Alec who pushed down on it, letting it slide in, pausing after the head and then taking more. "Oh yeah GOD DAMN!"

Alec let it anchor deep into him and tried riding it. After just a few minutes it was easier and felt even better, the way it stretched his hole and filled up a gap in him he'd barely known was there.

"Oh yeah," groaned Gabe, wrapping his hands around Alec's slim waist, pulling him down to meet his thrusts. He gauged the pleasure on the boy's face, clocked his gasps and eye rolls and as they increased, he thrust harder.

"Fuck me," Alec gasped, pulling his butt cheeks open.

"Fuck yeah," Gabe grinned.

He grabbed tight onto Alec's hips and leaned on an elbow to turn them to the side and then rolled them over, Alec on his back and Gabe on top. They both laughed at the acrobatic feat, without Gabe ever falling out of the boy.

"You fucking like that?" Gabe asked, pushed Alec's legs back and with the greater leverage of this position, threw his weight into fucking him.

"Ye- yeah," Alec grunted, the blond's cock probing more deeply into him, testing what he could take.

Gabe ran a hand between them, smearing the boy's load and then sliding his big meaty fingers into Alec's mouth to suck them off.

"Fucked that out of you, big bro," he groaned.

"Fuck me," Alec groaned, and Gabe grinned.

He slid his thick fingers back into Alec's mouth for the boy to suck on. "You're gonna shoot for me," Gabe said, half questioning, half demanding, his cock gliding back to nearly its full length and then driving in again.

Alec gulped and nodded and started working his own oozing cock with his hand.

"Fuck yeah," Gabe growled, looking down on Alec's belly at the load he was pushing out him. "That's a good boy."

Gabe's thrusts became faster and shorter and his face became more plaintive, "Oh yeah gonna give you a... load," he grunted in his gravelly voice.

He slammed Alec again and again and when he gasped Alec knew he was cumming.

"YEAH FUCK YEAH!" he rasped as he ground into Alec with all his weight, pumping his load into the boy, till he eased into a slow grind. His pumping slowed and he kissed Alec again, more sweetly this time.

Alec was so close, still feeling the stiff cock in him, knowing it was pumping out the last of Gabe's cum into him.

"Come on big bro," Gabe urged, and that put Alec over the edge, making him shoot his own load onto his chest and belly while the big blond shuddered at the spasms that squeezed his semi. "JeeeZUS FUCK!"

Then he slid his dick out with a wet smack and dropped onto his back.

He laughed and Alec joined him.

Gabe traced a finger over Alec, still breathing hard. "Aright bro. Aright."

Alec was red faced and his hair slicked back with sweat. He would have laid there longer, but suddenly his bowels churned and spasmed. "Oh my god," he mumbled.

"Go on," Gabe chuckled, nodding toward the bathroom.

As Alec sat on the toilet, his bowel protesting the recent intrusion, Gabe came walking back, handing him one of the champagne bottles.

"Cheers!" he said, laughing.

Alec took another swig of the room temp champagne, his fifth or sixth, he'd lost count, but he liked the lightheaded feeling it gave him.

While he finished on the toilet, Gabe pissed into the hand sink and then wandered back to the bed, where Alec followed and stretched out, the big blond beside him, on his elbow.

"I should go get Ethan," he whispered.

"You're good with him," Gabe said, running a hand over Alec's flat belly.

"Yeah, not so much," Alec began, feeling an unexpected pang of guilt.

He closed his eyes, trying to relax his insides. He closed his eyes for a minute. Just for a minute.

Later, when he heard the loud rapping on the door it sounded far away and it seemed to have nothing to do with him, until he heard his name.

"Mister Alec! Mister Alec!"

Suddenly coming to, he looked around. There was no sign of Gabe.

Fuck, how long was he sleeping?

He rose on wobbly legs and made his way to the door as fast as he could, opening it with annoyance.

It was Ernesto. His face looked more somber than Alec had ever seen before.

"Mister Alec. It's your brother. Ethan."

Alec's heart seized up.

Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

Their father was called. He had to be, after Ethan was found wandering around the pool deck in weaving steps by himself, and the last of his champagne was found in his water bottle. He was only 11 after all.

It wasn't good, but Alec was relieved it wasn't worse. That was what mattered. It wasn't the worst.

Then there was the theft.

When he first readied to go with Ernesto to get his brother, Alec couldn't find his phone. He realized it wasn't simply misplaced. It, and his bank card in it were gone. So was his laptop and Ethan's tablet. Gone, like Gabe.

He and the other pool bros were nowhere to be found. They and their other stolen bank cards had moved on. It was like a game for them, the head of hotel security explained, shaking his head. Guys like that live from stolen cards to stolen cards, until each runs its course and they're on to the next mark. The driver's license might be the bigger problem, later, with identity theft.

"He won't do that," Alec said. He sounded naive, but Gabe... thief or not, he wouldn't make it worse than it had to be, Alec was sure. They had a connection.

His father was not so untroubled.

"What were you thinking?" he asked Alec. But it wasn't real curiosity. It was anger with a question mark. "Al, I don't expect you to be a saint, but... this. You brought... a stranger into our lives. You endangered your brother. You were disrespectful to people who have been nothing but kind to you. People who don't have anything like your privilege are taking heat for your choices. You owe some apologies, and only the least of them to me."

"You're not so perfect," Alec snapped back, the words coming out before he knew what he was saying.

"How is this about me?" his father asked. This time he meant the question.

"You... you put too much on me. Too much responsibility. You always have. Ever since I was a little kid. For myself and then for Ethan. You like to be the cool dad with your... your `Go disturb the universe' bullshit. But you know what? That only works because everyone else around you makes it work. Because other people act responsibly. Because I act responsibly. I never had a chance to just... to just be a kid. To fuck up. Do you ever wonder why I picked a college across the country to go to? That's why. To get some space. I just need to breathe!"

Alec had never said these things before. Not even to himself. It almost hurt him to point out his father's flaws. But it was all true, and his father sat there, hearing it.

"Fair enough," his father said, after a long silence.

"I guess you must be pretty unhappy," Alec said, softening.

"No, not happy," his father answered. "But I hope it was worth it." Alec froze. The words seemed like sarcasm, but the tone didn't. "I do ask too much of you. But I don't want you to not go for the things you want. Even if others don't like it or understand."

"Even if it's you I piss off?"

His father chuckled. "I can take it. But every time you choose something you're choosing against something else. Everything has a cost. You lost some trust today from people who care about you. So, I hope it was worth it."

"I heard the mermaids singing," Alec said, standing at the bedroom door. "They sang to me."

That sat with his father for a good few minutes.

"Okay," he finally replied. He sounded tired. "Keep on disturbing the universe. But for fuck's sake, don't get your brother involved. He's got his own mistakes to make."

Alec came back and bent over to kiss his dad on the cheek. His skin was more weathered than he remembered, and it struck Alec it would be more so in the future. "I know what I need to do."

He'd see Ernesto in the morning. But first his brother.

Alec entered the dark bedroom where Ethan was curled up under the bed sheet like a snail, illuminated only by the light of the television. He crawled into bed all the way to his brother and wrapped around him.

"Hey, I'm sorry," Alec said in a hush.

Ethan didn't respond.

"It's okay to be mad at me," Alec continued. "You're my brother. I can take it."

He felt Ethan's body relax against his, as if he were letting out a long-held breath. It would be okay.

They lay together like that for a while, in the quiet comfort of each other's presence.

Ethan finally shifted enough for Alec to slide an arm under him. "You're an asshole sometimes," he said. "Mostly nice. But a little bit of an asshole."

Alec laughed. "Thanks."

That was all he wanted to be.

• END -