Walking out the doors of the bar, Aaron knew that investigation at Bobby Mackey's had changed his life forever. So much shit had happened, he wasn't sure if he wanted to do this anymore. But he felt like it was a part of him, or attached to him, or inside him, or something. Whatever it was, he felt like it was something that he wasn't going to be able to shake. Ever. Images flashed through his head. He didn't even recognize them. He had no idea what they were. Voices echoed in his ears that he didn't know and he couldn't understand what they were saying. Whatever it was, it must have been important because they kept repeating it over and over again. Aaron thought he was going to go absolutely mad. If this was what was going to happen after every lockdown, money or not, they could erase his name from the contract.
Back at the hotel, he was shaking so bad. His hands could barely hold the key to let himself in the door. Zak came down the hallway and took the key from him, his other hand on his lower back. Aaron barely registered the words he said but nodded anyways. "Go wash up and come to my room. Everything will be all right. Just trust us."
Trust. Man, they had invented a whole new meaning to that word. Or at least added a level or two. Maybe even five. He had been thankful that he wasn't going to have to spend the day sleeping alone in the hotel room. Walking to Zak's room in his pajama pants and an old t-shirt still felt normal. Everything that happened after Zak opened that door wasn't.
Comfort. That was what they had called it. Aaron was laid down on the bed. His clothes stripped off his body. He didn't fight it. Even as Nick's too-thin frame hovered over him, he stared dumbly at him. His brain had defaulted and shut down. "Are you ok?" Nick asked him. Aaron shook his head no. "Am I making you nervous right now?" Aaron thought about it. This was Nick. What the hell did he have to be nervous about? He shook his head no again.
Zak's naked body appeared by his side, looking over at him. "Everything is going to be ok, Aaron. Just trust us," he repeated. Aaron looked over at him and nodded. He did trust them. At least he thought he did.
Looking back up at Nick, lips chastely pressed against his. It was soft and short. It barely registered in his brain that he had just been kissed by a guy, one of his best friends, who he was also laying naked in a bed in a strange city with. Nick sat back, rubbing his hands up Aaron's chest, cupping his face. The heartbeat was racing under his fingertips as it traced by, brushing softly through his chest hair. "Your body needs to relax. Breathe, Aaron," he whispered softly.
He remembered trying to focus on Nick's face. The moment was so surreal. Surely he was dreaming. Zak's hand reached over, running down his chest, taking the same movement Nick's had but in reverse. Thin, lithe fingers gently cupped his balls, massaging gently before wrapping around his half hard cock. Confusion clouded his face as Nick's small smile went out of focus. He groaned softly as Zak stroked him slowly. Aaron's body went limp against the bed sheets, at the mercy of the two men surrounding him.
His mind raced while it tried to catch up with the situation he had found himself in. He had come from a terrifying lockdown, shit happening everywhere to this. Zak had been scratched. Scratched by an unseen force. His religious background had not prepared him to interact with the unknown other world. The fear that had built up in his body had wound him so tight. Nick massaged his shoulders and chest gently and he tried to focus on that feeling. The expert fingers worked into his tight muscles, forcing them to release as Zak's hand still moved achingly slow on his cock. His thumb stroked over the head and Aaron moaned, moving his hands to Nick's legs, resting on either side of his thighs.
Nick whispered softly, "We can make the noise and pictures in your head stop."
Aaron groaned as Zak's hand left him. He didn't know what to make of this but right now it was giving him something new to focus on. Nick was right. This was making the voices stop. "Do you want us to keep going?"
He knew then that this was going to change everything. Whether they kept going or not, this was still going to change everything. He shook his head yes. Yes, he did want them to keep going. Zak's hand on his cock, Nick straddling his waist; these were keeping those fears and the voices from Mackey's at bay. Nick's hand wrapped around his cock this time, and it was different. Zak's hand was distinctly more feminine, strangely enough. Aaron felt the roughness in the skin along Nick's palm and he wanted to fuck up into it.
Holding his hand still, Nick let Aaron take control as his hips moved against him, eyes locked together. Movement barely registered in his periphery as Zak maneuvered himself around behind Nick, wrapping his long arms with those feminine hands around the thin body. Aaron watched as one of those hands expertly wound around Nick's weeping cock, stroking it quickly. Zak nuzzled into the pale neck in front of him, and Aaron felt himself fall as his muscles tightened and released, feeling the result of his orgasm streak across his stomach.
Waking up in the dark room what could have been hours later, he heard Nick and Zak whispering next to him. His body was calm, though. His mind was clear; no voices were clouding his consciousness except for the ones belonging to the men wrapped in each others' arms talking about him. "Do you think he'll be ok?"
He could feel someone shrug. "I don't know. I don't think he was prepared for Mackey's. Hell I wasn't prepared for it. Anyways, it was just a handjob. Not like we fucked him or anything."
Aaron froze. They had given him a handjob. Both of them. Fuck. He thought that maybe that was just a dream, a very strange and deluded dream. Carefully, so as not to alert the other men that he was awake, he felt his stomach. He had apparently been cleaned off while he was passed out. Feeling the bed shift beside him, Aaron quickly closed his eyes again, feigning sleep.
Nick snorted as Zak stood up from the bed. "You freaked out."
"Oh, like you didn't, Mr. But-I'm-Married," Zak retorted, rolling his eyes, putting his pants on.
Nick sat up. "Where are you going?"
"To get us some food. Keep Aaron company until I get back. If he wakes up, keep him in here. I think we'll need to have a conversation when he wakes up." The room was silent then, except for a soft squeak of the bed as he felt Nick's weight shift. Opening one eye, Aaron saw their dark shapes part, Nick running a thumb along Zak's lips. Seconds later, Zak pulled a shirt on, grabbed his wallet and walked out the door.
Nick sighed into the darkness next to him. "You're awake, aren't you?" he said. It wasn't really a question.
Aaron thought for a second about not answering. Instead, he said, "Yeah…"
"You ok?" Nick didn't make a move to touch him.
It was awkward. Like waking up next to someone strange that you know you met at a bar last night type of strange. But he knew Nick, and he knew Zak. But there were two very important differences in this equation… Unless you counted their lack of boobs, then he'd have to add four more differences.
Licking his lips, Aaron finally answered, "I don't know."
Nick chuckled slightly next to him, turning on the light. "Your clothes are over there on the chair if you want to put them on."
Aaron nodded, getting up, cupping himself. He felt Nick's eyes on him as he crossed the room, slipping on his clothing. Nick lay on the bed in his pajama pants, arms behind his head, watching him. Clearing his throat, Aaron looked down at the floor, fully clothed. "Can you just call me when Zak gets back?"
Nick smiled and patted the bed next to him. "No. It's still just me, Aaron."
He shifted where he stood, not sure about the whole situation. It was just Nick. He had known this man for years, longer than he knew Zak. "How long was I out?"
Nick looked at the clock next him. "Only about an hour, maybe a little over. How are those voices? Those pictures?"
"…Gone…," he whispered. "Completely gone."
Nick rolled on his side to look at him. "You sound surprised."
Aaron still stood at the foot of the bed. He was surprised. Their touch… He wondered if he could get the same effect from jacking off. Zak and Nick had obviously done this before or how else would they know this worked to quiet the din from inside his head?
"Aaron!" Nick snapped his fingers. "Come at least sit on the bed. We can watch tv or something until Zak gets back."
Sighing, Aaron relented. It was just Nick, he kept repeating to himself. Nick, whose lips had kissed him, body had straddled him, and those hands… Aaron fucked his hand. He had let him do it. Fuck, he was getting hard again.
Laying down on the bed, a good foot from Nick's half naked body, Aaron tried to adjust himself without being obvious, but one question nagged at him since he saw that goodbye kiss. "So you and Zak… do you have like a thing going?" he asked. For some reason, he just needed to know.
Nick's demeanor immediately shifted, giving Aaron the answer he needed. "Zak and I… we support each other. It's not really 'a thing' exactly."
"Have you gone farther than handjobs?"
Nick rolled onto his back so he didn't have to look at him. Aaron thought he saw a bit of a blush enter his cheeks. "Yes," he whispered.
He knew better than to ask for details. To him it looked like Nick was still processing it himself. "What about your wife?" Aaron looked down at his own wedding ring. What the hell was he going to say to his wife? 'Fucking crazy investigation honey. But then the guys gave me a handjob and everything was ok!' Hell no.
Nick's face scrunched. "No… this isn't anything… this isn't like that. I'm not cheating. There's no real emotion behind it. It just chases the demons away so I can go home to her. So really it's helping our relationship."
Aaron nodded. Based on that kiss that he saw, he could tell Nick was in some sort of denial. If it was just to chase the demons away, why would Zak kiss him goodbye?
They sat in silence, staring at the dark screen on the tv, both men deep in their own thoughts. What seemed like hours later they heard Zak's keycard in the door. He opened the door slowly until he saw the light on. A look of surprise on his face as he opened the door fully to see Aaron and Nick laying on the bed together. Nick had fallen back asleep, but Aaron was sitting up in the bed, waiting for him.