The angry gleam of the sun dominated the cloudless sky and transformed the city into an outrageously hot concrete desert. Day 8 of this late summer heat wave saw temperatures rising into triple digits yet again; it was 102 degrees (39º C) outside. And today wasn't the worst day of the persistent heat wave; that had been Thursday, day 6, when temperatures hit a high of 112 degrees (44.5º C)! Air-conditioners had been running twenty-four hours continuously, all week long, straining the local power-supply. The power-company had warned just yesterday that its reserves were being depleted and power-cuts would be inevitable. Sure enough, earlier that afternoon, all apartment buildings on Sam's block had lost power. The power-company said it would end the cut early next morning, once reserves had been partially replenished in time for the beginning of the workweek.

So Sam Riggs stretched lazily on the couch and remained half-asleep as the final song on the Difranco CD played out on the stereo -- battery-powered, of course. He was determined to get up off that couch again eventually, no matter how intolerable the bloody heat was. He had to, if only to throw more water on himself. He had already taken two cold showers today and his mind was still debating with itself whether going swimming would be worth the effort versus spending all day taking cold showers. He had once again convinced himself that it would be worth the effort to go to the pool… but then there was the matter of getting up, taking another shower (he was sweating abundantly again, by now), getting dressed, a twenty-five minute ride on the subway, then the ride back … ugh. And, with that, he once again convinced himself not to bother with going to the pool. He had been going back and forth like this for forty-five minutes now, passing the time.

Sam worked the checkout line at a D'Agastino's in Manhattan. D'Agastinos was a grocery chain, ubiquitous on Manhattan Island. He lived in a relatively large apartment building in Queens. Which wasn't so bad, really. The rent was very cheap, only $750 for a one-bedroom apartment, with utilities. Plus he shared the apartment with his best friend, which not only left him with money to spare at the end of every month, but was an ideal roommate-scenario as well. It was near the G train, near his sister and near some of his comrades. It wouldn't be so bad if only the damned electricity would come back on, he thought! He had moved there earlier in the summer, after spending 6 months living in Jersey City, where he had known not a soul. The most pressing reason behind his move to this area had been to be near his close feminist friends. It was very hard being alone, especially alone and radical… It had really been a pleasure, too, these past two months, being able to hang around one of the biggest cities in the world with all the people he truly loved and admired. New York City had always seemed cruelly boring to him; with his friends, suddenly everything seemed to have new life, even the mundane squares and the pizza shops…

He'd known most of them for years, of course, but he'd never been within walking distance of these people until moving here!

He turned around and stared at the clock, praying to any deity who cared to listen for the afternoon to be close to ending. The clock read: 1:34 PM. He sighed irritably, and then wondered if the battery in that clock would be strong enough to keep it going until tomorrow morning. Of all the buildings in New York to deprive of electricity--he moved swiftly, momentarily forgetting all inhibitions fuelled by the high temperature, grabbed a nearby book and slammed it hard against the table. He got it. Damn bugs, he thought. The book, he noticed, was a detailed catalogue for Bard College. He still wasn't sure whether he wanted to go there… Anyway, it didn't matter now. All that mattered was that it was hot as all hell, and he needed to decide whether to go to the swimming pool or not. Hadn't he already? Well, hell, why not do it again, he thought…

The phone rang. "I got it!", yelled a voice from the kitchen. The voice was Sam's best friend and roommate Ross Pagnozzi.

Ross was not from the metro-area at all, or even the tri-state area; he was from Cincinatti. He lived a pretty mundane childhood out there, in a poor family like Sam's. He was an only child, and the first in his family to graduate high school. After graduating from high school, he moved out of his parents' house and worked for 2 years in Cincinatti, in the service industry, before moving to New York. That was when he got into feminism, actually. It happened pretty suddenly. He generally refused to talk about it with anyone, but he had told Sam all about it a long time ago. Ross' mother had been chased around the block by four men, one Sunday, on her way back from Church. She happened to be an avid participant in marathons and easily outran them, but it had been quite terrifying. She called him up and told him about it, and he had been outwardly shocked by the incident. He had never imagined such things happening in his area before; even though it was poor, it did not have a reputation for being very violent. So, apparently as a way to stop him worrying, she told him that really this hadn't been the first time she'd had such close-calls, and she'd be alright, and went on to talk about a myriad of confrontations with men that she had always covered up before.

It shocked him a lot, enough to go fishing around for answers. Of course, Ross had been peculiar, for a male…somehow never a misogynist. His parents were too poor to afford a television for most of his childhood; maybe that had something to do with it…so much misogyny was perpetuated by pop-culture these days.

Ross now worked retail at a generic clothing store in Manhattan.

Anyway, Sam had to go to some lengths to understand Ross sometimes, because Sam had lived in the Bronx for most of his life, where rape, murder and violence was simply a way of life. In fact, Sam's own path towards feminist analyses had been in contradistinction to that…

Sam heard the phone click. "Who was it?" he yelled half-heartedly. "Vicki," Ross replied, "she says the power's out at her place too. She thinks they're just pulling power on all the poor sections to keep the rich sections electrified. That sounds about the usual to me. Not like we can do much about it, either."

This made Sam even more irritable. "How's the fridge?" he asked. "Warm," said Ross. Damn, damn, damn. The last track of the Difranco CD ended. Time seemed to be moving in super-slow-motion. Sam got up, wobbled a bit, and turned off the stereo. He could see Ross in the kitchen sitting down on a small chair and reading the paper; behind him, a pot of water he had meant to boil was still sitting there at room-temperature, as the stove-pilot would not work. If the temperature gets much hotter, the bloody thing will start boiling on its own, Sam mused. "I'm going to take another cold shower," he said to Ross.

He walked into the bathroom and stripped; his clothes stuck to him. He got in the shower, bracing for the cold water, turned the knob, and gasped at least four times. The water was tauntingly cold. It sure woke him up. He rubbed his body and let the water take the sweat off, making sure, especially, to wash his armpits and crotch. He felt awake now, temporarily at least. I should go to the pool, he thought, and then bent down to gently rub his legs. Don't move around too much, he thought to himself then, it'll just make you warmer when you get out of the shower. He yawned, rubbed his shoulders; he was getting used to the coldness of the water now and becoming tired again.

Ross was cute, he thought. He paused in surprise; he had not expected that idea to come to his mind! The thought was sudden, the product of a very sleepy, wandering and only half-conscious mind. But he was… well he was just cute sometimes, more than sometimes. Sam giggled to himself then, and shook his head, for being so silly. Must be the heat, he thought to himself. But he knew it wasn't, really. He'd felt attracted to Ross for quite awhile, actually. He hadn't been too shy to tell him, either… playfully, at least. He had made sure to tell him several times, in fact. They'd even kissed each other once… a month ago. They'd both been in Ross' bed, talking about dreams, and before Sam knew it they were both kissing, he remembered. He'd gotten aroused by it, but he didn't say anything about that as he didn't imagine Ross felt sexually attracted to him… which maybe was indicative of Sam's boundless pessimism in the face of all optimistic evidence. His whole crotch felt pleasant now… really pleasant. I'd better stop, he thought, it's way too hot out there to be thinkin' about that, and giggled again. Sam's body wouldn't cooperate with him, though. He slowly let his hand drift down towards his penis… just to see… He felt a sudden wave of gratification wash over his whole body and quickly pulled his hand away. He was hard. Damn, he thought, and then wondered why this cold water wasn't taking care of that!

Then he woke up for a second time… stepped out of the water jet… stepped back in… stepped back out… felt the water. "Fuck," he muttered. The water wasn't cold anymore. The water wasn't cold; something must be wrong downstairs, the water was room-temperature now. What was wrong with the water? Hell, everyone's probably trying to use the cold water now, he thought bitterly. He turned the useless lukewarm water off and got himself out. Anyway, trying to figure out what happened to the bloody water got rid of the erection. How's that for irony, he thought, as if his body was something to spite.

I'm thinking in the smug self-satisfied way of the irrecoverably bored, he realized, and sighed.

He dried himself with the towel nearby and slipped on his short shorts again. Not short enough for his tastes, not in this heat. He threw his shirt back on, combed his long hair back and exited the bathroom.

Ross had moved from the kitchen and was now in the bedroom, which was directly across from the bathroom. He was sitting on his bed reading a book. Sam walked in and asked, "What'cha readin'?"
"1984," Ross replied.
"Oh cool. Where are ya up to?"
"Two-minutes hate. Everyone's flinging everything around and screaming at a portrait of Emannuel Goldstein."
"Ah hah," Sam nodded, and then added, "Fuck it's hot. You know the cold water's out now for some reason?"
Ross put the book down. "You're kidding," he said. Cold water was much more important at this point than anything George Orwell had to say.
"It just went out on me in the shower. Didn't even notice at first. Guess I'm half-asleep."
"Shit. Any idea why?"
"No. I think it must be because everyone's trying to use it now. I hope that's why, anyway."

Sam lied down, putting his head on Ross' lap, and closed his eyes. "It ain't never been this bad before," Sam lamented, "I mean we've had it this hot before, but not triple-digits for this many days in a row!" Then Sam sighed, exasperated. This heat-wave was endless.

Ross gently stroked Sam's wet hair, which Sam found delectable. Sam moaned very softly in an encouraging sort of way, without opening his mouth. He opened his eyes and stared contentedly towards the blank, powerless computer monitor as Ross continued with gentle stroking motions. He felt delightful… then his whole lower abdomen started to feel subtly sexual… Both of his thighs were overtaken with waves of pleasure. He felt his penis getting erect again… but it was being blocked from rising up all the way by the bottom of his shorts. He shifted about slightly to try to get his shorts out of the way, to no avail, but the shifting caused his shorts to rub up against the tip of his penis, making him feel even more delightful…

Sam giggled a bit. "What's so funny?" asked Ross, with a smile. "Nothing…" giggled Sam, "Um, well, I'm a little horny." "Oh," Ross said and giggled a little himself. Sam sat up, and turned his head to look Ross in the eyes. He had very light brown eyes; they appeared as if desperate to see things, to see the world. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then Sam's head dropped and he looked straight at the bed and giggled severely. He blushed bright red. His shorts finally shifted out of his way, swatching the top of his penis one last time. He was totally aroused now. He wanted to… but he couldn't tell if Ross did. He must know what's going on, thought Sam… Or maybe he doesn't. He honestly wasn't sure… He looked at Ross again. Ross was looking back at him, and smiling so beautifully. Seeing Ross smile like that sent more waves of pleasure up and down Sam's thighs… He must know… right? Or does he? Maybe I'm misinterpreting all of this… I must be…right?

Sam smiled and giggled a few times. Ross giggled, "Now I'm horny too," causing Sam to giggle, perpetuating Ross' giggling, sending them both into giggle-fits. Now Sam brought his face close to Ross'… very close… and kissed him lightly on the lips… and on the cheek… and on the chin… and on the nose… and on the lips again. Ross moaned softly. Sam whispered haltingly, "Do you want to… um… do you want to… um… do something… about our horniness?" He giggled the last three words out. "Yessss," was the answer, whispered back.

Ross kissed Sam's lips… and then both of his eyelids… and then his forehead… and then his cheek. His left hand slipped down Sam's chest and waist and softly caressed his crotch over his shorts. His right hand found its way around Sam's waist. Sam put both arms around Ross and they embraced. They pulled away from each other slightly and Ross pulled Sam's shirt off, brushing Sam's underarm hair. Ross slowly bent towards Sam's chest and kissed his shoulder deeply and passionately. His tongue licked the area. His mouth went down towards Sam's breast nipple and he kissed that too. The nipple went hard in his mouth; he flicked it with his tongue a few times. His left hand came up and slowly stroked the other nipple.

Sam hummed pleasurably in a broken tone, "mmm--mm-mm-m". More waves of pleasure washed over his thighs, now more pleasing than before. He had sensitive nipples.

Ross' left hand was caressing Sam's crotch over his shorts again. His right hand lightly stroked Sam's arm. Sam slowly removed Ross' shirt and smiled sheepishly. Sam brought himself towards Ross, holding his body, kissing his breasts, and then his nipples, making them stand up. He let his tongue travel down Ross' body… towards the narrow trail of hair… leading down from his bellybutton… down towards… his skirt. The outline of Ross' penis was visible through his skirt. Ross murmured, "hmm--mmmm.…" Sam unfastened Ross' skirt and held it gently as Ross slipped out of it, squirming a bit with pleasure. He had nothing under his skirt. His penis stood erect against a modest bushel of pubic hair. The very bottom of his scrotal sac rested on the light green sheets. Ross' body was now laid out serenely against the sheets, his arms stretched out to either side of his head, his legs slightly open.

Sam moved his right hand over Ross' stomach, down through the trail of hair, gently stroking Ross' pubic hair, brushing lightly against the base of his penis. Then Sam brought his left hand up towards Ross' mouth and Ross suckled on his fingers as he gently kissed Ross' stomach, letting his tongue lick around the bellybutton. Sam's right hand went up towards Ross' penis and softly brushed against the upper part of it, causing Ross to moan delightfully. Continual waves of pleasure now shot up and down Ross' thighs, legs and abdomen, spreading outwards… Sam moved his tongue slowly downwards along Ross' stomach and brought his fingers out of Ross' mouth, caressing Ross' face with them. He brushed Ross' penis with his right hand again, eliciting a soft broken moan out of Ross, "ah-ahh".

Then he got playful, suddenly lightly squeezing Ross' penis in his hand, and then quickly releasing, and smiling wickedly. Ross moaned loudly, trailing off sweetly. So Sam squeezed again, longer, and then released, causing Ross to moan even louder. Now a delightful pleasantness overtook Ross. He felt as though he was on airs, without a care in the world, and so lovely… and so trusting… Sam and Ross trusted each other very much, with everything, even their bodies. They had a kind of kinship solidarity that held them together like crazy-glue, and allowed them to be completely honest with each other at all times. Ross wondered if this could be called… love? He was too lost in pleasure to think much about it… love… pleasure… pleasure… love… "mm-mm," he gasped.

Sam squeezed again, even longer, and then released. Ross moaned, and Sam squeezed again as Ross was still moaning, continuing to hold on now. Ross squirmed and laughed, his laughter transforming into loud moaning as he smiled. Pleasure now wrapped itself around Ross' entire body; he could feel it everywhere, and he was crazily desperate for it. Sam brought his head upwards towards Ross' face and kissed him on the lips. He brought his mouth away and stuck his tongue slightly out; Ross reciprocated. Their tongues lightly touched each other, and then Ross sucked Sam's tongue clean into his mouth and licked carefully before releasing it. They both laughed; they were both transfixed on one another's eyes. Ross felt pleasure washing over his whole body in waves. Sam finally released.

Ross undid Sam's shorts; Sam stepped both legs out of them, one at a time, revealing all of himself. He had a bit more pubic hair than Ross did.

Their whole bodies came together, then, and their hips grinded on each other. The tops of their penises rubbed up against one another, throwing both of them into moaning pleasure-fits. Ross held on to Sam; Sam held on to Ross; they grinded against one another; they moaned. Ross kissed Sam's lips, and then went down to kiss his shoulders and his neck. Goddess he's sweet, thought Ross, so sweet… so sweet.

They rolled over onto their sides, still fully against each other. They were both sweating profusely now, and noticing the heat, except now it was intertwined with intense pleasure and comfort so that the discomfort of the heat seemed to disappear to nothing. The waves of pleasure were relentless and blocked out all else.

They continued grinding their hips, one against the other, sometimes moaning, sometimes laughing, sometimes both at once. Sam pushed Ross' long flowing hair back and kissed him all around his chin. He caressed Ross' cheek with his right hand and let his left hand drift down towards Ross' hip, caressing that.

Ross' left hand went around Sam's body and stroked the hair on his buttocks. Then he pulled Sam's crotch hard against his, pulling desperately via Sam's buttocks. Sam moaned loudly.

Ross pulled away and back towards the end of the bed and smiled playfully. Sam laughed and followed, moving towards Ross, as Ross moved backwards giggling. Then Ross leaped towards Sam in one swift motion, and with that his head was on Sam's crotch… licking the top of Sam's penis. "ahhhh-haa-AHHHHHHHhhhh", Sam moaned loudly, the pitch of his voice getting increasingly high. Several locks of Sam's hair came down over his eyes as he jerked his head from one side to another. Ross put his tongue on the base of Sam's penis and from there licked the whole thing, upwards to the tip, and back down again, and back up again, and back down. Now he hardened his tongue and put pressure on Sam's penis whenever he came up to the middle and top of it. Sam bit his lower lip and arched his back upwards, writhing in pleasure. Ross put his mouth over the head of Sam's penis and flicked his tongue rapidly back and forth on top of it. Sam yelled, "OHHhh-AHHHHHH!" Sam lost himself, his whole body, in pleasure. His back arched upwards again as he moaned. Ross could see Sam's eyes rolling towards the back of his head before Sam's back arched. Ross pushed Sam's penis down away from Sam's stomach with his mouth and licked up the top of it. He continued to lick around it. He brought his head down and licked the sac… but he didn't want to put his mouth over it… it just didn't do to be that risky with an area that sensitive. He licked it up, and then came back up towards Sam's penis. Ross' hip was now moving against the bed-sheet, causing Ross to moan a bit too…

Sam twisted his body around so that his head now faced towards Ross' penis and pushed Ross' body sideways. Ross continued licking Sam's penis. Sam moaned and struggled to concentrate, a bit frustrated at not being able to. He put his mouth over the top of Ross' penis and sucked on it while licking and occasionally flicking his tongue against the head.

Ross squealed with delight, neglecting to lick Sam's penis for a moment. He went back at it voraciously, then, and pressed his tongue down against the top of Sam's penis as hard as he could, licking it up and down. Sam moaned through closed lips, "MMMMmmmm". Both of them now felt the relentless throbbing of sexual pleasure throughout their bodies, with special concentration over their crotches. Ross yelped in sudden ecstasy, "yeee-ah! AHHH!"

Some pre-come dripped out of Sam's penis now and dribbled slowly down the shaft. "You're wet," mumbled Ross, and then he licked it off. It tasted… salty. Ross put his mouth over the top of Sam's penis and did the same thing to Sam that Sam was doing to him. For awhile they both moaned through their closed mouths and their hands ran up and down each other's bodies, desperately feeling each other and clinging to each other. Then at once Sam pushed himself away and gasped for breath. "Fuck," he managed to say while gasping. They were both drunk with pleasure now. He licked up Ross' leg, moving against the direction of the hair, and noticed that now Ross was wet too; pre-come dripped down Ross' penis, some of it had gotten onto Ross' leg. Sam licked that part of Ross' leg and then flipped himself around, obliviously knocking 1984 off the bed in the process, and bringing himself up towards Ross' face again.

They kissed fervently, mouth-to-mouth, mouth-to-chin, mouth-to-cheek, mouth-to-nose -- everywhere. They brought their bodies back together and again grinded their crotches against each other; stroked their penises against one another. Both of them had become partly lubricated down there with some pre-come, and so they both slid against each other with less friction this time. Ross could feel himself losing control; pleasure now overwhelmed every part of him. He moaned, screamed, began grinding faster, rapidly, needfully -- Sam held fast and stopped him. "Slllloooowly," requested Sam with a devilishly cute look on his face, and then Sam resumed grinding in a slow, methodical way, moaning loudly, as if to demonstrate.

Ross was beside himself in ecstasy, directing all his energy towards keeping his motions under control, going slow… slow… slow… slow… "oooh-OOOH!" he shouted. He gasped, and coughed, and gasped. "Unngh… Goddess."

Sam continued grinding defiantly slow, driving them both through the roof with delight. Ross' body was now beginning to lose it and then several times he forgot all about the meaning of the word slow, or any other word, and rubbed his penis rapidly against Sam's before remembering again. Sam found it lovely and laughed, and moaned, and then laughed again…

The lubrication was running out, and so Sam withdrew a bit, and put less pressure on Ross' penis while grinding. They both tenderly rubbed the floppy tops of their penises together, in a criss-cross.

They moaned rapturously and held onto each other desperately, feeling all around the sweat-drenched bodies of one another. Ross lost himself in joy and again grinded rapidly against Sam, kissing him all over his face passionately, and then stared straight into his hazel eyes. There they stared into each other in this intimate way, while grinding themselves against one another. Ross felt elated, gushingly happy, happier than ever to be there and then and intoxicated with this boy whom he adored and whom he…

"I love you!" Ross suddenly shouted, at the peak of ecstasy.

"I love you!" Sam also confessed.

They kissed one another ardently, completely engulfed in good feeling. They kissed and grinded and laughed and kissed again and time seemed to disappear, no longer relevant, no longer measurable or needing to be measured, just gone. All that existed then was Ross and Sam and their emphatic desire to be together.

They rubbed their crotches together at an increasingly frantic pace, their bodies becoming conduits for mutual sexual gratification. Ross now completely forgot "slow" and grinded his crotch against Sam's as fast as he could, and then began to grind in all directions, randomly, wildly, frenzied, all of him succumbed to total, blissful pleasure.

"Ah--oh! I'm gonna come!" Ross shouted urgently. "Come, come, sweetie," encouraged Sam. Ross now moaned continuously and his voice got progressively higher pitched as his whole body became enveloped with ecstasy and joy. "AhhhHHHHH-AHHH!" he screamed, and then lost track of all reality, and felt nothing but an endless well of perpetual pleasure everywhere, unbelievably intense, concentrated outrageously somewhere… down… somewhere… "OOHHHahHH!" he shrieked indulgently.

By now neither of them could tell where one ended and the other began. They were as one writhing, squirming, wriggling, trembling entity, gratefully overdosed on sexual pleasure. Sam now moaned ceaselessly. Ross felt an insistent and persistent desperation for more… more… more… more… Ross' body went into sudden convulsions, and intense pleasure overtook him, more intense than he'd ever felt before, passionately intertwined with feelings of love, so acute as causing him to fervidly scream as loud as he could. He could feel some muscle contracting uncontrollably down there… somewhere… lost in all the pleasure and emotion and screaming… He grinded himself against Sam with alacrity now, not wanting to give up the pleasure, chancing on continuing the orgasm forever. His semen was now all over his stomach, and Sam's stomach, and his penis, and Sam's penis, allowing them to grind against each other effortlessly with no friction.

Sam was overwhelmed with ecstasy and shrieked with pleasure. "Oh--YES! YES!" he shouted, and noisily and uncontrollably grinded his crotch hard against Ross', the semen from Ross' climax making such absurdly rigorous grinding easily possible. Then Sam climaxed too, and lost himself in the throes of love and orgasm mutually entangled into one profoundly pleasurable and blissful mass. Sam felt himself ejaculating as he continued rubbing his crotch onto Ross' and prolonging the orgasm. Sam shouted, "AAAAHHHHHgggghhh!!! Goddess! Fuck!" Both of their crotches were now completely covered with their mixed ejaculate.

They collapsed onto the bed together. Both were drenched with sweat from head to toe; both were entirely satiated from head to toe. Ross stared straight up at the ceiling, smiling in contented bliss, his penis now shrunk and flaccid. Sam lay on top of him, softly kissing his cheek and lips; Sam murmured his name affectionately: "Ross…." Then Sam relaxed himself, and cuddled next to Ross. Ross turned on his side and cuddled Sam back, adoringly, caressing his body and face. They both settled soothingly together.

Then Sam noticed Ross' face was tear-streaked. He became very concerned, and asked, "Why're you crying, Rossy? What's wrong?" "Nothing's wrong," Ross replied, "that's why I'm crying."

They hugged fondly, and simply lied there together, embracing for… five minutes?… ten minutes?… twenty minutes?… however long… time had still not restarted, although now they vaguely realized that eventually it would have to. Neither minded the other's wetness, or the sticky-oozy feeling as they shifted their hips. Actually, they found it pleasant, endearing even.

Sam noticed the scorching heat again, and as passion and pleasure sank slowly away into pleasant memories, the reality of the heat became evermore insistent and uncomfortable. He floated the idea of taking another shower… maybe the cold water was back now. But the effort required to get up and walk to the shower seemed prohibitively enormous to Sam.

Sam and Ross were both exhausted now. Ross cuddled closer to Sam, pecking him on the cheek. Ross asked sleepily, "Did you really mean that before? 'Bout loving me?"
"Yes," Sam replied. "Did you?"
"Yes."

They caressed each other, and slipped in and out of consciousness together, loving in spite of the pounding heat. The part of the bed by their crotches was very wet for awhile. They both found it… pleasant somehow… The smell of sex was everywhere. Occasionally they reiterated their 'I love you's to one another while in momentary consciousness. Hours passed.

Sam was awakened by Ross, eventually, with a few gentle taps to the shoulder. "Wake up sleepy," he said, "we ought to shower." Sam glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was 4:45 PM. Evening now. Sam and Ross disentangled themselves, being very careful and gentle about pulling away their crotches from each other, since a lot of the pubic hair had stuck together… slowly and tenderly they pulled themselves away from one another. They both felt hot and sticky, hellishly uncomfortable. But still tired… Sam forced himself to get up and follow Ross, and they both made their way towards the bathroom.

They got in the shower. "Cold, right?" Ross asked. "Yeah," responded Sam, and he braced. Cold water burst out of the showerhead and onto them both. Ross gasped and Sam yelped, and then they both laughed sheepishly. Both were shocked back into full consciousness by the suddenly cold water. They were smiling, a bit shyly, at each other, mulling over what had happened between them… what would happen now. Affectionately, Sam began to wash Ross' body off, with soap, and Ross reciprocated.

They loitered together in the stream of the cold shower for about twenty minutes, tenderly scrubbing every part of one another, laughing and giggling occasionally, sometimes lovingly embracing and just standing there in each other's arms, letting the cold water wash over them both.

Afterwards they both went into the bedroom, tossed their clothes into the hamper and threw on some new clothes.

Ross felt happy enough to sing. Sam took in deep breaths, stared upwards at the ceiling and closed his eyes; he'd never felt this joyful before. They were both still reeling from the intimacy. It had been… beyond wonderful for them both. "Wow," Ross said, and then giggled.
"Yeah," Sam giggled back. "Wow's… Goddess, I love you Rossy."
"I love you too Sammy," Ross said, grinning.

They sat joyfully for a bit, enjoying each other's company.

"Hey… you wanna go to the swimming pool for a bit?" Sam asked.
"I dunno. It's late."
"Yeah… but so what? We both got an unlimited pool pass for the whole summer, might as well put it to use."
"Hmm. Okay, let's go to the pool, then… … love."

Then Ross and Sam both looked at one another, and smiled.

Mikey Rosario
Unapologetic Marxist-Feminist