The Night My Best Friend Stayed Over

This story, which took shape in a single night, was born ten years earlier, in a primary school classroom that smelled of chalk and unused notebooks.

Iván was the loud kid, the one who made the teacher laugh without meaning to and who had half the class waiting for his next bright idea. He didn’t care about saying what he thought out loud and had that rare knack for making anyone feel at ease with him within five minutes.

Daniel was the opposite. He had just moved to the city from a village in the north, and on that first day he sat at the back, pressed against the window, trying to make himself small behind his backpack.

They were opposites in everything and maybe that is why, that very morning, this story began to be written without either of them knowing it.

—I love this place! It’s going to be our secret spot, the teachers won’t be able to see us from here —Iván blurted out as he dropped into the chair beside him—. I’m Iván. We’re going to be friends.

And they were. Wherever one went, the other followed. Iván signed up for basketball, Daniel did too, even though he hated running. Daniel got hooked on fantasy books, and Iván sat beside him pretending to read while he watched his profile out of the corner of his eye.

The families ended up becoming friends because they had no choice. The two of them spent more time at each other’s houses than at their own.

The years went by and the friendship never broke. They learned to speak to each other with looks the rest of the group didn’t understand, to have private jokes that lasted for weeks, to stay up until all hours talking without saying anything important.

Then Lucía appeared. She shared a reading club with Daniel and, as the weeks went by, he brought her around the group more and more often, until one afternoon he introduced her as his girlfriend.

That afternoon, Iván knew what love was. In truth he had known for years; he had just never dared give it a name. He had to hear his best friend describe what he felt for a girl to understand that he felt the same thing, only for Daniel.

He said nothing. He swallowed it. He shoved it into a dark corner of his mind and kept being the same best friend as always, the one who laughed at bad jokes and did Daniel’s math homework in exchange for food.

He even had to fight for him. One night, at a party, Daniel caught Lucía kissing another guy in the bathroom. Daniel, who had never been in a serious fight, threw the first punch back. The other guy was bigger and things went south. Iván saw him get knocked to the floor and something inside him snapped. By dawn his knuckles were raw and the other guy had a crooked nose.

The relationship with Lucía ended that same night. Daniel spent a few months dimmed, like a car idling in place. Then, little by little, he went back to himself.

One afternoon the whole group was sprawled on the sofa at their usual bar. Daniel ended up lying down with his head on Iván’s legs, like they used to as kids.

—Your sandwich is always so good —Daniel said after stealing a bite from the tuna one—. I missed it.

—What you missed was me feeding you by hand, dummy —Iván brought another piece close and Daniel bit into it.

—You know? Lucía used to get nervous about this —he said while chewing—. She said it was weird, that two friends don’t hug this much.

—Yeah, yeah, sure.

—I just do it without thinking. I love you a lot. And your sandwich too.

Iván laughed and ruffled his hair, which Daniel wore a little long. Inside, he thought Lucía hadn’t been entirely wrong. For Daniel, maybe it was pure affection. For him, it had been something else for years.

***

This story takes us to that night, which could have been just another one. Iván stayed over at Daniel’s parents’ house, like so many other times.

They ate pizza, watched half a movie, and went up to the bedroom to play on the console. Daniel was terrible. Iván beat him game after game without even trying, and Daniel got annoyed with that fake rage that always made him laugh.

In one match it seemed like Daniel might finally win. They were tied until the very last second and then Iván pulled one of his dirty tricks and stole the victory from him.

—You bastard, what luck, what fucking luck! —Daniel shouted, sitting up abruptly on the bed.

—Luck. Sure. After ten straight hours of not beating me, he calls it luck.

Daniel threw himself on him to snatch the controller away. Iván, lying on his back, stretched his arms over his head and held the controller dangling off the edge of the bed. Daniel climbed on top of him, tickling his ribs, trying to reach it while pressing his whole body against his.

And then the goal shifted.

Daniel froze halfway there, his face very close, and his lips surrendered against Iván’s. It was a tiny kiss, barely contact, but time stopped anyway. Something Iván had wanted for years and that Daniel, without knowing it, had never dared to do.

They stayed like that, not moving. Their mouths pressed together, breathing fast, the controller slipping from Iván’s slack hand to the floor.

The thud of the controller against the parquet broke the spell. Daniel pulled back, red to the ears, and started stammering an apology, trying to move away. Iván grabbed him by the waist and wouldn’t let him go.

—You forgive me —he said, his voice shaking—. For not having had the courage you just did.

Daniel stayed seated on his lap, looking at him. Iván slid a hand up his back to the nape of his neck and, very slowly, brought his face closer. His heart felt ready to burst out of his chest. In the room the only sound was the two of them breathing hard and unevenly.

The second kiss was his. Awkward at first: it was the first real kiss he had ever given. When Daniel felt the other man’s tongue, he opened his mouth and hosted him. They played, they learned each other in that other way. Daniel nipped his lower lip gently and looked him in the eye. No words were needed. They had spent ten years speaking with looks.

Iván pulled back for a moment just to look at him. That skinny boy, with very pale skin, huge green eyes and slightly tousled black hair. How many times had he dreamed of kissing him, of caressing the chest he had so often seen at the beach while pretending to look at the sea.

He rested his forehead against Daniel’s shoulder and kissed him again, tenderly, stroking his hair in a different way than the hundred thousand times before. This was no joke now. He didn’t want to mess it up. He wanted that moment to last all night.

Daniel, with his friend’s hands firmly on his hips, felt safe. Iván had always had that gift, making difficult situations easy. He felt the gorgeous body he was holding tremble against him. He stroked the short beard he had made fun of so many times and searched for his mouth again, now more calmly, with more control.

Iván took advantage of the position to lift his T-shirt and pull it off over his head. He ran his hands over the bare torso, over the soft body hair he knew by heart from so many summers. He kissed his neck, alternating licks and small bites, until Daniel pressed his head against his skin to make him stop.

That gesture gave Iván back the confidence that had slipped away at first. He moved his hands down to his abdomen, played with his nipples between his fingers while his tongue kept leaving marks on his neck. He slid up his arms to his wrists, brought them together above his head and rolled him onto his back on the bed, falling on top of him.

They stared at each other. Daniel was biting his lip, smiling, trying to draw him in with his legs. Iván shook his head very slowly, without letting go of his wrists.

He sat on top of him. Daniel began to move his hips underneath, rubbing, begging without saying a word. Iván went down to one nipple, licked it, carefully traced it with his teeth. He moved to the other and came back, rubbing his face against the chest hair. When Daniel’s moans grew louder, he returned to his mouth and they kissed as if breathing depended on it.

—You bastard, let me go, let me to… —Daniel began, eyes shining.

Iván shut him up with a very low “shhh” in his ear and moved his leg to stop him from rubbing himself any further.

He licked his lips, bit his chin, traced his whole neck all the way to his collarbone. He bit there too, listening to Daniel complain as he tried to wriggle free. He went down his chest, followed the trail of stomach hair with his tongue to the waistband of his pants.

He stopped. He looked Daniel in the eye and pressed his face against the hardness outlined in the fabric. He inhaled hard, exaggerating it. Daniel nodded, breathless. Iván bit the waistband of his pants and started pulling them down. In the end he had to let go of his wrists to finish taking them off. As soon as his hands were free, Daniel buried them in his hair and pressed him back against his body, wanting more.

Iván started the journey again, but this time over the briefs, where there was a large damp stain. He smelled it. He stuck the tip of his tongue out and licked the fabric, very slowly, making sure Daniel was watching him.

The groan Daniel let out was heard all over the room.

One hand started massaging his testicles over the cotton while the tongue kept working the fabric. The other slipped inside the waistband of the briefs from behind, grabbing one cheek. Iván stroked his opening with the pad of one finger, not going in, just brushing it.

—Don’t be mean, man, you’ve got me so… —Daniel tried to say.

Iván went for his mouth again to silence him. He put a finger on his lips and whispered a “shhh” right against his ear. Then he put that same finger in his mouth so he could wet it properly.

When he thought it was enough, he went back down. He yanked the briefs off. Daniel’s cock sprang free, hard, veined, the tip shining. Iván brought his mouth close without touching it, letting only his warm breath brush it.

—Don’t be mean —Daniel whimpered, trying to guide his head.

Iván pushed his hand away without taking his eyes off him. He let him beg a little longer. Then he licked from base to tip, toyed with the frenulum with his tongue, kissed the head carefully and took him all the way into his mouth, slowly, leaving him completely wet. At the same time, his damp finger slid down to the opening and began to circle it, opening it little by little.

Daniel clutched at Iván’s hair as if the world were ending. He felt the tongue, the finger, the throat, everything at once, and knew he wouldn’t last long like this. He pulled on the hair to make him stop.

—Wait. Up. I don’t want to come yet.

Iván came back up to his height. They kissed without rushing, looking at each other between kisses. No words were needed. It was what they had wanted for years, and at last it was this night.

Daniel yanked off his pajama shirt. Iván’s body, marked by physical work, had tempted him for years. He bit his pectorals, moved down to his nipples, gentler there. He pulled down his pants and left him only in gray briefs that clung to an erection much thicker than his own.

He licked him through the fabric, just as Iván had done before. Then he turned him over, put him face down, spread his legs and kissed his hard ass cheeks. He gave him a not-too-hard smack and let out a low laugh when he saw Iván lift his hips slightly, asking for more.

He pulled his briefs down to his knees, parted his buttocks and buried his tongue there. He licked from the perineum to the opening over and over, spat, massaged with a finger until it went in, and then replaced the finger with his tongue again, pushing it in, moving it, sucking as if it were another mouth.

Iván lost his balance. A deep moan escaped him and he pushed his ass against Daniel’s face, asking for more.

Daniel let him go only to turn him over again and finally see his cock, the same one he had often glanced at out of the corner of his eye in the gym changing rooms. It was dark, darker than the rest of his skin, thick, with heavy balls. He bit his thighs until he reached it and swallowed it down. It took effort. He nearly burst into tears. Iván tried to pull him off and he pushed his hands away. He managed to lower his nose to the pubis and stayed there, sucking, just as Iván had done to him before.

Iván’s gasps grew louder and louder.

Daniel stopped to catch his breath. Iván took advantage of it to lift him up and sit him on top. His wet cock was trapped under Daniel’s weight, throbbing against him. Daniel lifted himself slightly, lined it up with his opening, held it there, teasing, while they kissed like animals.

He rose up, shoved Iván onto his back against the headboard and stood on the bed. He grabbed his face and brought his cock to his mouth. Iván couldn’t have been more aroused. He grabbed Daniel’s ass with both hands and took him all the way in, helping him thrust, keeping him inside, sucking the way Daniel had done to him before.

One of Iván’s fingers went searching for Daniel’s opening again. It started going in and out while he fucked his mouth. Daniel felt close to the edge and pulled away. Without saying anything, he turned around, braced his hands against the wall and lowered his ass to Iván’s mouth.

Iván started eating his hole in a brutal way. Long tongue, hard, going in, out, pressing. Daniel had to bite the back of his hand so he wouldn’t shout and wake the whole house. His cock was dancing with every lick.

His legs gave out. He fell forward, between Iván’s legs, ass in the air. Iván sat up, wrapped his arms around him from behind, bit his neck, pinched his nipples, ran a hand over his abdomen, grabbed his cock. He filled his hand with his own fluid and used it to slick himself and Daniel’s opening.

He hugged him very tightly. He lined the tip up against the opening and started to push, slowly, stopping, rubbing, until it went in.

Daniel squeezed the hand he had over Iván’s. He held on. They stayed still for a while, Iván kissing his back, the nape of his neck, his ears. Until it was Daniel himself who started moving against him, setting the rhythm, moaning softly, biting the back of his hand to keep quiet.

Iván grew wilder with every thrust. He squeezed Daniel’s hips as if he wanted to fuse with him forever. The fucking built and built, faster, harder, until he couldn’t take it anymore and came inside him, a lash that left him breathless. He collapsed onto Daniel’s back.

He pulled out slowly and let himself fall beside him. They held each other and kissed, looking at each other’s faces from very close, as if seeing them for the first time.

Daniel turned him into spooning position, lifted one leg and started thrusting against him. Iván turned his neck, searching for his mouth. When Daniel came in, they were both in a very wet kiss.

Daniel’s fucking was slow, almost tender. He went in, came almost all the way out, went back in, stayed there for a while. Iván started moving his hips to match him, without moans, smothered by the kisses.

Then he got down on all fours, looked back at Daniel over his shoulder and spread his buttocks with his hands. Daniel understood. He positioned himself behind him, grabbed him by the hips and drove his long cock in to the hilt. He started moving them himself, setting the pace.

Sweat ran down their backs. Iván’s moans came out as gasps against the pillow. When Daniel exploded, he did it like he never had before. He collapsed on top of him and they both rolled until they were lying naked, embraced, in the same bed where as children they had slept a hundred times talking until the small hours.

Iván kissed his forehead. Daniel smiled and sought his mouth again.

That night was going to mark their lives. A love born in a primary school classroom smelling of chalk, and made to wait ten years to find the exact way to say itself out loud.