The Only Body That Aroused Him Was His Friend’s

They were sitting on the edge of the pool, their feet sunk into the warm water. Steam rose slowly, and the smell of chlorine clung to everything. Two bodies carved by years of training: broad shoulders, smooth tanned skin, legs defined by effort. Andrés and Tobías were the best at the club, the ones everyone called “the brothers,” inseparable since they were ten.

—I swear that video was the best thing I’ve seen in months —Andrés said, splashing the water with his heel—. That blonde chick drove me crazy.

—She’s incredible —Tobías replied—. I barely got it started, I couldn’t hold out at all.

—That’s what being a man is for, brother. —Andrés gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder and left his hand there a second too long on the damp skin—. We’ve got testosterone through the roof. Look at us, at our best.

Tobías nodded, though for a moment he didn’t know where to look.

***

The beach was packed that afternoon, but they stood out. They walked across the sand in their racing suits, their skin gleaming with sun and sweat, not a single hair on their bodies. It didn’t take long to draw glances, and two girls came over under the pretense of asking for a lighter.

—The party’s already started here, right? —Andrés said, slipping his arm over one of their shoulders.

The game heated up fast. When the sun went down, the four of them slipped behind some rocks. Andrés had his girl up against a palm tree; Tobías was sitting in the sand with the other one on top of him, her hands working inside his Lycra. They stayed like that for a good while, giving themselves over to the friction, until the girls said goodbye with laughter and wandered off along the shore.

Andrés wiped the sweat from his forehead.

—They were hot, right? —he said, then screwed up his face—. Though… I got hard and everything, but I thought I’d feel more. I needed the punch, you know?

—I thought I was the only one. —Tobías brushed the sand off his legs—. I came, yeah, but it was all very mechanical.

—It’s today’s training, it was heavy. Lactic acid lowers your desire, it’s science. —Andrés stood up and held out his hand to help him up. Tobías took it, and felt the strength of the grip travel up his arm—. Tomorrow, rested, it’s a different story.

For a second, Andrés kept looking at his friend’s heaving chest. Then he looked away toward the sea.

***

That night, each in his own room, the silence only made the confusion grow.

Tobías was looking for something on his phone to wind down when, by accident, a video of two men appeared. His first reaction was disgust. He was about to close it, but he noticed the guys had a build identical to theirs: swimmers, broad shoulders, smooth skin. He wasn’t attracted to the men on the screen. What betrayed him was his own head, which started placing Andrés in that scene. The same hand that patted me on the beach, running over me. His erection turned to stone in an instant, and he froze there, scared by how hard he got just from thinking about his friend.

In the other house, Andrés scrolled through videos of women with no enthusiasm. He tossed the phone onto the mattress and stared at the ceiling. When he closed his eyes, the image of Tobías in the sand came back, the brush of their thighs under the pool water. His pulse shot up, heat climbed his spine, and his body responded with a force he hadn’t felt all afternoon.

—No way —he muttered, clenching his teeth—. It’s Tobías, my brother.

They both spent the night awake, not understanding why only the other’s image could get them going.

***

The locker room was deserted the next day, with only the dripping of the showers. They changed with their backs turned, but when they were down to their underwear they glanced at each other sideways. The other’s physique, the perfect skin, the defined muscles, hit their eyes. Almost at the same time, both erections appeared, bulging against the Lycra in an obvious way.

—Again? —Andrés looked down at the bulge, furious—. This built-up energy is going to drive me crazy.

—It’s the creatine we took yesterday —Tobías said, red-faced, covering himself with his towel—. It’s got us too worked up.

—Sure. Let’s go in the water and see if the cold brings us down.

They swam furiously for a full hour, trying to burn off the feeling. When they finished, they leaned against the edge, water up to their chests.

—I couldn’t do it last night —Andrés confessed suddenly, not looking at him—. No matter how many videos I put on, nothing. I thought something had broken inside me.

Tobías’ eyes widened.

—Same thing happened to me. I’d get hard, but not for what I was looking at.

—We must have eaten something yesterday! —Andrés slapped the water—. It’s not normal for both of us to have the same thing happen on the same day.

As he said it, he couldn’t stop looking at the way the water ran down his friend’s chest.

***

Fatigue got the better of them that afternoon and, like so many times since they were kids, they threw themselves onto the same bed. They turned off the light. In the dark, the room felt smaller, and the heat of the other body worked like a magnet. Every time their legs brushed under the sheets, Andrés felt an electric current he didn’t understand.

He woke with the sun coming through the window. Andrés woke first, pressed against Tobías’s back, an arm around his waist, his chest against his shoulder blades.

I should move away, make fun of him like always. But it feels too good.

Tobías had been awake for minutes. He felt the weight of the arm, the firmness of the chest against his back, the calm breathing at the nape of his neck. At any other time he would have shoved him off. Now a warmth was running through him from head to toe, and he didn’t want to move.

Unable to stop himself, Andrés’s body reacted. His erection pressed directly against his friend’s back. Tobías felt it perfectly, and instead of pulling away, a shiver ran down his spine. His own hardness pressed against the hand Andrés had resting on his belly.

—Do you feel that too? —Andrés asked, voice rough, not letting him go.

—Yeah —Tobías answered, not daring to turn around—. It’s really strong.

—It must be the built-up testosterone. The body reacts to whatever it has nearby, right?

—Yeah. It’s just a reflex, nothing more.

They stayed like that, pressed together, pretending it was an experiment with their own bodies, until a shout from the kitchen broke the spell and forced them apart all at once.

***

Days later they arrived at a secluded beach, a nudist area famous for its relaxed atmosphere. They walked completely naked, determined to “test themselves” once and for all. Andrés pointed at a woman sunbathing.

—Look at that one. Magazine body. —He stared fixedly at her, trying to force a reaction—. She’s gorgeous… but I don’t feel anything, Tobías. It’s like looking at a statue.

They sat on their towels, one beside the other. When Andrés turned to get comfortable, his gaze accidentally swept over Tobías’s body: the powerful shoulders, the long legs, everything under the sun. The woman’s image vanished from his head and he felt the electric tug at the base of his belly.

—Look at that one, the girl in the pink bikini! —Tobías said suddenly, pointing anywhere, voice agitated—. For her I did get hard!

—Me too! —Andrés lied, hiding his erection with his leg.

Both of them there, rock hard, pointing at a woman they barely looked at, knowing deep down that the engine of that desire was seated just inches away.

***

That same afternoon they slipped between some tall rocks, hidden from everyone.

—I know what’s going on —Andrés said, pacing back and forth—. We’re doing it wrong. Too much force, too much hurry. Let’s do it here, side by side. We’ll watch each other and correct ourselves, like when we fix butterfly stroke technique.

—Okay —Tobías swallowed—. If it’s about correcting, let’s do it.

They sat facing each other. The contrast of their tanned skin and the direct view of the two erect cocks made the air unbreathable again. They started touching themselves, trying to keep a “professional” look, but their eyes couldn’t stop moving over the other’s chest, stomach, crotch.

—Look, I do it like this… —Andrés’s voice cracked—. But seeing you up close… with the sun hitting your muscles…

—You too —Tobías panted, eyes closed, his hand moving faster and faster—. You look really strong.

It didn’t take two minutes. The arousal was so violent that they forgot the “technique.” They finished almost at the same time, muscles taut to the limit, panting, covered in sweat.

—It was the technique! —Andrés said afterward, still agitated—. Under group pressure the brain reacts. It’s like a competition.

—Hell yeah —Tobías nodded, heart racing.

They stood up convinced by their own lie, though both knew they had never wanted so badly for the other man’s hand to be the one there.

***

Climbing over the sports complex fence was easy; they knew every corner. At night, the Olympic pool looked like a sheet of silver under the moon. They stripped in silence at the water’s edge and jumped in together. The cold impact made them gasp, but soon they generated warmth. Their hands brushed on every stroke. After several lengths at top speed, they stopped in the deep end, holding onto the edge, very close.

—I tried watching porn today. All kinds —Andrés said, water running down his face—. Nothing. Not a single reaction.

—Same here. I got grossed out seeing other guys… but then I thought about the rocks. About us. —Tobías looked him in the eyes—. Only then could I feel anything. I don’t want anyone else, but with you I feel like I’d die if I can’t touch you.

Andrés extended a hand under the water and gripped his thigh hard.

—We’re not the kind of guys who go around bars. Men still do nothing for me. But you’re different. I don’t know if it’s the sport or the fact that we grew up together, but I like you. And not just your body. I like that it’s you.

—I like you too, Andrés. In a way that scares me.

Under the water, their bodies found each other. Their legs tangled and desire exploded without either of them being able to deny it any longer. For the first time they accepted that their world had room only for the two of them.

***

Later, in Andrés’s room, in the dark, they searched for each other between the sheets until they ended up wrapped in an embrace, skin against skin. Andrés pulled back just enough to look at him. With a trembling hand he stroked his cheek, down along his jaw to his lips. Both their hearts were pounding hard.

The kiss was slow, loaded with fear and a shyness they had never had with each other. Their lips brushed lightly, recognizing each other in a new way. Tobías closed his eyes and kissed him back, feeling a warmth that reached all the way to his toes.

—Is this okay? —he murmured when they parted—. Is it really us doing this?

—I don’t know if it’s the right thing for the rest of the world —Andrés replied, pressing his forehead to his—. But it’s the only thing I want to do right now. Don’t ask me to pull away, because I can’t.

In the morning, they set the rules. No contact in public. Keep up appearances for everyone else. And above all, no one else: what they felt was exclusive to the two of them. They sealed the pact with a kiss much surer than the one from the night before, a kiss that was no longer about doubt but possession.

***

To make themselves fully believe it, they drove to a neighboring city and stood in front of a neon-lit bar full of men. They went in, ordered a beer just to have something in their hands, and looked around: guys dancing shirtless, others kissing in the corners.

—I don’t feel anything like I feel when I see you —Tobías said, looking away from a man who had winked at him—. I feel uncomfortable, like I’m in the wrong locker room.

A stranger came over and rested a hand on Andrés’s shoulder.

—You two look way too tense to have bodies like that.

—Don’t get it wrong —Andrés replied, brushing the hand off with a sharp gesture.

They left almost running, breathing the fresh air as if they’d been suffocating. Once inside the car, locked in, they looked at each other in the dark. The rejection they’d felt inside only tripled their mutual desire. Andrés reached out, grabbed the back of his neck, and pulled him into a fierce kiss.

—It’s only us —he said against his lips—. Only between the two of us is there chemistry.

***

The following weekend Andrés’s house was empty. They went out into the garden, where the pool light tinted the water a deep blue, and undressed slowly, admiring every inch of each other. There was no shame now, only an electric curiosity that consumed them.

Tobías placed his hands on the pool edge and felt Andrés’s body against his back. The initial contact was a caress in the water, hands running over his hips with a slowness that made them breathe in broken gasps.

—I don’t know if I’ll be able to —he murmured when Andrés prepared him patiently, waiting to feel the muscles relax under his hands.

—You have to open up like when you used to jump off the diving board —he whispered in his ear—, when you trusted the water to catch you.

He entered slowly, waiting for his friend to adjust. Tobías arched his back; the impossible stretch turned into heat as Andrés sank all the way in. Water splashed around their shining torsos while the rhythm shifted from careful to urgent.

—Harder —Tobías panted, and Andrés obeyed, grabbing his thighs to lift half his body out of the water.

Now they felt every inch, every drop sliding between their chests as they collided. When orgasm hit them, it came with teeth clamped into bronzed shoulders to muffle their moans. Afterward they floated there, chest against back, breathing in unison.

—See? Just us —Andrés said, brushing a drop from the nape of his neck with his lips.

***

They spent three days sticking to the silence pact to the letter, swimming with ferocious intensity, avoiding even their usual jokes. But the tension was unbearable. One afternoon, when the rest of the team had already left, they were alone in the showers at the far end, standing under the stream without really bathing.

Andrés shut off the water abruptly.

—I can’t take this anymore. These days have been hell. I watch you swim, I watch you change, and I feel like I’m going crazy.

—Me too —Tobías replied, his eyes red from holding it in—. I thought silence would help me, but it only made me realize I need you. I don’t care what we are.

He backed up until his back hit the cold tiles. Andrés lunged at him, trapping him against the wall with his arms.

—Not here —he murmured against his lips—. Someone could come in.

—I don’t care —Tobías replied, grabbing his neck—. I can’t wait another second.

Andrés’s hands ran over his bronzed torso while their mouths crashed together in a kiss that tasted of chlorinated water. He prepared him with his tongue and fingers until the muscle gave way, and Tobías stifled a moan against his own arm. Then he lifted him, resting his legs on his shoulders as if they were part of an exercise, and drove in to the hilt with a wet sound that made them both moan at once.

Their thrusts rebounded off the locker room walls. Tobías bit his lip, pain melting into pleasure every time his friend found the exact angle. Orgasm came like a wave: Andrés emptied into him with endless pulses, and Tobías followed immediately, spilling against the gray cement.

They collapsed together on the wet floor, panting, the echo of what they had just done resonating louder than any word.

—I heard a noise outside a while ago —Andrés said, still alert toward the door.

—My heart nearly jumped out when I thought someone was coming in. —Tobías smiled, weak but satisfied—. But I’ve never felt anything like that. Doing it here, with the risk… it was different.

—It was incredible. Like danger made us even hotter. —Andrés squeezed his waist—. It’s not just sex anymore. It’s something ours, something that makes us feel more alive than ever.

They dressed quickly and walked toward the exit. There was no doubt in their eyes now. The fear of being discovered, instead of pushing them apart, had become a new addiction: the adrenaline of their forbidden desire in the very places where, to everyone else, they were just two inseparable athletes.