Page 8 of Loosened Up for My Bud

“It’s the least I can do. You’ve earned it. Don’t want you pulling a muscle trying to fish it out yourself. You’re all tense.”

“You weren’t worried about that on the field,” I mutter, but I don’t move. Don’t pull away from his hand. It’s a warm, heavy weight on my skin, and it’s making it hard to think.

“Well, on the field, I was trying to win a bet. Here, I’m just trying to be a good friend. You’re stiff as a board, Jay.”

Stiff.Fortunately, he doesn’t see I’m stiff somewhere else, too. My compression shorts are still pulled up in front, barely keeping my hard-on contained.

I should tell him to get lost. That I’m perfectly capable of taking a sex toy out of my own ass, thank you very much. But I don’t. I just stay there, bent over my own bed, waiting. My whole body is trembling, and I tell myself it’s from the workout, from exhaustion.

“Fine,” I hear myself say, the word small and tight in my throat. “Whatever. Just be quick about it.”

“Quick? This is a delicate operation.”

He doesn’t touch the plug right away. Instead, I feel his fingers trace the line of my compression shorts, then hook under the waistband and pull them down further, exposing the globes of my ass completely.

“Jesus, Stone,” I breathe, my head hanging down. “Is that needed?”

“Just trying to get a better angle.” His fingers ghost over my ass cheeks. “Man, you’re really tense. All clenched up. That’s not gonna make this easy.”

His thumb is so close to my hole. This is so far beyond anything we’ve ever done. So far beyond the boundaries of our stupid dare.

“This might feel a little weird,” he says. “Try to relax.”

Easy for him to say. He’s not the one about to be de-plugged by his best friend. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to will my muscles to unclench.

I feel a tug on the base of the plug. He’s not yanking it out. He’s being gentle, which is somehow more unnerving. It rocks side to side, easing out bit by bit. I feel the widest part sliding through, my body clenching and then giving way. It’s the reverse of this morning in the shower. A slow withdrawal that leaves this weird aching emptiness behind.

And then it’s out.

Stone places the plug on my nightstand with a thud.

“Jesus,” he breathes.

“What?”

“Nothing. You’re just... really stretched out.”

“No shit. You just pulled a buttplug out of it. Can I get up now?”

“Jay, I’m serious.” One of his hands is still on my ass. “You’re... gaping. I can see right inside you.”

“Stone, what the fuck?”

“It’s… kind of hot.”

“Hot? Dude, it’s my asshole.”

“Yeah, I know. But…”

I can feel the cool air inside me. I’m exposed in a way I’ve never been with anyone, let alone him. But for some reason, I’m not scrambling to cover myself. I’m not telling him to fuck off. I’m just… staying there. Bent over. Letting him look.

And look he does. His gaze is almost like a physical thing. A warmth that spreads across my skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake. The way he’s just staring at me, like he’s genuinely fascinated by this part of me no one has ever seen... it makes my whole body feel strange. Tingly.

“So fucking open,” he mutters, more to himself than to me. “Doesn’t it feel… empty now?”

I swallow hard. I don’t want to admit it, but it does. A profound, hollow ache where the plug used to be. My body got used to the pressure. Now it’s gone, and my ass feels like it’s trying to pull in the air. To fill the void.

“Little bit, yeah.”