Page 96 of Smart Ass

He got aroused as fuck every day, knowing that Max was watching him change clothes. Or step out of the shower. Or walk around in his pajamas.

He loved his daily commute, when Max would sing with him, or those late nights when the whole world was asleep, and words slipped out of him that he’d never say in the light of day.

Even coming into the office gave Ben a tingle every time. It was like tumbling into a little bubble of (yech) happiness, where he and Max would work on their projects and joke back and forth. He’d never been so in tune with anyone else. Whether his mind was tunneling inward or jumping around like a crazed monkey, Max could follow him anywhere.

Max rarely spoke to Ben when he was at home, but Ben knew he was always watching him. Max flipped the fuck out one day when Ben had taken off his watch to fix something in a tight space under the sink—even though Max admitted to knowing he was going to do it.

Ben had teased him about it relentlessly. But he’d loved it, too.

He didn’t want to examine it too closely, but it meant something to him.

Even if it was only because Max didn’t have any other friends yet and didn’t realize he could do better.

“Why are you sighing?” Max asked.

Because I’m a fuckwit?“I’m not sighing.”

“You are. You’re twitchy, too.”

Ben looked down. His foot was thumping like a little bunny’s in a cartoon.

Did rabbits actually do that? He’d only seen one rabbit in real life, and it was pretty slow.

They probably didn’t. It sounded like a crappy defense mechanism.

“Do rabbits really tap their feet like this?” he asked. Then he made himself stop.

Max wasn’t thrown by the non sequitur. “No. When they get scared, they thump once or twice loudly to signal other rabbits in their burrows.”

Ah. That was good to know.

Ben found that his fingers were twitching now that he’d made his foot stop.

He really wished Max hadn’t pointed it out. That wasn’t like him. It kind of brought back, oh, decades of teachers and friends telling him to stop doing it because it was annoying people.

Ben had thought Max didn’t mind.

“Stand up,” Max said.

It took far too long for Ben’s brain to process the command. Why should he…

“Now,” Max growled.

Oh… fuck yeah. Ben slammed his laptop closed and stood up. Please, please let this be what he wanted it to be.

“You need this, don’t you?” It wasn’t really a question. Max’s voice was dark and dangerous. The two robots that had been standing uselessly against the wall these past few weeks activated and started toward him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ben said blithely. Funny how he wasn’t twitching anymore.

“You need to be put in your place.”

Ben scoffed. He didn’t know how he could be so deliriously happy and reluctant at the same time. His nipples pebbled, brushing his shirt with acute awareness.

He wanted it. Needed it. Thought he might die without it.

But he didn’t want to admit it.

He stood his ground as the bots slowly advanced on him. They came closer and closer. Three meters. Two. One.