THE GENTLEMEN'S CLUB Cliff Written by Lady Poetess egiggles at moose-mail.com /~bbp Please do not reproduce on any website without permission. This story has no resemblance to anyone dead or alive. ONE "You have to help me out here, Cliff." David Sutcliffe looked up from his newspapers to frown at his friend Ryan Opray. Ryan, without invitation, seated himself across the table from Cliff and flashed that cheeky grin that had slain too many victims. Cliff was, of course, immuned to the effect. What Ryan had in his arsenal of charms, Cliff had a sibling that could outcharm and outmatch Ryan in the looks and charms department. Cliff's clan wasn't dubbed the Magnificent Sutcliffes by the society observers for nothing. To Cliff, Ryan was a pain in the ass. A charming pain in the ass, but a pain nonetheless. "What is it now?" Cliff asked cautiously. He had done several favors for Ryan in the past and he knew very well how these favors often led to trouble. Ten years ago, it was Ryan that arranged for the then twenty-year old virgin Cliff to get laid, and Cliff still couldn't return to his college frat reunion because of that incident. He still couldn't believe that the stage curtains parted and the horrified board of educators saw his pasty white butt humping away between the hairy legs of the janitor right up there on the college theatre centerstage. "My father - " that would be the very sober Hammergin Opray - "had warned me that I am thirty now and I am too old to be the family buffoon," Ryan told Cliff. "That's what he said, 'family buffoon'. He told me to get a job or he would disown me. I think he means it this time." "You sure? He always threatens to disinherit you," Cliff ventured to say. "I'm sure. He showed me the draft of the revised will," Ryan said. "You know I love that bastard and he probably doesn't have much time left on this world, so what the hell, right? I can get serious and be a mature guy like everyone else." Cliff deliberately didn't say a word. "So you'll help me right?" "Huh?" Did he miss something? Cliff studied Ryan's too pretty and boyish face suspiciously. "What do you need from me?" "You're the most serious guy I know," Ryan said. This was true. He always joked that he and Cliff must have been switched at birth. Ryan was charming and flighty and too beautiful, the one shining peacock among the regrettably plain and sober Oprays, while Cliff was the only plain one among his flighty, beautiful family. They were both thirty and shared the same birthday, which was how they bonded when they met each other in grade school. Both knew what it felt like to be very different from the rest of the family and when both realized that they liked guys instead of women, their friendship became even stronger despite them going to separate high schools and colleges. "Us against them," Ryan always said with a laughter, and Cliff would always nod in agreement. Having Ryan as a friend made Cliff's own confusing teenaged years much easier to bear, and he hoped he was as important to Ryan as Ryan was to him. Cliff shrugged off his thoughts and tried to focus on the present. "I can be fun too," he said defensively. "But I need you to be serious now," Ryan said. "I need your help. Can you give me a job? Something like a desk clerk will do. Actually, you don't even have to pay me. Just give me a position with a fancy name. How about junior executive? Something to impress Dad." "We're talking about your family, not mine," Cliff pointed out. "They won't be so easily fooled." "How about I buy some shares in your company and be a joint owner?" Cliff found the notion too horrifying to contemplate. He had worked hard to make LogicVisions a successful advertizing agency and he could only shudder at what Ryan could do to the company. Ryan wasn't a lazy or stupid man, he was just enthusiastic about everything and lost interest in everything just as easily. He had been a plumber, a handyman, a motorcross racer, technician, electrician, warehouse supervisor, night watchman, and telephone repairman. Each job lasted for three months the longest. Unlike the rest of his family that was famous for producing lawyers, politicians, and policymakers, Ryan took delight in working in jobs that his family saw as dreadfully middle-class. If Cliff didn't know Ryan, he'd assume that Ryan took these jobs just to irritate his family. But Ryan genuinely liked using his hands and exerting his body and he wasn't cut out to be a pencil-pushing, policy-making kind of guy. "Well, I am looking for someone to help me out," Cliff said carefully. "Two of the clerks resigned and I'm short-handed at the office..." "Great! Make me one. But you'll have to give me a fancy job title to keep my father off my back." Ryan stood up and slapped Cliff's back, almost causing Cliff to choke on his coffee. "I'll be the best thing that ever happened to... uh, what's your company called again?" "LogicVisions," Cliff said weakly. He had a sinking feeling that he had just made a really big mistake. TWO Cliff had never seen his mild-mannered employee Billy Campbell lose his temper before, and it was a spectacular sight. Curses that rarely passed the man's lips came fast and loose when Billy realized that the report he had spent six hours the night before working on had been shredded by Ryan. Even more spectacular was how Ryan managed to not only calm Billy down but also had the man laughing to a bad joke two hours after Billy threw a tantrum and threatened to throw Ryan out the window to the ground sixteen stories below. "How did you do that?" Cliff asked as he leaned against the copier and watched as Ryan worked on fixing the broken machine. "What? Placate Billy? I told him I'll take all the blame and work on the report myself using the notes he passed to me." "Pass them to me," Cliff told him. He would not risk the Biehn account by letting Ryan work on it. "I'll persuade Billy to take it back." "I don't think he'll like it. It is my fault that I placed it among the pile of old reports instead of passing them to you," Ryan said. He straightened and switched on the copier. It worked. "There, good as new!" Ryan said with satisfaction in his voice. He spent more time fixing things around the place than working at the desk. Cliff had seen him fixing everything that needed to be fixed and when Ryan ran out of things to fix on the second day, he began painting the doors of the office. "You don't trust me, do you?" Ryan said, interrupting Cliff's thoughts. Cliff swallowed. "You don't know the ropes of the business," he told Ryan. "Then teach me," Ryan told him. "I'll pay you to teach me, if that's what you want." "I..." Cliff sighed. "To be honest, Ryan, you are doing more damage to the company these last few days than helping. You destroyed Billy's report by accident, but it's a report for an important account. We can lose this customer if we don't present our campaign to him this Friday. You also misplaced three months' worth of financial statements, you flirted with the mailman and accidentally sent documents out to the wrong customer while you're at it... I hate to say this, Ryan, but I can't trust you, not when you can't seem able to pay attention to the job and be serious even for a minute." Ryan had been silent all this while. Cliff watched the man standing there, tensed with anger probably, Ryan's hands clenched into fists with the knuckles pressing hard on the top of the copier. "Ryan, I didn't want to say this," Cliff tried to say. "I know," Ryan cut in roughly. "I know," he repeated. He ran his fingers wearily through his short straight hair as he stared at the top of the copier, his jaw tight as he took a deep steadying breath. "I'm sorry, Cliff. I'm really sorry. I'll clear the desk and leave right now." "Ryan - " "No, you're right," Ryan said as he walked away. "I have no right to do this to you. I'm really sorry, Cliff." Cliff cursed softly and raked his own fingers through his hair. Damn, damn, damn! THREE "Hey," Cliff said as he tapped on Ryan's window. "You okay?" "Yeah," Ryan said, jumping off his bed and pushing open the window. "What are you doing here?" "You refused to answer my calls and I have been knocking on the door for ten minutes straight. Your mother called me, by the way," Cliff said as he swung his leg over the window ledge. "She's getting hysterical because you never called her or dropped by the house. I told her you've ran off with a Mexican drug lord." Ryan didn't smile. He just sat back on his bed and stared moodily at the TV screen where one of Ryan's huge collection of anime tapes were playing. It had, of course, fast bikes and fast cars. "Are you okay?" Cliff asked again as he sat on the bed and watched the TV. He didn't really care for the show, but he didn't know what else to do. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm gonna get cut off from Dad, but I'm okay." "He won't cut you off," Cliff told him. "Don't be silly. He's just trying to scare you into getting a job that he agrees with." "Yeah, like becoming an office rat." "You shouldn't sound so disgruntled. We're lucky our families are rich and we don't have to worry about paying the rent. Other people will love to be where you are right now, getting the jobs you get bored off easily because they are no longer fun." "Gosh, you're sexy when you're preaching. You sound just like my Dad." "Thanks a lot," Cliff grumbled. "You'll never get serious." "If I am serious, Cliff, I'd have killed myself long ago," Ryan said. Shocked, Cliff turned to search Ryan's face for any confirmation that the man was again joking. "Why?" he asked finally. "Because I'm a useless family buffoon? My family can't stand me, except for my parents but they are my parents and they have to love me," Ryan said, turning to look at Cliff. "Do you remember those times when my brothers refused to let me join them on their nights out because they didn't want me stealing all those chicks' attention? Or my sisters begging me to take them to their prom, because having a cute brother helped them get noticed by the guys that would ask them to dance because these guys wanted to be my friend? My family doesn't want me, Cliff. I know how they feel that I'm just too pretty and stupid at the same time - I don't know if they're jealous of me, but I fucking well know that they don't want me to even talk to them." He threw himself heavily back onto the bed and sighed. "It's as if I don't even have a family sometimes and I hated it. I don't even know what I did wrong. That's why you're my buddy, Cliff. You know how it's like." Cliff lay down beside Ryan and smiled in reassurance as he awkwardly tapped his fist on Ryan's unmoving hand. "Tell me about it. I'm not pretty like the rest of my family and they find me too serious to be interesting. You remember how my brothers and sisters tried to tell everyone that I wasn't their boring loser brother?" "Yeah," Ryan said with a chuckle. "I used to sneak into your room and drag you to my kind of parties because there was no way you would go out otherwise." "You corrupted me totally." Ryan joined Cliff in laughter. "Don't bull, Cliff. You did your share of stupid shit as well. You got me and the gang drunk and we mooned the sheriff." "You supplied the joints," Cliff told him. "How would I know that trying one would drive me crazy like that?" Ryan cleared his throat after his laughter sputtered to a soft chuckle. "Those were great times," he said. "Yeah." "We're still friends, right?" Ryan asked. "You're not mad that I screwed up at VisionLogic, right?" "LogicVisions," Cliff couldn't help but to correct him. "Of course we're still friends," he said. Ryan was silent for a short moment. "We don't do things together anymore," he said. "You have your own friends and I have mine," Cliff said. "We are different people, after all. Perhaps it's normal that we will drift apart eventually. But we can always see each other when our lives happen to intersect, like now." Ryan sat up and looked down on his friend. "I want us to do things together again. How about you come cheer me as I hit the motorcross circuit? You can clap and yell my name and wipe victorious old me's forehead with a towel afterwards." "And what's in it for me? Will you let me kiss you on the lips after?" Ryan grinned. "Why not? Why didn't we fuck each other anyway? You're a cute guy and I'm one helluva sexy hunk." "I'm cute?" Cliff shook off his momentary pleasure at being called cute. "Nah, we won't sleep together. We remind each other of our parents." "True," Ryan conceded. "You sound just like my nagging mother sometimes." He gave a mock shudder and Cliff playfully whacked him with a pillow. Ryan gave a playful roar and pounced on Cliff, tickling the man until Cliff roared with laughter. Until today, they both weren't sure how it happened, but the next thing they knew, Ryan was lying on top of Cliff and they were both kissing. It wasn't the tentative kiss Cliff gave Ryan when they were both fourteen and Cliff wanted to know how kissing felt like - Ryan was kissing him the way a lusty lover would kiss the object of his desire, his tongue coaxing Cliff to succumb and when Cliff parted his lips in surrender, Ryan plundered Cliff with his tongue in a hunger that surprised them both. And Cliff surprised them both by putting his arms around Ryan's head and kissed Ryan back hard. It lasted for only a few seconds before they both pushed away. Cliff's face was heated with surprise as well as desire as he sat up and pushed himself away from Ryan, and Ryan did the same. "Shit," Ryan muttered. "Shit is right," Cliff said, daring to turn to look at Ryan. "Why did you do that for?" he asked. "I don't know," Ryan confessed. "Are you getting a hard-on? My cock right now is as hard as rock." "Ryan!" "Hey, I can't help it, okay," Ryan said with a weak chuckle. "Want me to jerk you off? You can return the favor." "I don't think it's a good idea. Sex can ruin our friendship." Cliff felt his desire slowly ebb as he raked his fingers through his hair in exasperation. "God, how did we go from comparing ourselves to our parents to doing that stupid fucking kiss? God!" "Hey, I'm sure it was a great kiss," Ryan said, slightly offended now. "Nobody has complains before." "I do! You're my friend, not... not... God!" Cliff jumped to his feet. "I can't believe we did that?" "Aren't you overreacting a little to a simple kiss?" Ryan said mildly, raising his brows in question. "No! I don't want you getting funny ideas about seducing me or something like that," Cliff said. "Is this where I say 'don't flatter yourself'?" "I think I better go," Cliff said. "No, please, don't go," Ryan said quietly, surprisingly Cliff. "No, not for sex," Ryan clarified. "It's been a tough few days, buddy. I tried applying for a few jobs that I thought my father would approve and damn, it's disappointing to realize that I'm not good enough for any of them. It's tough to realize that you're all right and I'm the idiot here. I'm really a buffoon that has wasted his life playing around, yeah?" "No," Cliff said. "Don't think that, Ryan." He sat back down on the bed, this time careful to keep a distance between them both. "You could start an interior decorating business," he suggested. "You're good at fixing and making things." "Want me to make us some popcorns? We can watch TV or listen to my new CDs." It had been a while since they spent time together. Despite their kiss, Cliff missed Ryan's mischievous twinkle in his eye too much to say no. "What CDs have you gotten recently?" he asked, following Ryan out of the bedroom. Outside the bedroom, at least, they could try and forget about the kiss. FOUR "What do you think of me hooking up with Cliff?" Ryan asked casually as he poured ketchup liberally over his hot dog. "A terrible idea," Freddie Prinze, Jr said, staring at the ketchup dripping off the hot dog in Ryan's hand in reluctant fascination. "Are you really going to eat... that?" "Why not?" Ryan took a big bite and made a happy sound of appreciation. "Why is it a terrible idea?" he asked, a little cross at the notion. He'd been giving the possibility of hooking up with Cliff a lot of serious thought since that night when Cliff cheered him up and they kissed. Or rather, Kissed with a capital K, in Ryan's opinion, because damn, he had no idea that his friend would end up keeping him awake at night, hard with lust and horny enough to poke a hole right through his bed. "It's like marrying into your own family. I thought you can't stand your family." "Cliff is better than most of my family. He's supportive of me and he likes me too, I think." Ryan waved the hand holding the hot dog around. "I'm still trying to figure out whether I should wait until I get a job and then make a move, or maybe I should start making a move right now. What do you think?" "It's a terrible idea," Freddie declared, stepping out of a way of a falling drop of ketchup. "Then again, I'm starting to have this humongous hard-on whenever I think of him. It's best I fuck him as soon as possible, so I should make a move now. What do you think?" "I think I don't want to hear any more about your hard-on," Freddie said. "I help you invest your money but I draw the line at listening to the details of your sex life." "So you think it's a terrible idea." "Absolutely." "I think I'll ignore your advice." "Good idea," Freddie said pleasantly. "I love telling people I told them so when they come crying to me later." Cliff decided that he had to cut down on spending time with Ryan. That blasted kiss had opened a can of worms where he was concerned and now he found himself thinking of Ryan naked and Ryan fucking the hell out of Cliff. Playing tennis with Ryan was a really bad idea. He didn't need to suppress his drooling at the sight of Ryan's muscular thighs tensing and relaxing as the man ran across the court. He didn't need to sigh quietly over the tantalizing sight of the bulge in Ryan's tennis shorts, and he definitely did not need the erection in his pants. Ryan was all wrong for him - he was fickle and irresponsible like the rest of Cliff's family members. Why couldn't his treacherous hormones behave? Was Ryan flirting with him? Asking for a kiss when he trounced Cliff bad at the game - was that a joke? Cliff hated being this confused. The warm waters of the shower offered a little comfort from his thoughts. He sighed pleasurably at the water washing off the sweat from his activities and reached for the package of soap when he heard the shower stall door being pushed open. He turned and gasped when Ryan moved into the same stall as he and shut the door behind him. In the steam rising from the warm waters and without his contact lens, Cliff couldn't make out clearly the other man but he knew the man was nude. His own body instinctively screamed hallelujah in response to the mere proximity of Ryan alone. "Here, let me," Ryan said, taking the soap from Cliff. He lathered his hands and Cliff couldn't protest a word when Ryan came up behind Cliff and began soaping Cliff's chest. "That feels good?" he asked, purred actually, and the low, sexy timbre of his voice sent chills up Cliff's spine. This was what a seductive Ryan was like, and Cliff realized he was as weak as Ryan's many lovers. This thought should have sobered him up and made him fight off his attraction to Ryan, but Ryan's slow and sensual kneading of Cliff's pectoral muscles weakened Cliff with desire. Ryan rested his chin on Cliff's shoulder as his fingers expertly played with Cliff's nipples. "Please don't do this," Cliff protested. "Are you sure?" Ryan teased, deliberately letting the tip of his rock-hard cock graze along the sensitive cleft of Cliff's buttocks. Cliff gasped at the sheer size of that cock and his legs instinctively parted. "Oh yeah," Ryan groaned as his cock slowly pushed its way deep up Cliff's anus. "Jesus, Cliff, you're fucking tight." "It's been a while," Cliff confessed as he steadied himself by pressing his palms against the cubicle wall at each side of him. "I hate you," he whispered. "You've ruined everything, Ryan." "And I'll fix everything again," Ryan promised him. He reached down and gently took hold of Cliff's cock. He squeezed the thick and throbbing shaft gently, coaxing a groan from Cliff, and then he began moving his hand up and down that cock, kneading and squeezing it expertly in sync with the rhythm of the thrust of his hips. It wasn't long before they both climaxed in a violent rush of pleasure. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Ryan asked. "Nothing. I'm just looking at you. And thinking." Cliff looked at Ryan as they lay beside each other on the bed. "We're still friends, right?" "Yeah," Ryan agreed. "Absolutely." "Mmm-hmm," Cliff said. "I guess then it's okay that we do it one more time?" Ryan grinned. "It'll be my pleasure, buddy." FIVE As a friend, Ryan was perfect for Cliff, probably too perfect. Now that Ryan spent his nights at Cliff's place, Cliff was finding it very difficult to keep in mind that he and Ryan were still friends, friends that happened to sleep together but friends nonetheless. Now that Ryan was slowly carving himself a more prominent position in Cliff's life, Cliff wondered how he would resume living his old life when Ryan found someone new and moved on. Unlike Ryan, he couldn't move on so easily. Sometimes, when Ryan was out late planning his DIY store business and overseeing the renovation of the space he'd rented for his new store, Cliff found himself lying on the bed, feeling the absence of Ryan beside him like an aching hollow in his soul. Trying to sleep didn't allow a reprieve, as he only saw Ryan's laughing face in his mind like a vivid portrait that haunted his dreams. Ryan had almost unrealistically bright blue eyes, so blue that they seemed to reflect one's soul from their shimmering surface. Maybe he should stop this sexual relationship with Ryan right here, right now before they both crashed and burned. "What makes you think we'll crash and burn?" Ryan just asked as he lavished soft yet heated kisses in a trail along Cliff's shoulder. "Do you think so?" Cliff asked aloud, wonderingly. He wanted to believe Ryan. "Yeah. Here, I don't give a damn what people think of me. It's funny, isn't it, Cliff, but I think you're the only one that I can depend on for help. You never tell me no, why is that?" "It's very hard to tell you no," Cliff told him with a smile. "Yeah? I don't think so," Ryan retorted. "I think you like me. I mean, you really like me as a real person, right?" "Yeah, I guess so," Cliff said. He hesitated, wondering whether he should reveal his most vulnerable emotions and thoughts. But he could trust Ryan, he realized. Ryan might break his heart, but Ryan would never hurt him intentionally. They had known each other for so long. Surely it was time he trust Ryan? "You helped me a lot. You don't believe me? You don't care what people think. I learn to be strong from you. And you always make me laugh. You're like a superstar, Ryan. How can I not like you? Everyone likes you." "Well, I don't care what people think because you think I'm okay and that's all I need," Ryan said. "I know I don't think about life much, but these last few days I've been thinking and I realized that I won't be who I am if I know I cannot call you up and share my thoughts with you. Who needs Oprah, right, when I have you?" "I'm not that wise," Cliff protested gently. "You're wise where I'm not, just like I'm wise where you aren't," Ryan told him. "Ever wonder, Cliff, why we manage to be friends for so long? I think it's because we need each other. You and me, we make each other complete." "You've been thinking about this," Cliff said in wonder. "I thought you just wanted sex - " "Of course I want sex. If I'm going to give up my old playboy life and settle down like a serious guy, you can bet I want to fuck you to make up for what I'm giving up." "Can you give those other guys up?" Cliff asked. "Sure, if that means I'll get my best friend in exchange," Ryan answered. Who would have thought that Ryan Opray would say all the correct things to melt Cliff's defenses? Then again, maybe Cliff shouldn't be surprised. Ryan always said the right things. And Cliff would have to trust the man with his heart and hoped that Ryan would do the right thing with it. "I think I love you, Cliff. It probably happened slowly over the years without me realizing it, but... I don't know, Cliff. Something happened when we kissed, it's like a light getting switched on in my head. I know now that I've been waiting for you all along." "You're making me cry, you son of a bitch," Cliff said. "Oh Ryan, damn you, this is the most romantic thing I've ever heard." "Well, then I guess you'll say yes if I ask you to take old me as your forever after?" "Yes, damn you!" Ryan laughed, sobbed a little, and embraced Cliff hard as Cliff laughed-cried and called him names. Then, Cliff broke the embrace to study Ryan's face. He scowled and then kissed Ryan fiercely. "Yes, Ryan," Cliff whispered in between kisses. Ryan gave a whoop of delight and kissed him back hard. Ryan's DIY store had taken off in a success that startled everyone, Ryan most of all. Except for Cliff who had always maintained that Ryan would make it. He'd seen that wretch in action and he couldn't imagine how anyone could resist the charming and witty guy that owned and managed Nuts & Bolts, not when Ryan could drive his audience to stitches during a simple demonstration on how to repair a fence. Magazines and TV shows soon started to feature Ryan, whom they called the real funny handyman, and Hollywood even beckoned should Ryan decide to start a TV show about DIY demonstrations. He turned down all offers of TV appearences and starring roles on informercials, allowing a few interviews that he figured would give his store some publicity. He also resisted Freddie's suggestion to expand the store. He had everything he wanted in life, he told Freddie that day, he had money, he had found something he liked to do for the foreseeable future, and he had his best friend that he shared his life with. "My life can't get any better than this," Ryan said. Then he paused as he reconsidered. "Okay," he told Freddie, "maybe it can get better, but right now, I love it as it is." "You sound like a greeting card," Freddie said in disgust. "If you haven't helped me double my invested money this year, I'd have fired your rude ass." "You still sound like a greeting card." "Shut up." "Greeting card." "Shut the fuck up!" Ryan laughed. "You're a fake, Freddie, you know that? So, where do you suggest me and Cliff go for our first year anniversary?" Freddie made a show of rolling up his eyes. "I am always partial to Venice," he said. "Doug loves the ballets and operas of Europe, so a trip to Europe is always a sure bet." Ryan nudged Freddie aside playfully. "See, you're a fake!" Freddie nudged him back. "Shut up, Ryan." "So, do you have matching china patterns with Doug?" Ryan asked. "Shut up!"