For a man who complained about his aching feet, Mike ambled through Central Park with a bounce in his step and soaring spirits as he walked with John. They stopped and listened for a few minutes to a jazz band that played every weekend opposite the Daniel Webster's statue and then made their way out of the park at the seventy-second street exit.

    Yet, with all his enthusiasm, Mike was full of apprehension. Here he was going home with a man that he had just met and even though lust and desire propelled him, he was nervous and his stomach churned.  It had been a long time since he had been with anyone and he was anxious that he wouldn't be able to perform. Insecurity was so ingrained in him that he oftentimes made things more difficult for himself by worrying. He could look at numbers on a page and make sense of them, but when it came to emotions he was at a loss. Here he was with a man who was also heavy but John exuded confidence and looked at himself as desirous. It was attitudinal. Mike wished that he had that same confidence about himself.  With confidence you could conquer whatever you wanted, but Mike has this loser mentality and it had stopped him throughout his life and his business career but he prayed that it didn't stop him now.

    John walked briskly and Mike had to pick up his pace to keep up with him. They walked along the street pass the Dakota Apartments where John Lennon had been shot and young teenagers still stood vigil outside the building holding candles. Flowers were strewn on the sidewalk where he had been killed.

    They headed in the direction of a fruit and vegetable market that over the years had transformed itself into a store of  gourmet food items with the finest produce. John wanted to buy chocolate chip cookies for their coffee which he claimed were the best tasting cookies. Mike often shopped there when he needed cheese. As they entered the cavernous market, fruits and vegetables spilled from stalls. Swarms of old ladies pushed their way up the crowded aisles using their shopping carts as weapons. John bought the cookies and they shared one as they walked up Broadway towards his apartment.

    "Nick, my friend was a social worker," John said. "We lived together for twenty-five years. I was twenty-six when I met him. He was ten years older then me.  I met him in the park at the very spot that we just came from." He stopped walking and looked at Mike. "Is that kismet? Serendipity? Is it good Karma. Whatever it is, I'm glad that I came there today. If I didn't I would have never met you."

    "Are you sure you were in the printing business? You sure have a  smooth line. You sound like a politician but it isn't November and there's no election this year."

    John smiled. "That day, Nick asked for my phone number and before the year was up we were living together. He was going to save the world. It was a noble premise and he was an exceptional man. He learned that people don't want to be saved and that fighting the system was pissing in the wind and getting sprayed with your own piss, but it never stopped him. He was writing letters and making calls until he died. Being an orphan and being shifted from one foster home to another, he had this need to help kids. I was running my business and when Nick took ill, I made the decision to sell it to take care of him. He knew that he was dying and wanted to die in the apartment surrounded by the things that he loved."

    John was heavy but carried himself well. His shoulders were broad and although he was thick around the middle, he wasn't sloppy. His face was tanned from the sun and it accentuated his blue eyes.

    "It was tough coming home every night to an empty apartment and no Nick there. He would be on the couch reading. He was always reading and listening to classical music. The table would be set and the house smelled wonderful. He loved to cook and excelled at it. One day, last winter during that terrible snow storm I walked home and entered the apartment  and I knew that I couldn't live there anymore. There were too many memories and I had to get out. So, I sold the apartment and moved to where I'm living now. I'm still lonely, but it's getting better. And what about you? I told you my life story and if we continue to nibble on these cookies, there won't be any left for our coffee."

    "I'm also a west side boy. I lived there most of my adult life. I worked for one of the major accounting firms and got tired of the infighting and politics and started my own show about six years ago. The truth is that I got tired of being passed over by guys with lesser talent but who fit the corporate image. I knew that it was my time to strike out on my own. It was very difficult for me. I agonized over that decision for months. I was so proud of myself for being able to do it. I hooked up with a woman who was going through the same thing at her firm and we started Clever and Thomas. We do mostly individual tax returns but are now branching out and doing  some small businesses and a few corporations. We just hired two new kids so things are moving.  I adore her. She knows that I'm gay. She's not. I guess I have let my business take over my life and it has. With no one in it it is easy to stay at the office and vegetate as you so aptly put. When I do get my ass in gear, I walk through the park and go to the museum when there's a special exhibit that I want to see. love the movies but don't go that often. I travel once a year to Europe mostly to Paris to eat. Food, glorious food, my passion and downfall." Mike laughed and his nose crinkled. "Look at me?" he pointed to his belly. "This didn't come from eating celery and carrot sticks. I live a pretty boring existence. Do you realize how I've agonized over going home with you? A part of me wants to run."

    "Why's that?" John asked with surprise in his voice.

    "Nervous, afraid, who knows what else."

    "Afraid of me?"

    "No, of me. "It's been a long time John and I guess I am one of those people who worry. I don't want to be a dud. I don't want to be a disappointment to you but especially to me. It's important to me and I'm so nervous that I'm afraid that it'll effect me and God's know how badly I want it."

    "Don't be nervous. We're going for coffee and if something happens then let it happen. There are no guarantees but you have to try. And if it doesn't work out, so what. We spent a few pleasant hours together. I like you Mike and want you to like me.  "Don't let your anxieties get in the way.  Nothing will happen that you don't want to happen. The truth is that I'm hoping that something will happen and that you want it as much as I do."

    "I do. You've made me feel good about myself. That hasn't happened to me in a long time."

    "Then let's go and see where it takes us. OK? I look at you as somebody special. I like what I see."

     "You sure? No cataracts?"

    "No cataracts. The eyes are perfect and the man I see besides me is attractive. " John smiled and he had a dimple. His lips were full. "Well, here we are." They stood in front of a building that faced the river. "Still nervous?"

     "Yes, but let's go."

    John lived in one of those prewar building with ten foot ceilings, large rooms and fireplaces in the living and master bedroom. There were walk-in closets galore and a terrace that ran around the entire apartment. The view of the river and the city was magnificient.

    "Make yourself comfortable." John had taken Mike on a tour of the apartment.

    "It's beautiful," Mike said. "The apartment, the furnishing, the terrace and the drop dead view. Eight rooms and a river view. I'm impressed."

    John smiled. "I'm so glad that you like it. I saw this building and fell in love with this space. One of my old client's daughter was a decorator and viola, it was decorated. Most of the furniture I picked out but she steered me the right direction. A lot of the stuff is from the old apartment. Things that Nick and I bought. Things that I treasured and are a part of me. He picked up a photo of Nick and he was a handsome man. "You would have liked him. He was one of those men that you're comfortable with." He put the photo down and walked to where Mike was sitting and kissed him on top of the head like a mother would to her child. He put his arms around Mike's shoulders. His hair smelled fresh and clean. John kissed Mike's neck. His lips were warm and gentle as his tongue licked at Mike's earlobe. Mike felt the goose bumps rising on his arms.

    "Earlobes, a magic spot. One of many."

    "And I want to discover all of them," John said.

    He sat down besides Mike and took his hand and held it. Mike's fingers were long. John kissed them gently. He looked into Mikes eyes and brushed his lips against Mike's mouth, his tongue tracing the outline of his mouth. He inserted his tongue into Mike's mouth and they kissed, tentatively at first tasting each other as they clung to one another. Mike could smell John's cologne which was masculine as they kissed. John could see the bulge in Mike's pants and reached out and touched it. Slowly his hand unzipped his pants and he reached inside. His hand felt Mike's organ through his briefs.

    "What do you say we get more comfortable if that's all right with you?" John asked. "If you're nervous, the bulge in your pants doesn't know it."

    Mike held him close and slowly took off John's shirt, his fingers soft against John's body. How he longed to touch warm flesh as his hands moved across John's chest and belly felling the warmth of his skin against his fingers. Mike's hand cradled John's large nipple and held it in his thumb and index finger and moved it back and forth and felt John stir. Mike's mouth suckled the enlarged nipple, his head pressed against John's chest as John held him close to him as Mike's mouth delighted him. John unzipped his shorts and was out of his briefs and his organ was stiff. John took Mike's hand and led him into the bedroom, leaving a trail of clothes on the living room floor. They lay on the king sized bed and held each other, their hands roaming each other's body. Mike felt the soft mound of Johns pubic hairs and rubbed his palm over it and softly touched John's cock and felt his balls. Mike wanted to bring pleasure to John and in so doing would bring pleasure to himself. How long had it been since he shared the sweetness of a man's kisses, his touch, the scent of his manliness? How long had it been since he had his face nestled in the soft mound of a man's pubic hairs?

    Mike's tongue was like velvet against the head of John's meaty cock. The head was large and thick as Mike's tongue moved to the underside and licked at it hungrily. John's hand reached out and touched Mike's fleshy tit and his fingers massaged his nipple as Mike took John's cock into his mouth. Elation swept over Mike as he heard John's moan and felt the movement of his body as Mike's mouth thrilled him. Mike's tongue licked at John's balls tasting the saltiness of sweat and the mustiness of his essence as he licked in an upward movement until John's balls were slick with saliva.

    "Mike," he called out and took his hand and called for him to lay besides him.

    They lay side by side and kissed, John touching Mike as he made his way down his body tasting his flesh as his tongue probed, flicked and licked leaving a trail of saliva as he found Mike's cock. It was large and not what he had expected from a heavy man. He wanted to taste him and let him know that the pleasure that he brought to him was going to be reciprocated.  His mouth was warm as he encircled Mike's cock and began to suck with assurance as his mouth adapted to the size and each bob of his head, he took more and more of Mike's cock into his mouth until he found it hitting him at the back of the throat. John loved to suck, he was born to do it.  He licked, then sucked, his fingers moving up and down on Mike's shaft and heard him cry out in pleasure. John knew that he was about to taste his sweetness. The thought filled John with desire and lust as his pace quickened and felt Mike's body tense and heard his breathing become heavier and heard him cry out as he exploded sending a stream of cream into his mouth. John tasted the heavy cream letting it fill his mouth, savoring what he wanted and needed and then swallowed it.

    Mike was euphoric, his body tingled and he kissed John.  They lay there holding each other kissing each other with tenderness. There was no wanting to run but to stay and to please.

    "Thank you," Mike said. "Thank you for making me come here with you and for loving me with feelings that I have dreamed about and hoped for." He kissed John again. "Now it is my turn to please you."

    John stretched out as Mike spread his legs apart and kissed the inside of his thighs as he moved towards his balls. John's flaccid dick began to grow as Mike lifted his legs and slowly licked the perineum, his tongue sliding up and down and back and forth as John thrashed around in the bed. Mike's fingers searched for and found John's ass. He wet one with saliva and gently probed his anus. John sighed as the finger pushed against his hole and slid inside. Mike held it there until John got use to it. John moved his hips back and forth as the finger snaked its way deep inside of him. Mike moved his finger in and out and John danced on it and moaned with pleasure. Mike never thought of himself as a top or bottom but at that moment he wanted to fuck John. He wanted him to know the love that he felt for him for making him feel alive. He inserted another finger slowly and John took it and rocked back and forth as the fingers worked in tandem inside of him. John was sweating and moaning with delight as Mike took John's cock into his mouth and licked at the pre cum that gathered around the meatus like ice cream that was dripping down a cone in the hot sun. His lips encircled the head, his mouth firmly in place as he began to suck. At first slowly and then a little quicker as his head moved up and down. His fingers moved inside of John's ass as John moved on Mike's fingers thrusting his ass and hips so the fingers penetrated deep into him. He called out Mike's name as he felt the joy of being finger fucked. Mike's mouth filled with saliva and he concentrated on the head and then the shaft. Sucking with a delight knowing the enjoyment that would soon be his. John's hands gripped the bed sheets as Mike sucked with the abandonment of a man on a mission and he wasn't going to be denied the pleasure of the man that made him believe that he was attractive and wanted.

    Magic time was here as he heard John moan, groan, and then cry out, "here it comes," and spilled his load into Mike's eager mouth. He tasted the ambrosia, swallowing it with joy until John went limp in his mouth.

    They lay there and then they both began to laugh. It was spontaneous as they held each other and giggled like two kids. For Mike it was a sense of relief that he had overcome his fear and insecurity.

    "Was I all right? I was so worried that I would be a dud." Mike said.

    John kissed the tip of his nose. "You were wonderful. Can I see you again?"

    "I'll have to check my calendar. My schedule is pretty filled but I will see if I can fit you in." Mike said jokingly and kissed John on the lips. "I would like that very much. Are you sure?"

    "I'm very sure. Can I see you tonight?"

    "Tonight, I have a date with a friend but I'm sure that he wouldn't mind me breaking it."

    "Good. Now, what do you say if we have our coffee and finish those cookies."