Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2023 21:53:50 -0400 From: Marlowe Brinn Subject: Liam & Beau - Best Friend Soulmate Hello Again! My name is Sed. I've posted here before but it's been a while. My first story here was titled "Too Soon". If you haven't already read it, check it out! Link here (https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/college/too-soon). Today's story is a complete work of fiction written by me. It involves two gay college guys who become best friends. I wrote this story initially as a way to describe what I wanted in a male best friend. I hope that you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you haven't already, please consider donating to Nifty. To the creators and moderators of the website, thank you for giving us this space to share our stories. If you have any feedback, please feel free to let me know. I love constructive criticism. Happy Reading! Liam & Beau "Why don't you have any friends?" "...What?" "Why don't you have any friends?" I look next to me, and I see one of the loner skater guys talking to me. I am sitting alone, under a tree, and eating my lunch when he comes and sits down next to me. I am too stunned by his question to say anything. So, I keep eating. "That's alright. I'll wait until you're done." I look over at him again and I realize I've seen him around before. He has a couple of classes with me. His attire sometimes changes. It's a mixture between hipster attire and skater attire. One thing that's consistent is his necklace. It's a hammer with complex engravings on it. I think its Nordic. Today he's wearing a pair of whitewashed skinny jeans, lilac colored - high top converse, and a white hoodie that says I Like People Who Smile When It's Raining. "I have friends," I say quietly while taking a sip of my smoothie. "Then why don't I ever see you talking to any of them?" "My friends live out-of-state." "That's a convenient fact for this conversation. I guess the better question is, why don't you have any friends here." "I don't know... I mostly keep to myself." "Well, that's pretty obvious by the fact that you're sitting under this Japanese Maple by yourself." "Was there something you wanted?" "Well yeah, I want to be your friend." "Why...?" "You're interesting. Someone would sit alone for only a few reasons." "What would those reasons be?" "You either think you're better than everyone here, you don't think us worth your time, you're smarter than everyone here and don't think we'll be intellectually stimulating enough, you're just shy, or you haven't found anyone you think is interesting enough to be friends with." "Which reason do you think fits me?" "I think you are incredibly smart. You're in the top three in Professor Alvarez's class. However, I think you find observing everyone just as stimulating as talking to them. I also think you're shy and the only reason you haven't made friends here is because you haven't actively tried, but I've seen you interacting with people. You're nice to everyone and most people think rather highly of you." "Wow, you're exact about most of those things. I'm always reluctant about reaching out to strangers because I'm gay, and not a lot of people back home are very accepting. I'm very selective about the people I interact with. My solitude is a defense mechanism." "That makes sense. Good news is, I'm pansexual, but I haven't told anyone here. So that's already one secret that we now share. Tell me about your friends who don't live here anymore." "There's Kiel and Kayden. They are identical male twins. Getting to know them was fun, but also challenging. They liked to play lots of jokes on me. I've known them for three years and I honestly still can't tell them apart. They're both straight and I only told them I was gay right before leaving for college. There's also Kirsten. She and I bonded over our love of nature. She learned the scientific names for many different species of plants and their properties as a teenager and is studying botany in college now. My last friend is Horus if you can believe that's his name. He was my first boyfriend." "You're still friends with someone you dated?" "Yes...well kind of. We both jumped into it early without getting to know one another first. After a while, I realized we weren't really connecting in the way I had hoped." "I won't pry any further. They all seem like great people." "I've told you about my friends, now tell me about yours." "Oh, my friends...I don't have any," he says laughing nervously. I erupt into a very robust laugh. "What's so funny?" "You've been assessing me this entire time about why I don't have any friends here and you don't have any at all." "Don't get me wrong. I associate with a lot of people. I just don't connect with any of them to consider them friends. I've also had friends in the past, but we've all grown apart." "How so?" Before he can answer, my alarm begins ringing, letting me know I have 10 minutes before my next class starts. "I must go. Maybe we can continue this conversation some other time?" "I can walk you to class. My next class isn't for another 30 minutes." "Only if it's not going to make you late." "Don't you worry your pretty little head about that." He walks me to class and before I enter, he stops me. "I didn't catch your name." "It's Beau." "Nice to meet you, Beau. I'm Liam. I'll see you later maybe?" "Maybe," I shrug as I enter the classroom. I spend most of the period giving a great deal of thought to Liam and our weird interaction. I think about all the times we'd been in class together and I realize I've always caught him stealing glances at me. I never gave it much attention though. I focus on the class and push my thoughts of him to the back of my mind. Then as class nears its end, the professor gives us a pop quiz. Lucky for me, I do quite a bit of reading ahead when I'm bored, and I can answer most of the questions confidently. After the quiz, we're free to leave if all the questions are answered and I'm one of the ones that leaves first. I decide to go back to my dorm room to take a quick nap and water my plants as I'd forgotten the day before. I fall asleep quickly and wake up just in time for my last class of the day. I suddenly realize that I was meant to meet Liam after my psychology class. "Oops," I think to myself as I change clothes. "I hope he won't be mad." I arrive at my next class and see that Liam has taken the seat next to me. "Hey beautiful," he says as I sit down. "Huh?" I start blushing and I can feel my face getting red. "Your name means beautiful. It's French right?" "Yes... I forgot about that," I say as I sit down. "I'm sorry for standing you up. I went back to my dorm room and took a nap." "You didn't stand me up." "But you said we'd meet up later." "Yeah, but I was under the assumption that we'd agree on when that later time would be. I also knew I'd see you again in this class, so it's not really a big deal." "I'm glad to hear that. It makes me feel a lot better." Throughout the time we're in class, we spend quite a bit of time getting to know each other in between lecture and assignments. I learn that he comes from a family of 4 kids and two parents who have been married since their college years. He learns that I am the oldest of 5 siblings from a single mom. He tells me that all his siblings are crazy smart. His oldest sister is a marine biologist and just got her master's degree, his oldest brother is a data scientist for the military base back in their hometown, his second to oldest brother is a mechanical engineer for NASA, and his youngest sister is on track to graduate from college in a year despite being 3 years younger than him. He tells me about his parents and how they run a non-profit that helps military veterans get a multitude of different care and aide, and how they've even been awarded for their community work. He himself is here to study music theory and acoustics. He learns that I'm here for an arts degree for digital, graphic, and fine arts. He tells me about how he first felt like he wasn't living up to all the amazing things his siblings were doing and how his parents weren't thrilled about him taking a year off or coming out as pansexual, but they love and support him all the same. He isn't very excited to hear that my mom had kicked me out when I told her I was gay. We even discuss some of our childhood trauma and how that might've shaped the people we are today. During the 3-hour class, we get to know one another in such a way that is hard to describe. We shared so much, and so quickly but it was just the way the conversations organically developed. We tell each other everything in those moments. After the class is over, he invites me out to a local park, just to hang out and keep talking. It's here that we discuss a lot of the embarrassing things from our past. We tell each other about all our weird masturbation stories, and how we'd been caught a few times. He tells me about the time when he caught his two older brothers masturbating together and they had no idea, to this day that he caught them. I tell him about some of my weird masturbation stories which leads into another conversation about fetishes and kinks. At some point during the conversation, I notice that he covers his crotch a lot and I even notice it tenting once or twice. He's getting turned on and admittedly, that was turning me on. We decide to grab a bite to eat before heading to bed for the night. We stop at this local diner that's open kind of late, as its nearing 10pm when we leave the park. The guy that walks over to serve us happens to be someone that's in our mutual classes and he recognizes us both. Outside of class, he was very different almost livelier and happier. When he leaves the table for the first time, Liam looks at me and asks, "Can I sit next to you? I want to tell you something." I nod and he comes over and whispers to me, "I think he's gay." This sparks a debate between us which ultimately leads to Liam straight up asking the guy when he comes back. To my surprise he was gay, and when I asked Liam how he knew, he responds by saying, "He wouldn't stop staring at you after we walked in." After Liam mentions it, I start to notice that he is flirting with me a lot, and before we leave, he even gives me his number. Liam teases me about it but says he's happy for me and thinks I should ask him out. I take his advice and Cameron, our waiter, says yes. Cameron and I start dating after a couple of weeks. Liam and I unfortunately only end up hanging out about 2 more times after the diner day in the span of 6 months. We both always have a good time, it's just that we're so busy that we never get to hang out much together. After about a year of us knowing each other, Liam starts dating a girl from one of his classes. Due to our respective course work changing, we end up seeing one another a lot less. It doesn't seem to affect our friendship at all because we'd each found an amazing partner. Of course, whenever Liam and I did hang out, he would insist on paying for everything and I'd just buy him random gifts which were my way of paying him back. At one point, we traded something important with one another, so that we'd always be nearby. Liam gave me the hoodie he was wearing when we first met, and I gave him one of my plants. After about a year and 4 months, our respective relationships get serious, and we end up seeing each other a lot less. That kind of makes me sad, but it never seemed to matter once I was hanging out with him again. We each did our best to reach out more and text more, but we still rarely got to see each other except in passing. Another 6 months would pass before we got to hang out again. It was brief and it was kind of like a double date. Cam and I went bowling with Liam and his girlfriend Emily. It was weird seeing the two of them together. I was happy that he was happy, but I always felt this weird prick of emotion that I couldn't place. I started to become distant from Liam, and this seemed to bother him, but I realized I had a crush on him. I didn't know what to say or do about it, so I just stopped talking to him for a bit. We didn't speak for an entire 2 months before he reached out and said we needed to meet in person. By this time, we're both juniors in college, and our studies took us to opposite sides of campus. So, we agreed that we'd both miss a class that overlapped to grab lunch and chat. I was nervous, but I knew I had to do it. Liam wanted to go back to the diner where I met Cam. That was fine, considering Cam didn't work there anymore. When I got there, Liam had already been waiting and he looked like he'd been waiting a while. When he saw me, he jumped up and hugged me. It was kind of weird but also nice. We'd only ever hugged maybe once or twice since we'd known each other, and it was always a very quick hug. However, this time, he held onto me for a solid 20 seconds. We sat down next to one another and for what seemed like an eternity, neither of us spoke. Liam was the one to break the silence. "Did I do something wrong? Are you mad at me for something? Please talk to me Beau." "No, of course not. I..." I paused, not sure of what to say next. "Is there something going on with you and Cam? Is that why you haven't been talking to me?" "No, Cam and I have our problems but they're normal things; little things." "Then what is it? You can tell me anything. I thought we'd already decided that very early in our friendship." He was right, we did. If I was going to keep this up, he at least needed to know why I was shutting him out. I took a deep breath, but every time I went to say it, the words would get caught in my throat. I kept my eyes fixated on my fidgeting hands, trying very hard to focus. Liam noticed this. He placed one hand on mine and with the other, he lifted my head so our eyes could meet. "Talk to me. I miss my best friend," he said quietly. I could tell that even though he wasn't showing it, he was very nervous and fearful about what I had to say. I knew I needed to tell him. So, I took one last deep breath and did just that. "I have a crush on you. I don't know how long I've had it, but I realized it a couple months ago when we had that double date. I'm happy that you're with someone, I truly am. And I don't think it's jealousy I feel. It's kind of like heartbreak. I know it sounds so ridiculous and I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to freak you out. I didn't want to ruin our friendship." I started crying and Liam just hugged me. I hate to admit that even in that emotionally vulnerable state, the smell of him was giving me a boner. When I finally calmed down, he held my hands in his and said, "I was worried something had happened to you. I was so afraid that I'd lost you. You're my best friend. I don't care that you have a crush on me. Honestly, maybe in a different life, I would've dated you, especially had I'd known. But don't shut me out over this." He sighed with relief, and I could see his shoulders relax. "Damn it, Beau. Don't you ever scare me like that again." "I'm sorry." "You have nothing to apologize for," he said as he hugged me again. I oddly felt better. I knew I couldn't be in a relationship with him, but just telling him how I'd felt seemed to make me feel a lot better. We stayed and chatted for a good while after that. He showed me pictures of my plant that was thriving in his care. It was a succulent I'd had with me since I started high school. I was kind of jealous to find out that it bloomed about a month ago. I had it for years and it never bloomed. I told him about his hoodie, which I accidentally ruined, and he didn't seem to mind. He promised he'd give me a different one the next time we hung out. After we parted ways, Liam made it a point to reach out to me more. We even spent a little more time together. Granted, we only hung out 3 times in 7 months, but it was far more than the previous 7 months. We would stay up late playing horror games. We'd talk about relationships, which I slowly became comfortable with. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Our friendship seemed stronger than it was before. Holiday season rolled around and both Emily and Cameron went back home for the holidays. Liam and I had projects or important coursework to finish so we stayed behind. We started hanging out a little bit more. We'd just sit in the same room working on our coursework and occasionally asking each other questions. There was one night where we'd both turned in a project kind of late and we decided to just hang out a bit more afterwards. I had a question I'd been meaning to ask Liam, so I decided to take the opportunity to ask this time. "Remember when we first met, how you said you'd never really connected with many of your associates, we never discussed what you meant by that." He got a little bit nervous but responded by saying, "I don't know. I realized a long time ago that I have this weird idea of what my ideal best friendship would look like." "Weird how?" "Okay, so remember how I tell you I read a lot of gay stories and watch a lot of gay porn?" "Yeah, I remember." "And do you remember when I asked you what your ideal friendship would be, and how you were able to connect with your friends?" "Yes, I do. I said that it's a tricky question to answer because every friendship is going to be different and having an ideal friendship in mind when you meet people is kind of unfair because you're not giving them a real chance. You're projecting your ideas of friendship upon them instead of giving it a chance to be its own thing and seeing what it organically grows into. You're molding the friendship into what you want it to be while essentially ignoring what it really is. People have different personalities; therefore, each friendship is going to be different." "Yes, exactly that. And remember when you asked me the same thing, I just said that I agreed with what you thought. That was only half true." "What do you mean Liam?" "When I was younger, I didn't really have any friends. Most importantly, I always wanted a male best friend. We've discussed this already, so I formed this idea of what it would look like when I finally did have a male best friend. I wanted someone that saw me completely. Someone that knew me, inside and out, mind, body, and soul. I wanted someone that saw me for all my flaws, everything that I am and still said, I want to be friends with this person. I wanted someone who I connected with on such a level that we could sense each other's emotions without even being near each other. I wanted someone who never forgot my birthday. Someone I could chat with about anything and nothing. I wanted to have a male best friend that didn't care about seeing me naked, and we could even hang out together that way and it not be a big deal. I thought it was normal for two guy friends to be that close, but not just in that way. I wanted a male best friend that I could cuddle with. Someone that knew all the things that turned me on, not to sexually use that information against me, but just to know me in an intimate way. To know me in my most intimate moments. I've even imagined scenarios where my best friend and I have compared dick sizes, masturbated next to each other, even showered together. I wanted a bond so deep that we could exchange looks from across the room at a party and at once know that one of us was ready to leave, and even if the other person is having fun, we'd more than happily leave with them. I wanted to experience the kind of friendship where, if I'm sad, my best friend knows exactly how to cheer me up. I wanted a friend that would be able to give back the same amount of love, time, and energy that I put into my friendship with them. I could go on for hours about it, but that's how I always felt." "How do you think something like that would work if both people are in relationships?" "I think it depends on your intent behind everything you do. Like am I cuddling with this person because I want it to lead to sex or am I doing this because I just want to be close to them? Am I naked around this person all the time because I want them to get aroused by my body or it because I want to be comfortable in any setting around them? Even with masturbating in the same room, its an act that is solely sexual in nature, but you bond with a person on a level that is kind of hard to explain. We share a bond of intimacy in friendship that isn't burdened by the confines of society or the expectations of a relationship. I mean once you've seen how a person responds to sexual stimulation and you see them in their most intimate and vulnerable state, there's not much else to know about them. You know everything about them that is embarrassing, all their truths, all their tells, their hopes, and dreams... I don't know. I could be wrong. I'm sure none of this even makes any sense to you." "It all makes sense, but I can't imagine that you could have all of that with someone and neither person develops feelings for the other." "That's the thing though. Someone probably would develop feelings in a situation like this, but I feel like there's a clear distinction between your romantic soulmate and your best friend soulmate. You'll love them both equally just in a different way from one another. And I wouldn't expect to experience all these things, but most or even half of them would allow you to form a friendship that would be far different from anything you have with everyone else. Too look at a person and say I see you and I know you and there's no one that I'd rather have as my best friend." "I see. It's kind of beautiful when you come to terms with how weird it is, and if both parties' consent and have their boundaries, there's nothing wrong with it. Although, given what we're taught and how we're raised, its kind of hard to see yourself having that kind of friendship with someone outside of your romantic relationship." "I know, and that's why I've never really told anyone about it." "What would be the next step then, for our friendship for example?" "Well, we've already bonded quite well together. The next step would probably be to have a sleep over. I feel like people present a different version of themselves to the world after they leave the comfort of their home, but to see a person in their rawest form after just waking up, it opens you up to a new level of comfort with them. Then the next step after that, would probably be seeing each other naked. We protect our human bodies from people we don't have any sexual interest in because we want to form a connection that is physical, but also sexual. When its just two friends, you get the opportunity to know them physically without the sexual intimacy. For example, I have a beauty mark right above my pelvic area that not many people know about. I can tell people about it, and they'd still know more about my physical body, but to see it with your own eyes, to know its placement truly, how it feels underneath your fingers...there's a different level of intimacy there. But as you said, the best way, is to allow these things to organically happen instead of forcing them." "You've made your point Liam." "Do you think I'm weird. I know I said a lot and most of it was nonsense." I could tell he was very nervous. "No, we're still friends. I just didn't think that's what you'd say." We sat in silence listening to music for a bit. I was in deep thought about what Liam had said. It was during that time that I'd realized something. My feelings for him had changed. It was no longer sexual, and upon deep thought I considered that it might not had been sexual at all. I loved him but in a different way than romantically. I also wanted the things he'd described about friendship. I wanted a best friend too, and I wanted Liam to be my best friend. "Want to have a sleep over soon?" I asked hesitantly. I looked over at Liam and he was staring at me with tears swelling in his eyes. He didn't say anything. He just nodded his head and gave me a hug. Almost a week after our conversation about friendship, Liam and I had a sleep over. We both told our significant other about the sleepover and Liam's girlfriend was thrilled. She knew that this meant Liam was trying to strengthen mine and his friendship and she was happy for him. I had a long conversation with Cameron about the sleepover and what it meant and how things might change for Liam and me. At first, he was confused and concerned, but the more I explained it to him, the more sense it made. He told me that he had a similar kind of friendship with one of his friends from high school. He wasn't thrilled about it at first, but he opened to the idea after we set some boundaries and established some clear details about my feelings for Liam. He agreed on the premise that I was open with him about whatever happened between us. But he also wanted me to feel like I was free to be myself and explore whatever I felt was necessary. Liam and I met for breakfast early that morning and decided to spend the entire day together. We got breakfast at our favorite diner. We went for a run, we went to the movies, we went rock climbing, and we went to the lake to watch the sunset over the water. We stayed for a bit after the sun went down and gazed at the stars. It was the most fun I'd had with Liam ever. When we finally did get back to his apartment, we took a shower. Liam went first and then I went after him. When I came out of the bathroom, he was sitting there on the couch still in his towel. I was also still wrapped in my towel. "You can get dressed if you want Beau, but I wanted you to see what I looked like naked. So, you could see me in my entirety. I'll get dressed after." He stood up and slowly removed his towel. I could tell he was nervous. "The only other people that have seen me fully naked are people I've dated so this is new for me," he said, his face turning red. Liam was 6'2", with broad shoulders and a very lean build. He didn't have much muscle definition, but he did have body hair. His dark brown hair was slicked to one side. I expected him to be clean shaven, but he wasn't. He had a very thick bush and a clearly defined happy trail that led from his chest all the way down. It branched out a bit, but his entire body wasn't covered. He had hairy legs and arms though. He was also uncut, which was another thing I was surprised by, and I could clearly see the little beauty mark he'd mentioned before. He turned around for a moment as I watched him. He had a tiny, but rather round butt that was also kind of hairy and a bit of hair that trailed up his back from his butt. As he turned back around to face me, he says, "So, that's it. You don't have to do or say anything really. I just wanted to share that with you." "I feel as though it would be rude not to do the same thing," I say nervously. "No, please. That's not what I want. I don't want you to do it because I did it. You have no obligation there. When you're ready to present yourself to me, I want it to be your choice." It's okay Liam. I'm ready." I drop my towel to show him my body. I've been self-conscious about it ever since I hit puberty. I'd gained a little bit of weight in my stomach, thighs, butt, and face. I didn't think I was ugly by any means but looking at lots of guys who are thinner than you are makes you feel different. I already had enough of a reason to feel different. I am also hairy, but much more so than Liam. My body hair was thick and more evenly spread across my body. Sometimes I trimmed it, but most of the time I just let it grow out. My pubes were insanely thick, but I preferred them that way. Unlike Liam, I was cut, and he seemed intrigued by that fact. I felt incredibly vulnerable baring my body like this, but also relieved. I didn't have to feel self-conscious around my friend who was obviously much thinner than me. I turned around so he could see my back. I had love handles; I wasn't proud of them, but they were a part of who I was. Normally I would cover them, but I wanted him to see me, just as I saw him. When I turned back around, Liam was blushing and hiding his crotch with both his hands. He looked away embarrassed and said, "Sorry, I didn't realize I'd find you so attractive." I was also surprised. The people I'd seen Liam call attractive before, even his girlfriend, were all people that were objectively attractive. Even if you weren't sexually attracted to them, they were beautiful by societies standards. So, for him to react in such a way towards me, it was a confidence boost. It only took him a moment to calm down and we both kind of sat near each other awkwardly while we were naked. After about 5 minutes of making small talk, Liam finally asked, "Want to play a video game?", and just like that, we'd completely forgotten that we were even naked, and all the tension melted away. Once we'd both felt comfortable, we decided to just hang out in our underwear. I had never felt more comfortable with someone before, and I could tell Liam felt the same way. We got tired out quickly after a long day and we ended up falling asleep together on Liam's couch. I was first to wake up the next morning. I looked over at Liam and saw that he was right about seeing someone when they first wake up. He was less cute this way but there was something authentic about it. I felt like I was seeing the real him. His hair was a mess, he had drool on his face and crust in his eyes. "I guess that's my best friend now," I thought to myself. I tried to wake him up, but he wouldn't budge. I kept trying and still he remained asleep, or so I thought. He unexpectedly grabbed me and pulled me back down onto the couch and spooned me. He yawned and said, "Good morning." I could smell his unpleasant morning breath, but I knew mine couldn't have smelled any better. "Good morning," I responded back. I shifted closer to him and at that moment we both realized what was happening. He had morning wood and I had just rubbed up against it. He let me go and said "I'm so sorry. I didn't notice that was there until now." I quickly got up and laughed nervously. "Not your fault. It's completely natural." "Well, that's one embarrassing thing that's never happened with anyone else." "What? You mean, you don't go around pressing your morning wood on people?" He laughed, which was the response I was hoping for. That kind of banter is what helped us overcome uncomfortable situations in the past. He stood up and his boner was stretching his boxer briefs to their limit. The waistband was halfway off his body. I instinctively responded by saying, "Holy fuck," which made him laugh even more. "Stop, its not that big. It just looks that was because I'm so skinny. It's average, see?" he says as he pulls his dick out. I looked it over and despite being average, maybe 6 inches in length and sticking straight out, it was pretty." "At least it's pretty," I shrug. "Thanks, best friend. That means a lot." I smile and he says, "I'm gonna go get cleaned up. You can use the downstairs restroom if you need to get cleaned up yourself. If you like to shower in the morning like I do, you can head upstairs after I'm done." I nod and head to the guest bathroom. Once I'm done, Liam is still upstairs so I just wait for him to come down. It doesn't take him long. He comes down wearing a t-shirt and a pair of Stewie pajama pants. "Nice," I say when I see them. He sticks his tongue out and does the rockstar hand motion in response. I head upstairs to have a quick shower, and on my way up, Liam tells me to meet him in the kitchen. His kitchen is spacious, lots of counter space and tons of cool appliances. "Espresso?" he asks as I walk in. "Yeah sure!" "Come here," he says while grabbing a mug. "Check this thing out. Its an espresso machine that makes anything from espresso shots to full cups of espresso. You just pop the pod in, press the button, the machine reads what kind of pod it is by scanning these cool lines on the bottom of the pod, then out comes your espresso shot. If you like cream, it also comes with a milk froth machine." "That's awesome! Also, I'd love some cream if you have any." "How's oat milk?" he asks as he opens the fridge. "You know that oat milk is my favorite, but you hate it. Did you buy that just for me?" "Maybe," he smiles. After mine is done, he makes himself an espresso and we decide to make breakfast together. We make whole seed & multigrain toast, sliced bananas, strawberries, and blueberries, and scrambled eggs with cheese and sundried tomatoes." After breakfast, we hang out in his living room for a bit. We each get calls from our significant others asking how the night went. Emily is ecstatic and Cameron is weirdly okay. I guess the transparency and trust we had was what kept him sane. We kind of just hung out with one another for most of the day. We decided to lay low since we had such a busy day yesterday. Liam was the most relaxed I'd ever seen him. He was insanely comfortable, and I was too. I was enjoying being in his company in a different way than I had before, despite all the embarrassing burping and farting. I didn't find it attractive, but I was weirdly satisfied with how comfortable we both were. After about 3 hours of having breakfast, it was around noon, we were sitting on the couch, and Liam randomly blurts out and says, "Fuck." "What's wrong?" "I um... should've dealt with this earlier." "What do you mean?" "I've been hard for like the past 10 minutes." "Just take care of it," I shrug. "Are you sure?" "Yeah dude, go ahead." He pulls his dick out and starts jacking off. He closes his eyes, tilts his head back and gets to work. He moans rather loudly. In addition to being uncut, his dick is also very veiny. The moment he pulled his dick out, I could see the precum that was building on his head. It shined against the sunlight that was pouring into the window through his curtains. His slick foreskin slid up and down across the pink head of his dick. It was so wet that the sound of him jacking off sounded like he had covered his dick in lube. It was so hot. Watching him gets me very aroused and I pull my dick out and start masturbating too. After a couple minutes Liam looks at me and sees me masturbating, and, through heavy breaths, says, "You have a very nice dick. It's bigger than mine." "Thanks," I respond. We keep going and Liam and I would often watch one another for seconds at a time. Watching him gets me close very quickly. I start moaning loudly and I tell Liam, "Dude, I'm gonna cum." Liam says "Hell yeah. Me too." I shoot all over my chest and my orgasm sends Liam over the edge. He shoots over his shoulder and covers his chest and stomach with about 10 hot ropes of cum. We both kind of lay there for a few seconds before Liam asks, "Can you get a towel?" "Sure thing," I say as I get up. I had no problem being the one getting up since Liam came much more than I had. When I bring him the towel, he cleans himself off and says, "That was more interesting than I could've imagined." We end up taking a quick shower together before heading back down to play video games. We only play for about an hour before Liam gets hungry and we go out for lunch. The rest of the day is chill. We hang out like we always do, doing the same things we always do. Liam asks me to stay one more night, which I agree to since I don't have anywhere to be. When our significant others call us to check in, we tell them that we're staying the night together again, and that I'd leave in the morning. We also tell them about the mutual masturbation. Of course, Emily expected to hear about it and even asked to speak to me about how I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, when I told Cameron about it, he wasn't very happy at all. He said he needed time to reflect on how my friendship with Liam was progressing and whether he'd stick around for it. It was an understandable reaction. I even thought that it was weird that Emily was so okay with what was going on and Liam admitted to me that he and Emily had broken things off a couple of months back when he told her about his male best friend soulmate idea. But they agreed to remain friends. Emily just didn't want him to feel like he had to limit himself when exploring the boundaries of his friendship with me because of their relationship. I didn't hear from Cameron at all that night, even after saying goodnight. Liam suggested, he might need more time to sort through how he was feeling, and I agreed. What happened between Liam, and I wasn't a breach of the boundaries that Cameron and I set, but I guess he couldn't easily interpret how he would feel until something happened. I was a little upset about it, and I couldn't focus on much of anything else. Liam and I cuddled for most of the night, but that didn't make me feel better. The next morning, Cameron finally did call, and he asked if he could come over to Liam's place for the three of us to talk. Liam agreed and Cam arrived only 25 minutes later despite his apartment being almost 35 minutes away. When he arrived, he hugged and kissed me and said he was sorry if he made me worry. I apologized for upsetting him, but he said everything was okay. He asked to speak to Liam alone after we talked, and Liam agreed. I stayed in the living room while they talked in Liam's kitchen. After about 20 minutes, they both appear from the kitchen talking and laughing. I was surprised. Cam explained that they talked about what had happened and even more about Liam's idea of a best friend. Cam had lots of questions but came to the decision that whatever would make me happy would make him happy. I didn't know it at the time, but Cam also asked Liam's opinion about proposing to me after graduation. Liam was surprised but told him to go for it. Liam later told me that he said to Cameron, "There's a sort of twinkle in Beau's eye when he talks about you. He genuinely loves you and cares for you and I'm sure he'd say yes." I did say yes. Cam and I got married a couple of years after graduation. We wanted to establish our careers first. Liam was my Best Man, and Emily was my Person of Honor. Liam and I would continue our friendship well into middle and old age even after Liam got married. In all that time, our friendship only continued to grow. He made me just as happy as Cameron did. Liam even had kids that called me Uncle Beau. Liam even explained our friendship to his kids when they were old enough. He recommended that they do what we did and find someone they could have a lasting friendship with. Our friendship is still going strong after 40 years. We're old men now, but Liam keeps that plant alive I gave him all those years ago. And I made sure to take immaculate care of the second hoodie he gave me. I hope that everyone can at least try to build something as beautiful and grand as my friendship with Liam.