Interactive: Climbing the Ladder, ch. 3 (Patreon)

“Fuck...gonna be crowded...can’t believe I overslept…” Shawn muttered, cursing himself for sleeping through his alarm as he hurried towards the showers.  He’d tossed and turned all night, his athletic frame humming with energy after the strange jerk session with Cayden.  It left him giddy and eager, an elation he hadn’t felt since he kissed a girl for the first time.  He still didn’t know why he agreed to go through with it in the first place, but that didn’t prevent the embarrassed thrill whenever he thought about his friend’s fat, wide cock in his hand.  He knew Cayden was right, there was nothing to be ashamed of in what they did, but that didn’t make it any easier to understand.  Shawn told himself they were just a couple frustrated guys helping each other out, that it happened all the time.  It didn’t mean anything.  

Though if that was the case, Shawn didn’t know why he was disappointed to find his friend gone when he’d woken up that morning, or why he’d kept staring at Cayden’s slumbering form the night before.  At one point he’d actually had to fight the urge to start jerking off again, wanting nothing more than to climb into the other man’s bed so he could feel the stocky little stud against him.  

Shawn shook his head and forced the thoughts from his mind as he turned the corner into the bustling showers.  As he feared, the room was packed, flashing the young jock back to his first days in the dorms as he smiled and mumbled good morning to his mostly-naked neighbors.  He recognized some of them, but Shawn was disappointed for the second time that morning when he didn’t see AJ amongst the crowd.  He still couldn’t get the image of the stunning hunk with the tiny equipment out of his head.  There was something about the look in the other man’s eyes and the way he spoke that had unnerved him, and Shawn was determined to find out what it was.  

But that would have to wait.  If he was any later he might not have a job to worry about.  He wove his way past the crowd to the lone empty stall towards the back of the room, discreetly checking out the competition on the way.  His neighbors came in all shapes and sizes; tall and lean, short and stocky, thick and beefy, smooth, hairy, hung, and everything in between.  Like Duncan had mentioned, most of the guys seemed to be around the same early-twenties range, but Shawn did see one broad, muscled bear of a man who looked closer to middle age.  Given the lack of privacy and how awkward it could have been, the mood of the room was casual, reminding Shawn of the showers after one of his soccer games or team workouts.  Even as the new guy everyone said hello and seemed friendly enough, but it left Shawn in the awkward position of being the center of attention as he stripped down for the unexpected audience.  Still, it was something he’d done countless times.  The young jock had plenty of experience with shared showers and locker rooms and had long since stopped being uncomfortable with public nudity in such spaces, but as soon as he finished depositing his discarded shorts and boxer briefs in the laundry bag and turned back to face the room, that all changed.  

Shawn’s stomach dropped when he felt his exposed cock start to throb, helpless to prevent it from twitching and hardening.  He blushed and scampered into the stall, hoping a cold blast of water would help quell his demanding organ.  He shivered under the spray, but his now-rigid cock refused to cooperate as it reached its full, impressive length.  The half wall dividers separating the stalls did nothing to prevent everyone in the room from seeing him in his aroused state, and already Shawn could sense the eyes turning in his direction.  

He was mortified.  He’d seen plenty of other guys throw a bone in the showers over the years, including several in the room with him at the moment, but it had never happened to him before.  Shawn tried desperately to focus on anything else: he counted the muted copper tiles lining the room, he tried biting the inside of his lip, he took deep breaths, he kept the water cold.  None of it helped.  His cock ached through it all, seeming to love the attention that he dreaded.  Whenever Shawn thought about his predicament, how he was standing naked and hard on display in a room full of equally naked men, it only made his thick hose throb.  His thoughts kept drifting to the various shapes and sizes of those men surrounding him, and he kept stealing glances at the beefy, hairy brute on his left, and the lean, wiry brunette on his right.  

To his relief, no one else in the room seemed at all bothered or surprised by the stubborn erection.  The handsome jock wasn’t the only one parading around in such a state, and while he caught a few guys staring Shawn reminded himself he’d just been doing the same, so he couldn’t blame them.  

He quickly dried off and wrapped his tented towel around his waist, jostling for position in front of a mirror to hurriedly shave and fix his hair.  He blushed and winced every time his thick pole dug into the counter, threatening to send his towel to the floor.  

“Seems persistent,” the lantern-jawed ginger at the sink next to him finally said.  

Shawn smiled awkwardly and nodded.  “Don’t know what its problem is this morning,” he shrugged, trying to act as casual as he could.  

“Just not used to being around so many good looking guys,” the other man grinned, flexing his toned arms and tight abs for emphasis as he finished gelling his short red hair into place.  “Seriously though, no one gives a shit.  You’re new here, right?  Stick around long enough and you get used to weird things happening in the Tower.  I’m Eric.”  

Shawn shook the extended hand, taking the opportunity to get a better look at the other man’s lean, defined body straining against his small orange briefs.  “Shawn,” he said a bit too quickly when he realized he’d been looking at Eric’s exposed, pale body in silence.  “Sorry...still not awake yet.”  

The taller man laughed, a knowing look in his eyes.  “You’re rooming with Cayden, right?  You guys should come by later.  Me and my roommate Alex have been around for a while...we can show you the ropes.” 

“I’d appreciate it,” Shawn said, looking bashfully down at his still-tented towel.  “Hopefully this goes away by then.”  

Eric shrugged, his eyes dropping to the dark haired man’s outlined cock.  “Half the floor’s seen it by now, stud, so don’t let that stop you.”  

Shawn laughed it off, not realizing that the other man might have been flirting with him until he was back in his room.  He was always flattered whenever a guy hit on him, but the thought that someone as handsome as the shredded ginger would be interested filled him with more pride than usual.  

“Alright, alright,” he sighed to himself, “I’m already late and this won’t take long…” Shawn dropped his towel and wrapped a hand around his painfully hard pole, hoping this time that Cayden WOULD walk in the room and catch him.  As his mind drifted back to the naked crowd he’d just left and the embarrassing start to his day, Shawn told himself it was the novelty of the situation that was responsible.  He wasn’t really having sexual thoughts about his roommate and the other guys.  He didn’t really enjoy the idea of being exposed and hard in front of all of them.  He wasn’t actually thinking about hanging out with Eric and Alex the way he used to think about an impending hookup.  

His spraying cock told him otherwise, erupting with unusual force at the whirlwind thoughts swirling through his confused head.  Once he’d cleaned up he pushed the doubts aside and threw his clothes on, hurrying across the sprawling campus to his assigned building.  The summer morning was warm and hazy, with an oppressive humidity weighing down on the swarming workers heading to their respective offices.  

Shawn was still overwhelmed by the immensity of the company he worked for.  He knew how large HBL was when he applied, it was part of the appeal, but hearing about it and seeing it firsthand were two different things entirely.  The corporate campus was like a city within a city, its own separate reality existing just next to the real world.  With the heat already causing the ground to ripple and warp in mirage-like fashion, it was easy for Shawn to think that he’d stumbled into some kind of dream land more than a dream job.  

A dream would certainly explain his strange new behavior.  As soon as he’d stepped outside, Shawn found his eyes lingering on every man who passed.  He noted each set of broad shoulders and bulging pecs, and all the handsome faces he tried to avoid eye contact with.  When he fell in behind an older looking man with a large bubble pressing out the back of his slacks, Shawn actually licked his lips as he watched the man’s cheeks bounce and shift with each step.  He was already hard again by the time he reached his office, having to strategically position his briefcase to hide the obvious lump.  

Even Duncan made his cock throb.  Twenty four hours ago Shawn couldn’t stand his arrogant coworker, but now the handsome blonde’s smug grin made his stomach flutter.  

“There she is,” Duncan laughed when Shawn hurried into their shared cubicle and slid his chair as close to his desk as he could.  “Wondered if they scared you off for a minute there.”  

“Nah, just slept through my alarm this morning.  Kinda crazy trying to get settled and all that,” Shawn stammered over his shoulder, his eyes traveling down Duncan’s tapering torso and tracing the solid muscle pressing against the other man’s tight shirt.  

Duncan grinned, nodding.  “I remember how that was.  Place can seem wild at first, but you’ll get used to it.”  Shawn thought he saw a twitch in the other man’s fitted pants before Duncan continued.  “You can relax, too.  They can be strict about some weird things around here, but no one cares if you’re twenty minutes late, dude.  You’ll make it up and then some...trust me.”  

Shawn was dubious as he got to work.  On the one hand, he really would be putting in twelve hour days and late nights.  But on the other, Duncan seemed like the kind of guy who’d purposely give him bad information just to get him in trouble.  He wouldn’t be surprised to find that the smarmy blonde had something to do with his predecessor’s removal, and there was something about the way he’d said “you’ll make it up” that made Shawn uncomfortable.  As it was, the addled young man was just grateful to have something other than his odd new thoughts to focus on.  He lost himself in a series of spreadsheets, his eager member reluctantly relaxing with nothing but numbers to keep itself occupied.  

By the afternoon Shawn had almost forgotten his fear from that morning, until an email from his boss arrived.  “Uh oh,” he said to Duncan, “looks like Benton wants to see me.  You sure about that twenty minutes thing?”  

Duncan spun around in his chair and sighed, folding his hands behind his head.  “Benton’s a solid guy.  If he was pissed about that you’d already know.  Probably just wants to check in.”  

“Hope you’re right.” Shawn took a deep breath to steady his nerves, the trek down the long corridor to the offices seeming endless, stretching for miles beneath the ceiling of fluorescent bulbs.  He felt like he was walking on a treadmill, with the same scenery and unmoving view of the city skyline replaying over and over through the tall windows.  The wavy, distorting heat mirages that warped the pavement outside somehow permeated through the cool tile, warping and rippling the floor like it was made of water as his destination always seemed a few steps ahead of him in the distance, never growing closer.  

Then he blinked and was suddenly standing in front of a short, lithe figure positioned behind a small desk.  He looked back over his shoulder, time and space falling into synch behind him at the brief distance from his cubicle to his boss’s office.  He shook his head and smiled at the smaller man.  “Uh, hi, I’m here to see Mr. Benton.  Shawn.”  

The androgynous blonde gave Shawn a slow look up and down with an expression that the dark haired jock couldn’t read before getting up to knock on the door behind him.  Shawn looked away when the smaller man stood, the curvy frame and large, round bottom threatening to rouse his sleeping snake.  

“You can go on in,” the man said in a high, soft voice when he emerged a few moments later, stopping Shawn on the way with an extended hand.  “I’m Taylor, Mr. Benton’s assistant.”  

“Nice to meet you,” Shawn said, surprised by how soft and delicate the other man’s hand felt in his grasp.  He was interrupted by a deep, boisterous voice before he could say anything else.  

“Shawn!  Good to see you, son.”  

Shawn gave Taylor a quick nod and hurried across the expansive office, the skyline that had seemed so distant and stationary on his walk down the hall now looming large and vibrant through the wall of windows behind Mr. Benton’s wide desk.  He bit his lip at the first sight of his boss, the other man’s smiling, handsome face and well-built frame causing a stirring in his loins.  “Mr. Benton,” he said, breaking out in goosebumps when the large, solid hand swallowed his own.  An image flashed through his head as soon as they made contact, a picture of Shawn naked on his back, his legs on Mr. Benton’s shoulders while his boss fucked his brains out on the wide desk in front of him.  It vanished as quickly as it came, leaving Shawn to clear his throat and sit in one of the offered chairs before his eager cock could get him into trouble.  

“Please, call me Tim,” the other man said, flashing a charming smile that hit Shawn like a physical force.  The young man squirmed internally, trying to act relaxed as he stared at his boss.  The older man’s presence gave the impression of age and experience, but his full head of wavy brown hair, brawny build, and smooth, handsome face didn’t look a day over thirty five.  “I just wanted to check in and see how you were settling in.  I know this place can be a lot to absorb all at once.”  

Shawn let out a long, slow breath and nodded.  “It, uh, sure can.  I knew HBL was big, but…” 

“Not this big?  I know, it’s a common refrain.  The good news is that we’re not going anywhere, so there’s no rush.  You’re staying in the Tower, correct?”  He smiled at Shawn’s nod and sat back in his chair, looking like a king on a throne.  It suddenly occurred to the younger man that his boss was actually relatively low on the list in the bigger picture, and if he was this overwhelming Shawn couldn’t imagine what the higher ups were like.  “Good!  That’s honestly the best place to be if you want to advance.  You can really immerse yourself in the HBL way of life.  I’m sure Duncan told you he started out there as well...your coworker is a good example to follow.  He’s already made a name for himself around here.”  

Despite the charming appearance, Tim’s smile chilled Shawn to the core when the older man turned his attention to his computer.  After a few taps of the keyboard Tim turned the screen in his direction, showing him all the numbers Shawn had crunched over the past two days.  

“Keep up work like this and I’ve no doubt you’ll do the same.  I’ve got a good feeling about you,” Tim said proudly.  

Shawn did his best to return the smile, feeling like prey fixed in his boss’s bright, predatory eyes.  He told himself he was just being anxious and paranoid.  “Th...thank you, I won’t let you down.”  

“The thought never crossed my mind,” Tim said, reaching across the desk again to shake Shawn’s hand.  “Well, you know where to find me if you need me.  Can you send Taylor in on your way out?”  

“Will do,” Shawn nodded, mustering all of his willpower to keep his twitching cock at bay as he stood and practically scampered out of the office.  The meeting was perfectly pleasant and on the surface his boss seemed exactly as Duncan described, but he still wanted to crawl under his desk and hide.  Not for the first time, Shawn was second guessing his career decision.  

**********

Tim watched Shawn hurry out of his office with a satisfied grin.  The young man was everything he’d hoped for, brimming with potential energy and as ripe a vessel as they came.  He tapped a few keys and brought the video of Shawn and Cayden jerking each other off back up.  He’d been tempted to turn the screen and let Shawn see it, but he’d switched the tabs over to the spreadsheets at the last minute.  Tim savored the knowledge that the young man had no idea the video was still playing in the background the whole time he’d been looking at the screen, just a click away.

“You wanted to see me, sir?”  

The video wasn’t the only thing hiding in plain sight.  Tim nodded and waved Taylor in, a translucent shimmer rippling across the room with the motion.  As soon as it hit the small blonde his appearance changed dramatically, the fitted button down and tight slacks vanishing in an instant, replaced by nothing but a small, crimson thong.  Taylor gasped and blushed as he looked down at his bare, porcelain torso, complete with bony shoulders, soft chest, and supple little belly as though he was surprised to see it.  The thin arms hanging at the sides were every bit as delicate as the dainty hands suggested, while his bare, pillowy cheeks were even larger than Taylor’s straining slacks had implied.  The smaller man’s eyes lingered on the front of the thong, seemingly disappointed by the way it lay flat and empty between his round thighs.  It was technically all he ever wore, but Tim had a way of making people see what he wanted. 

“So tell me, Mike, what do you think of your replacement?”  Tim tapped the monitor and watched the smaller man’s eyes hover somewhere between jealousy and hunger as he stared at the naked studs on screen.  “Hard to believe you ever looked like that, isn’t it?”  

“Yes,” Mike said flatly, shifting his weight from foot to foot as the video made him throb.  

“Don’t pout,” Tim cooed, motioning for Mike to come over to him.  “You knew you were breaking the rules.  All things considered, it could have gone much worse.  You technically got a promotion...you even get a special bonus.”  He undid his belt and fly as he spoke, letting his thick hose spring free from his suit pants.  “You do want your bonus, don’t you?”  

Mike said nothing, appearing to hesitate before he nodded and climbed up onto Tim’s lap.  At just barely five feet tall the older man towered over him as Tim swallowed him in his arms.  

“See?  HBL takes care of its own,” Tim said condescendingly as he stroked Mike’s soft blonde hair and worked his bulbous head against the front of the other man’s thong.  “It may not seem like it at the time, but the bosses really do know what’s best.  Sometimes you get this,” he said, flexing his hairy chest as Mike’s dainty fingers undid the buttons of his shirt, “and sometimes you get that.”  

He pushed the front of the thong aside and plunged in at the last word, loving Mike’s high pitch squeal.  A few weeks ago the elvish little man had been a handsome, hung stud like Shawn, and now he was a curvy, supple twink with the very equipment he used to chase after.  Tim had doubts from the start when he’d hired Mike as to whether or not the charming ladies’ man would be able to control himself, and he’d been proven right when the horny jock was caught in the showers.  They had rules for a reason, though most of the employees didn’t need to know what those reasons were.  All they needed to know is that those rules were enforced, and at a company like HBL you weren’t simply fired.    

Tim rolled his hips, plunging in and out and loving the glassy-eyed look of ecstasy on Mike’s whimpering face as he watched the video replay on the monitor.  Fate would decide whether Shawn wound up sitting in a chair like his or bouncing on the lap of the person who did.  

“Only time will tell,” Tim sighed.