The Mechanism (Patreon)

“Have you heard of the Antikythera Mechanism?”

Nasir raised an eyebrow.  “The antique-a-what,” he asked with a short laugh, his grin quickly fading when Professor Hasting’s stern expression remained unmoved.

“An-tuh-kuh-thee-ra.”  The older man enunciated each chunk as if he was speaking to a child.  Though he had no doubt that the college senior thought of himself as quite intelligent, Charles didn’t have much patience for smug pretty-boys like Nasir.  Being thin and bookish his whole life he’d borne the brunt of their bullying during his own youth, and as he’d aged into his fifties as a faculty member he’d witnessed those same patterns repeating amongst his students for decades.  It was that very behavior he was hoping to change for good with his studies.  The Anthropology department may have seemed like an odd point of origin for such an endeavor, as opposed to the more traditional schools of Sociology or Psychology, but there was nothing traditional about the professor’s approach.  At least not any traditions that had been practiced for several millennia.  Charles didn’t actually know if the tall, fit young man on the other side of his desk participated in such troublesome behavior or not, and he didn’t need to.  They were simply conducting an experiment.  The professor would never lower himself by allowing for his research to become personal.  However, if an infuriatingly charming hunk like Nasir wanted to participate he wasn’t going to turn him away.

“Sorry, I’m a Business major, not history,” the broad-shouldered brunette shrugged.  “Is that what that is?”  Nasir nodded at the intricate, clockwork object sitting on the professor’s desk.  It was roughly the size of a shoebox, with a wooden frame housing layers upon layers of engraved brass plates and gears.  The front bore a gleaming panel whose surface was covered in sharply angled symbols, and upon which sat a collection of dials that appeared to be driven by the small crank handle attached to one side.

Charles used Nasir’s shifted attention as an opportunity to size the young man up.  Had he not hardened past such base emotions, the older man would have felt a stab of jealousy at the confident ease with which the handsome student carried himself.  Though it wasn’t as if Nasir appeared to have anything to feel insecure about.  Perfect features, tanned, carmel skin, gleaming teeth, lean, tight muscle that strained against his fitted t-shirt and draping gym shorts - the smiling stud had it all.  But whether he would get to keep it, or what he would do with it, was up to the Mechanism.  “No.  The Antikythera Mechanism is a rusted ruin scavengers plucked from the bottom of the ocean,” Charles said, a bit of pride creeping into his tone as he caressed the mechanism in front of him.  “This is still a functioning model, passed down for thousands upon thousands of years.  The only one like it still in existence.”

“Wait…that thing is really that old,” Nasir asked, his eyes narrowing as he studied the untarnished metal and solid wood.

Charles nodded.  “Amazing, yes?  A little bit of maintenance goes a long way.  The Greeks actually based their paltry version from these schematics, though that one lacked the functionality of the original.”

“Is that what those symbols are?  Old Greek?”  Nasir sat back in the chair, his hairy thighs expanding and contracting as he absently pumped his legs.

“No, though it is a language.  Where it originated, however, is still unknown,” Charles said, slightly impressed that the young man thought to even ask the question.  His answer wasn’t entirely true, he was one of the few people who knew exactly where the language was from, but that knowledge wasn’t for the uninitiated.

“So what’s it do?  Is it some kind of clock or something?”

Charles bit back a sigh.  “Believe it or not, it’s a computer.  A more mechanical kind than the ones we’re used to today, but a computer nonetheless.  The one the Greeks built was used for charting the positions of the stars and planets.  This one…goes a bit further.”

Nasir did his best not to look too confused.  “Uh…further how?”

“Instead of plotting the position of stars and planets, this one can be used to navigate dimensions.”  Charles grinned at the young man’s look of disbelief as he continued.  “And not merely physical space, but dimensions of mind, body, and soul…the very threads of reality itself.”

The younger man laughed.  “Oh.  Is that all?”

“I know how it sounds.  But that’s what you’re here for,” Charles exclaimed cheerfully, sliding the mechanism closer to Nasir.  “The experiment itself is quite simple.  All you have to do is sit here and quiet your mind while focusing on the object before you.  Let your eyes travel over the writing while you relax and let everything go.  Let yourself be free and unburdened.  Then, when you feel like you’re ready, give the handle a crank.  Don’t worry, you’ll know when it’s time to reach out and you’ll know when it’s time to stop.  Just go with whatever feels right.  I’ll be sitting off to the side out of sight, so just pretend I’m not here.”

“Oooookay,” Nasir laughed with a shrug.  “Is this like a meditation thing?  I do yoga, but…”

“Don’t worry about any of that now,” Charles interrupted.  “Unfortunately we have to keep the details scarce so as to not impact the results.  When the study is complete in a few months you’ll be given a full explanation.”  He waited for the young man’s nod before sliding his chair off to the side.  There was an awkward pause as Nasir settled in the chair and folded his large hands in his lap, a slight grin on his face as he stared at the mechanism.  Charles studied the dubious expression, fighting down a surge of resentment while staring at the handsome student’s chiseled features beneath his trimmed beard.  He was waiting for the subtle shift that would tell him when the mechanism began to sync, when the young man’s eyes would soften and widen, the tension leaving his jaw and shoulders.  It could take upwards of ten minutes based on his research so far, but in Nasir’s case the effects were almost immediately evident.

Charles wasn’t surprised.  The lean jock was the perfect specimen, a physical being who was likely already in tune, at least on a subconscious level, with a desire to have his strapping, virile frame unburdened.  Such were the dimensions the device currently attuned to.  Lust, inhibition, desire, masculinity; the clockwork mechanisms would shift Nasir’s place amongst them all, setting him just slightly apart from the shared reality of the world around him.  Charles didn’t know what the outcome would be, it was an experiment after all, but he knew the end result would be a glorious seed of chaos.  That was the purpose of his order, as it had been since the days of the mechanism’s original creation: to punch small holes in the barriers between the worlds and let the light from beyond shine through.  Eventually, as the cycle had played out countless times before, the holes would grow large enough to let more than the light through and it would all start over.

But that wasn’t his concern.  The days of renewal were far beyond his current mortal span.  His job at the moment was to conduct his “experiments,” and to push the device in new directions.  It could be attuned to any number of things, and Charles knew he’d eventually have to expand beyond the unburdening parameters he so enjoyed with participants like Nasir, but for now he was content to watch the device work its wonders.  After a few minutes of staring the young man reached out and turned the crank, the sound of clicking gears filling the office at a volume that seemed too loud given the size of the mechanism.  That was far from the most impressive effect, however, as Charles watched Nasir’s shirt vanish, leaving the young man’s ripped torso on display.  The impressive definition was obscured by a modest dusting of wiry hair, the only thing the toned muscle underneath would ever wear again.  More changes would follow as the dimensions aligned themselves in their new configuration around the exposed hunk, but Charles would have to wait for their follow up appointment in a few days to get all the details.

“Whoa…” Nasir blinked and shook his head, feeling like he’d just woken up from a pleasant nap.  He scratched absently at his furry pecs, a momentary rush of anxiety coursing through him as he looked down at his bare washboard and exposed nipples.  It passed as quickly as it came, his stunned expression reverting back to a cocky grin as he rubbed his face.  “Totally spaced out there.  Didn’t expect that.”

Charles nodded.  “The device does have a relaxing effect.  How do you feel?”

“Good.  Great, actually.  Was it really only a few minutes?  I feel like I just snuck in a full night’s sleep,” Nasir laughed, showing off his impressive physique as he leaned back in the chair and stretched his powerful arms overhead.

“That’s to be expected.  Pay attention to any other similar feelings that come up, such as whether you’re less stressed or more relaxed than usual, and we’ll discuss them at your follow up in a few days,” Charles said, putting the mechanism away as the shirtless young man hopped out of the chair.  “Thank you for your participation.”

“I get the extra credit, right,” Nasir asked, slinging his bag over a broad, bare shoulder.

“Of course, of course,” Charles smiled.  “I think you’ll find it was quite worth your time.”

“Thanks, doc.  See you in a few days,” Nasir waved as he turned and trotted out of the office.  He didn’t think of himself as someone who carried around a lot of extra stress, but he started to second guess that given how fantastic he felt leaving Professor Hasting’s office.  He was relaxed and alert at the same time, the way he felt after a vigorous hookup or an intense workout.  The warm air and bright, late morning sun were pleasant against his exposed torso, which made the occasional darts of anxiety all the more confusing.  Looking around as he walked across campus to his next class, other than a few joggers everyone else had a shirt on, especially inside the buildings, yet that seemed wrong when Nasir tried to picture himself in one.  Nor did anyone act as if his current appearance was at all out of the ordinary.

He caught people checking him out, guys and girls alike, but that was nothing new.  Nasir was well aware of his superior appearance, and while he wasn’t a narcissist, he understood that he was on another level than most of the guys around him.  It wasn’t uncommon for him to size his male peers up from a competitive standpoint, but as his next class wore on, Nasir began to realize that wasn’t what he was doing at all.  His eyes weren’t lingering exclusively on the men in the room because he was trying to be objective, nor were his thoughts those of a competitive nature.  As with his shirtless state, the addled stud would experience the occasional flash of embarrassment when one of those guys would catch him openly ogling them, but all he could do was return their inevitable grin with one of his own.  None of them seemed at all uncomfortable with the fact that they’d just been undressed by the brunette’s hungry eyes, which only further convinced Nasir that everything was exactly as it should be.

That certainty was put to the test in his following class.  The increasingly aroused hunk was so busy focusing on the men in the room, paying no attention to the lecture other than to fantasize about what the beefy, middle-aged professor looked like without his clothes on, that he failed to notice the change in his wardrobe until class was over.  When he hopped up from his desk, instead of wearing shorts that draped to his knees, Nasir was clad only in the worn boxers that barely reached his upper thighs.  The thin, soft cotton did almost nothing to conceal the long, thick hose that bounced against it, or the pair of firm, modest cheeks that they wedged between in back.  Nasir’s heart started racing as his eyes frantically darted around the emptying room and his fully-clothed classmates, but no one seemed any more bothered by his lack of pants than they did his lack of a shirt.

“You okay, man?”  Nasir jumped when a large, rough hand squeezed one of those perky cheeks, his smile returning and his pulse slowing when he turned to see his friend Todd giving him a concerned look.  The sight of the stocky, dark-haired jock sent a flutter through his stomach and both of them saw the taller man’s barely-covered cock twitch noticeably, though no one said anything about it.

“Yeah, I’m just out of it.  You ever have one of those days where you keep thinking you’re forgetting something important?  It’s been like that all afternoon.  Does anything…I don’t know…seem weird,” Nasir asked, looking down at himself.

Todd grinned, his hand slipping up to tug open the elastic of the taller man’s boxers.  He looked down at his friend’s furry rear and shook his head.  “Nope.  Everything looks good to me.”

Nasir’s head swam from a flurry of conflicting thoughts.  He felt like he should pull away, that Todd shouldn’t be so openly eyeing or pawing at him, but at the same time it all felt so good.  He felt good knowing that Todd liked what he saw, just as Todd’s hand felt good against his skin.  The other man’s presence was comforting and arousing at the same time, and it was those eager, excited thoughts that won out in the end.  “Thanks…I think I just need to…”

“We all know what you need,” Todd laughed, giving Nasir’s twitching cock a bounce through his thin boxers.  “But let’s get our workout in first, yeah?”

The tall brunette flashed a bashful grin, feeling yet again like he should be bothered by the fact that he’d just been groped in public by another man, let alone that he was starting to become obviously erect, but none of those thoughts could pierce his contented haze.  He and Todd chatted like always as they trotted across campus to the fitness center, Nasir’s wagging, eight-inch log an afterthought by the time they reached their destination.  Now, he didn’t even try to hide the way he openly stared when Todd changed into his gym gear, his eyes drinking in every inch of the burly man’s bulky, compact frame.  He did it to all the guys in the bustling locker room around them, just as they all checked out the lengthy tentpole jutting off his lean frame.  Other than swapping out his shoes for a pair of worn sneakers Nasir’s outfit didn’t change, leaving his exposed frame in all its glory as he went through his workout.

After only a few minutes he might as well have been naked considering the way the sweat-soaked boxers clung to his lower half, and on several occasions he actually did expose himself when his heavy balls or aching cock would slip through one of the short leg openings.  The people who saw it happen would only smile instead of reacting with any sort of alarm, and in the case of most of the men they seemed all too happy to continue staring in the hope of another occurrence.  As he finished his workout with a cock-wagging trot on the treadmill, Nasir noticed how many of the men around him were as hard as he was, and how they all stood a bit closer than normal, or left lingering hands while spotting each other.  They eyed one another lustfully, and it finally dawned on Nasir how much more relaxed the environment was than usual.  The macho posturing that normally accompanied the meatheads at the gym and filled the locker room was conspicuously absent, leaving the crowd nearly unrecognizable.

When he and Todd finally finished their workout and headed for the showers, Nasir started to feel like he might be dreaming.  It was a surreal experience to walk into the locker room and see a bunch of men lounging naked and hard without a care in the world.  They casually eyed, and in some cases pawed at, each other while chatting away, as if it was all perfectly natural.  Even the normally modest Todd displayed no hesitation while stripping down and letting his fat log of a cock spring free.  He made no move at all to cover himself, opting instead to grab Nasir’s cock once his friend had peeled out of his boxers so that he could pull him along to a shower stall.  The taller man just smiled and let it happen, draping himself against Todd’s back as they made their way, his hands reaching around from behind to clutch the other man’s plump pecs.

This time, as the pair of supposedly straight studs writhed together under the warm stream, there was no flash of anxiety or embarrassment.  Nasir was still present enough to note its absence as he saw the passing men and gym staff stopping to watch him and Todd through the open curtain, but it didn’t translate into a desire to stop.  Not even close.  The more he became aware of how visible they were, how their gasps and grunts carried, the more it drove Nasir on.  Like the stone that breaks the surface of a pond and sends out rippling waves, the hairy hunk had the sudden notion that he wasn’t just doing this for himself but for everyone around him, as if his uninhibited ecstasy was a catalyst for their own unburdening.  When Todd spun him around and thrust inside, the stocky jock’s fat cock didn’t just penetrate him, it penetrated the walls that kept them all apart.  Nasir’s deep, groaning wails were a foghorn cutting through the mists of desire to call the ships to port.  Gradually, other grunts and groans joined in with his own, and other pairs, or more, of feet could be seen in the surrounding stalls as the ripples emanated far and wide.

It was only when Todd finally erupted and Nasir felt the warm fluid filling his insides that he stopped to question any of it, but by then it was far too late.  His own club erupted moments later, spraying against the wall with enough force to splash back against him.  His own release did nothing to put the carnal genie back in the bottle, and as he and Todd finished their shower and sauntered back to their lockers, they did so surrounded by displays of uninhibited affection.  While Todd reluctantly got dressed Nasir slipped back into his original shoes, but it wasn’t until they were walking outside that he stopped to wonder why he’d felt like he should have a pair of boxers to pull on.  He paused for a moment and looked down at his naked frame, his cock already twitching back to life as it swayed in the open air, but Todd distracted him before he could raise the issue.

“Good pump today, bud.  Let’s do it again tomorrow,” the stocky man said, giving his friend’s cock a gentle tug.

“You know it,” Nasir grinned, loving how it felt to harden in Todd’s rough grip in front of everyone.  His ass still tingled from the pounding it had just received, and he wanted the other man to take him again right there and then while everyone watched, but he knew his friend had places to be.

He waved the other man off and started heading for home, the lingering buzz preventing him from second-guessing both his nudity and his actions until he’d almost made it.  The longer he was away from Todd, and the more he was away from people as he left the main area of campus and began winding down the less populated side streets, the more he began to question how right any of this actually was.  Nasir felt a punch of dread in his gut as he thought back to what he’d done and seen in the locker room, a vague sense of guilt joining in with his unease at the possibility that he’d somehow been responsible.  It remained a phantom sensation, unable to overpower the contented sense of purpose he felt whenever he thought back on it.  There was nothing to fear or regret.  The others had simply received a taste of what life was like for him, the same as always whenever he was around.  No one was forced to do anything; they were simply allowed to follow through on their impulses if they so chose.  With the societal trappings of heteronormative masculinity stripped away, of course a bunch of virile, endorphin-fueled men would want to get off.  It was fun and it felt good, the only two things that really mattered.  They were the only rules by which Nasir lived his own life, and he certainly wasn’t any worse off for a lack of clothes or restrictions around when, where and who he could get off with.  He lived in a world where his body and beauty were meant to be shared and enjoyed by all, and he felt like everyone would be better off if they all lived in such a world.

That last thought struck Nasir as odd again, but he was already walking through the front door and the sight of his roommate Brett trotting down the stairs in nothing but a pair of small cotton shorts left room for little else.  The sculpted blonde was every bit as handsome as himself, with a broader build that carried extra muscle to make up for the slightly smaller cock bouncing unhindered in the tiny shorts.

“Oh, hey dude,” Brett said, ignoring Nasir’s attempted fist-bump to instead tug on the other man’s rigid organ.  He laughed when his friend shivered and let out a quiet gasp, his other hand reaching up to stroke through the furry coating on Nasir’s chest.  “Someone’s worked up this afternoon.”

“Bro, you have no idea,” the naked brunette sighed as he shrugged his bag to the floor and kicked off his shoes.  He had another flash that Brett pawing at him like this was wrong, but he couldn’t grab onto it before it fled against the weight of the other man’s dimpled smile.  “It’s been a d…day…” he said, stammering when Brett ran a finger slowly around his oozing head.  The sight of the hunky blonde licking the pre-cum from his finger was almost enough to jar Nasir out of his pleasant haze, but not quite.

“Yeah?  I was just about to turn on the X-Box, buuuuuuuuutttt….” Brett stepped back and peeled out of his shorts, the sight of his athletic, tapering body and smooth, tanned skin sending a fresh throb through Nasir.  “I guess I could give you a hand first.”

It all felt impossibly familiar as the taller man walked over and dropped onto the couch.  He knew on some level that Brett had never knelt before him and swallowed an impressive amount of his hefty cock before, but at the same time he knew it was a regular occurrence, that while the blonde Adonis normally preferred women, he was just as happy to work a cock if the opportunity presented itself.  And with Nasir around, the opportunity was always present.  A wave of dizziness washed over the lean hunk as he watched his friend’s sturdy shoulders flex in time with his bobbing head, feeling like he was holding on to that thing he’d been forgetting about all day by his fingertips.

“So what’s been going on,” Brett finally asked when he pulled his mouth away and gave a long, slow lick to the underside of his friend’s spit-slick cock.

“Fuckin’ search me, dude,” Nasir sighed.  “It seems like a totally normal day, but ever since I went to Hasting’s office this morning for that experiment or whatever, I’ve felt…felt…” Nasir trailed off, feeling for the first time like he was about to put the missing pieces together.  He remembered what the older man said about the weird box, and about how it had something to do with dimensions and mind and body and soul.  In that moment he finally remembered what it felt like to wear clothes, knew he’d had them on just that morning, and exactly how different his life had become in just a few hours.  He knew he shouldn’t be a naked, horny Typhoid Mary causing the men around him to shed their limiting insecurities anymore than his pretty-boy roommate should be going to town on his cock, and yet it was all happening.  He didn’t know what was real or how to make it stop or if he even wanted it to, questions that all became a moot point moments later.

Once Nasir’s cock was slick and glistening, Brett climbed to his feet, turned around, and lowered himself on the waiting organ with the kind of ease that only came from frequent repetition.  The remaining scraps of the old Nasir let out a sharp gasp at the sensation of his friend’s muscled cheeks closing around his throbbing cock, before the tides of lust caused him to be jettisoned entirely along with the knowledge of what had truly occurred.

“Fuuuuuuuuck,” Brett groaned, swiveling his hips as he clutched his friend’s large hands against his perfectly proportioned pecs.  “Don’t wanna sound like a dick, but I think I like it when you have a bad day.  What…what were you saying about Hastings?”

Nasir rested his head against his friend’s back, thrusting in time with the blonde’s rolling hips.  He wanted to reach down and start tugging on Brett’s cock, but he knew his friend liked it more when he played with his nipples.  When he was with women the brawny blonde was all top, but when he was with Nasir or one of the guys he preferred to play a different role.  “Eh, nothing important.  I have to go back in a couple days to talk about whether or not I “noticed” anything different, but so far nothing out of the ordinary has happened.”