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It wasn’t the Ben, but it was a Ben. Fourteen-year-old Charlie hadn’t known better, but he could absolutely spot the type now. He had recognised the tone of voice immediately.
Looking for the source of the argument, he clocked the Ben instantly – slim and model-like handsome, in a fancy tailored suit. His black wavy hair was immaculately coiffed and strangely unmoving – even though he was throwing his head about dramatically. Classic good looks, but with an ugly sneer on his face.
Charlie couldn’t see the face of the man the Ben was abusing, but he would recognise that body language anywhere. Although he was larger in size, he appeared to be curled inwards, arms hugging himself around his chest, leaning towards the smaller man defeatedly.
The Ben’s tirade was loud enough for everyone close by to hear and the Ben’s friends were all standing behind him in a semi-circle snickering. Even by Tao’s standards it was brutal – the Ben was holding nothing back.
He wanted more space.
The guy was too clingy.
He had needs that the guy couldn’t meet.
They should see other people.
When Charlie heard the poor man on the receiving end of the verbal onslaught ask in a sad whimper, “What do you want from me?” he put his drink down on the bar and pushed his bar stool back with a growl.
He had only taken one step towards the couple when he felt Elle and Tao grab his arms and pull him backwards.
“Wait Charlie!” Elle said, “Let’s really blow them away, yeah?”
She pulled some black eyeliner out of her bag and quickly applied lines to his eyes and then smudged them for a smoky look.
Surprising them both, Tao reached down and grabbed Charlie's jeans by the thigh seams, tugging them lower so that his waistband sat as low possible, exposing more of the v-shape of his abdominal muscles.
He was already wearing a cropped shirt, so his stomach was exposed, but Tao undid a few more buttons at the top to display a bit more of his chest too.
They held him at arm’s length and looked at him critically.
“It’s not my best work,” Elle declared, “but you look hot babe.”
“Go destroy that fucker, Charlie!” Tao grinned, hastily adding “verbally of course!”
***
Charlie circled the Ben’s group and strutted towards them from the opposite direction. He gasped with surprise when he saw the face of the man being ranted at. From behind he had been able to tell the guy had big shoulders, but he did not anticipate the set of large biceps currently stretching the man’s shirt – he obviously played sports. His body type screamed rugby. He also did not expect him to have such a lovely, albeit sad, face. He was gorgeous. Fuck, he was exactly his type.
Charlie considered the man’s forlorn looking brown eyes as additional evidence that he was dealing with a Ben – only a monster could hurt such a teddy bear of a man.
Twisting sideways, he slipped inside the circle of men, and walked towards the Ben with intent. As predicted, the twittering of his friends alerted the Ben to his presence, and he immediately paused his attack on the rugby lad to see what the disturbance was. When he caught sight of Charlie, he turned and looked at him hungrily.
Charlie locked eyes with the Ben and they stared at each other wordlessly for about 30 seconds. The Ben’s eyes were like a glutton’s, contemplating its next feast - Charlie’s were more like a carnivore’s, sizing up its prey.
Charlie leaned backwards, slowly scanning the Ben up and down in an appraising manner, letting his eyes loiter on the man’s crotch area for a bit longer than the rest of his body. When he finally raised his eyes to meet the Ben’s, he tilted his chin slightly to one side and gave a suggestive upward nod with his head, eyebrows quirked with proposition.
The Ben took an exaggerated swig of his drink and then passed his bottle to a friend with a cocky grin.
But when the Ben opened his mouth to speak, Charlie raised an open hand in a stop gesture. Giving a derisive snort, he shook his head slowly and mockingly at the Ben, his eyes narrowed with disdain. He swiftly stepped around the Ben and right into the personal space of the rugby lad who was staring at him dumbfoundedly.
Grasping the collar of the man’s shirt, Charlie pulled himself flush with the man’s body.
He leaned in close to the man’s face and whispered, “Should we show this wanker what he’ll be missing out on?”
Charlie watched the expression on the man’s face change from shocked to comprehending, and finally, joy.
He gave Charlie a small nod, and Charlie slammed their lips together.
Their kissing was furious and definitely inappropriate for a public space. Their tongues were wrestling, and their hands were sliding - over bodies, over shirts, under shirts, through hair and around butt cheeks.
As they began their lustful display a cheer went up from the surrounding crowd. Shortly after, the Ben could be heard protesting behind them.
Momentarily breaking their searing kiss, Charlie gripped the top of the man’s shoulders and jumped up, locking his legs around the man’s waist.
The man wrapped his arms underneath Charlie’s legs, his large hands grasping hold of Charlie's bum. He turned them both in a half-circle so that he had his back facing the Ben instead of Charlie.
Keeping his eyes closed and his tongue busy, Charlie reached an arm around the man’s torso and stuck his middle finger up in the Ben’s direction.
“Fuck you, arsehole” he thought to himself – the Bens never knew the value of what they had until it was gone.
When it became clear the Ben had finished whining and had moved away with his friends, they finally broke their kiss and grinned at each other with bruised lips and happy faces.
“Hi” Charlie said breathlessly.
“Hi” the man beamed back.