Bodie stopped in midstride us they were on their way out of the building, peered over the railing at the deserted gym below them, and gave Doyle a cool, speculative, assessing glance.

"What?" Doyle asked, puzzled, stopping in his tracks, too.

"It's free," Bodie said obliquely. "Chance of a bit more practice," he added as Doyle finally grasped what he was on about.

Doyle glanced at his watch and frowned. "What, now? Been at it all day, mate."

"Yeah, I know, I'm a real glutton for punishment," Bodie said with a challenging grin, "but monthly assessments end of the week, Ray. S'not our strong point. Macklin'll wipe the floor with us if we don't sharpen up a bit."

Doyle sauntered over to him and leaned on the rail, too, looking down at the gym. "It'd be a waste of time. I'm too knackered to give you a run for your money."

"Not as knackered as you'll be on Friday when Macklin's finished with you," Bodie pointed out succinctly. "And Cowley's read us the riot act about fallin' standards..."

Doyle sighed a heartfelt and weary sigh, unpleasant visions of the coming assessment crowding his mind. "All right then," he agreed at last, "but only for half an hour mind..."

The locker rooms were as deserted as the gym, the silence eerie and unreal in contrast to the usual hive of activity here during the day.

Not relishing the coming confrontation, feeling uncharacteristically sluggish and below par, Doyle half-heartedly dug his key out of his jacket pocket and opened his locker, taking out a grimy, crumpled, short-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of equally crumpled grey tracksuit pants.

"No funny stuff," he warned irritably, annoyed at his lack of energy and enthusiasm. "Straightforward attack and defence, okay?" glancing sharply at Bodie who was similarly engaged three lockers down from him.

"Fine by me," Bodie confirmed good-naturedly, pulling his sweater off and revealing a broad, pale chest, crowned by small neat pink nipples and an almost daintily neat belly button before he slipped his own grubby T-shirt over his head and forced his arms through the short sleeves.

Doyle's stomach turned a fluttering, unwelcome somersault at the sight. Not the first time he'd had such an unsettling reaction to Bodie over the last few months either. Not that he was worried by it, for he'd long since convinced himself there was nothing wrong in being aware that Bodie was a very attractive man...

But he suspected the inexplicable, unpredictable little reactions he was having for his partner all at once were maybe a warning that they were spending too much time together...becoming too inter-dependent and too close...

He deliberately looked away as he saw Bodie's hand move to his cords and unzip them and concentrated hard on his own disrobing instead, shrugging himself out of his shirt and pulling his T-shirt on, shaking flattened curls into their usual ruffled state once the T-shirt was in place.But he made the mistake of looking up again just as a supremely unaware Bodie stepped out of his trousers, and Doyle felt his heart skip an excited, uncomfortable beat as he saw the briefest of black briefs covering the generous protruding mound of Bodie's sex.

Very much against his will, he noticed several other things about the stocky body as well. Like the thick down which fuzzed darkly at the top of Bodie's inner thighs and the strong corded muscles of those same thighs...and the delicately understated fine line of barely discernible fluff which pencilled vaguely down from just below the neat navel and disappeared enticingly beneath the top of those hip- hugging briefs...

Unable to drag his eyes away, Doyle's heart thudded even more painfully when Bodie, unaware of his scrutiny, touched himself, readjusting the heavy sex more comfortably inside the scanty briefs with a fleeting, graceful movement of his hand before he turned his back on Doyle, picked up his track suit pants and bent forward to step into them.

The back view was almost as stomach-churning as the front, for the cleft between Bodie's firm buttocks was clearly defined through the thin briefs, and Doyle's hands suddenly itched to touch him there, to run a lazy, exploratory fingertip along the inviting cleft...

Shocked and astounded at what he was thinking, Doyle forced him self to look away, catching his breath...

Ridiculous...

This was the kind of thing he'd only ever speculated about with other boys at school, and in those dim, far off days, it'd even been reassuring, or in the dawn of sexual awareness he'd known he hadn't been the only one in the school locker room who was curious about the burgeoning sexuality around him which so exactly mirrored his own.

But since when, he asked himself incredulously, had he started fancying fellas after he'd grown up and put all that adolescent curiosity into its proper perspective.

And Bodie... Bodie of all people. His partner... His best mate... He was cracking up. That was the only possible explanation. Overwork. They'd been pushed to the limit for months, working all the hours God sent, and then more. He needed a rest, and preferably away from Bodie too, so he could cool himself down and get his head together.

That wasn't the answer of course, and in his heart of hearts Doyle knew it. He'd been too aware and over-sensitive to Bodie for a long time-emotionally as well as physically...missing him when he wasn't around...actively making excuses to seek out his company and be with him at every opportunity.

And it had all shaken Doyle's confidence because it was so unlike him.

It wasn't just the fact that Bodie was the wrong sex for these feelings either, because even in his relationships with girls Doyle was used to being the desired rather than the desirer. Sure of his sexual attractiveness, he automatically played on it, enjoying the power it gave him, used to retaining a sense of autonomy in even his closest relationships.

But these feelings for Bodie confused and unnerved him, for they indicated a need and a dependence which were very hard to accept, particularly for anyone who was so used to his independence he wore it like a second skin.

Wrapped in his worrying thoughts, he changed with uncharacteristic slowness, finding that Bodie was ready long before him, and was waiting for him, sitting on the bench by the lockers, impatiently tapping his bare foot on the tiled floor.

Doyle hurriedly pulled on his tracksuit pants and followed Bodie's broad back into the gym.

They dragged a large mat to the centre of the floor and stood facing each other, watching each other warily.

"Nice gentle warm-up?" Bodie suggested, "just to get us in the mood?" His eyes glittering across at Doyle in the early evening shadows, his face pale and alight with anticipation, all his competitiveness coming to the fore.

Doyle nodded, bracing himself as they circled each other, eagle- eyed and watchful, both looking for an opening, but he still had no great confidence in his ability to do well here, for Bodie looked altogether too bright and sharp and predatory to be easily subdued.

Doyle's fears were proved correct only seconds later when he landed flat on his back on the mat with a painful, surprised thud, easily tripped and forced backwards by Bodie's greater strength with Bodie's warm, lightly downed forearm pressing lightly and ticklishly against his windpipe.

Bodie's effortless, superior strength was suddenly exciting to Doyle. It was good to be in a situation where Bodie was calling the shots and was very much in control.

"Bit slow tonight, aren't we Ray?" Bodie taunted, his face only inches from Doyle's looking down at him triumphantly a little smile playing on his lips, "What's wrong?"

"Told you, I'm knackered..." Doyle evaded, looking away from the piercing, navy-blue gaze and up at the ceiling instead, very aware of the hot heavy feel of the well-padded body on top of his.

He could smell the faint scent of Bodie's sweat overlaid by his sweeter, body scent and was finding himself mesmerised by the flawless smoothness of the pale face so close to his own and the contrast between the perfect, babysoft skin on Bodie's upper cheek and the dark shadow lower down which was just beginning to show this late in the day.

"Okay, round one to you," he conceded, panting, his voice sounding rough and over-emotional to his own ears. Having conceded, he expected Bodie to release him and was perturbed when Bodie stayed exactly where he was, still lying heavily on top of him, hot, corded thighs pressing down on his, the soft/hard curves of the lower part of his body planted firmly and precisely against his own. The unmistakable, even hotter feel of genitals against his hip bone was very worrying, too, and Doyle twisted to one side, trying to throw Bodie off, terrified he would feel the steady throbbing the close contact had started between his legs.

"Come on, mate, shift yourself..." he complained, "can hardly breathe."

Bodie's only response was a soft chuckle and a whispered, competitive, "...Let's see you get out of it then..."

Goading, Doyle thought desperately...playing as usual, like the bloody child he is...delighting in having me `at his mercy...'

But there was something about the cool dark eyes holding his that suddenly made him doubt that analysis and only made him more anxious...and still Bodie didn't move...

"Come on Bodie..." he said viciously, twisting again. "In case you don't know it, you weigh a bloody ton. Shift... Joke's over."

"S'your own fault. You weren't concentratin'," Bodie countered sweetly, his breath intoxicatingly hot on Doyle's face. "In fact you haven't been concentratin' all day, have you, Ray? Been off in that little dreamland of yours for hours. What is it, eh? What have you been thinkin' about?"

Doyle knew he'd flushed. "So help me..." he began in genuine anger, "if you don't shift your fuckin' self, Bodie, I'll..."

But Bodie had clambered to his feet chuckling, pleased at having rattled Doyle and alert and ready for the next attack, leaving Doyle still lying flat on his back on the floor, unprepared for the swift release and somewhat unnerved by it.

Doyle staggered to his feet more unsteadily, annoyed by Bodie's antics and by the fact that he'd gained such an early advantage.

Determined to rectify matters, he made a typically quick, darting lunge at Bodie's waist, knocking him backwards to the floor.

But Bodie's T-shirt was of the fine, silky variety, and Doyle's hands couldn't get a proper grip, so he slid them right round Bodie's waist to his back, holding him in a hard bearhug, trapping Bodie's legs with his own.

It was an unorthodox hold, but it was effective, except for the fact that the only way he could hope to keep Bodie pinned to the floor was to lie on top of him, as Bodie had done to him.

Not feeling up to that, Doyle slid his hands away from the hot, silky waist and balanced on Bodie's broad shoulders instead, raising the lower half of his body to lessen the intensity of the contact but still trapping Bodie's legs with his own.

He looked down at his prisoner who, surprisingly, seemed to be making little or no effort to free himself, which puzzled Doyle, for he knew in this modified position, it'd be relatively easy for Bodie to throw him off.

It was unnerving to notice just how pink and soft the slightly parted lips were and just how deep a blue the dark, spiky framed eyes. And, unless Doyle was imagining things, those same eyes were looking at him in the strangest way all at once. With what Doyle considered an almost frightening concentration. Really looking at him in a way it seemed they never had before-so deeply and intently Doyle almost panicked, certain they could see right to his very soul and knew everything he was trying so hard to hide...

"Why don't you do it, Ray?" Bodie's soft, languid voice invited, after what seemed an eternity of silence, and with that one lazily spoken question confirming all of Doyle's fears and suspicions. "Go on," Bodie encouraged even more softly, "I'm not gonna stop you, you know..."

"Stop me from doing what?" Doyle hedged, knowing he'd flushed again, feeling the burning heat of his reaction coursing through his body.

He tried to shift the lower part of his body from what suddenly appeared to be its glue-like position against Bodie's and discovered he couldn't, for at some point Bodie's hands had moved and were now clamped down hard on his buttocks, pressing him close.

Bodie gave a semblance of a shrug, his eyes still holding Doyle's. "Dunno. That's up to you. Whatever it is you've been wantin' to do with me for quite a while now." He paused for only a second before adding, "Did you think l didn't know, Ray? Come on, I'm not blind..."

Frozen with shock, Doyle could do nothing, only lie there, feeling his betraying sex throbbing, tautening, lengthening against Bodie's and his heart pounding against his ribs.

"What is it?" Bodie asked reassuringly and in a tone of such indulgent sensuality it quite took Doyle's breath away. "What's wrong? Is it all a bit new to you, is that it?" his palms pressing down even harder on Doyle's buttocks. He circled his hips encouragingly over Doyle's aching sex. "There, that's not so bad, is it? Isn't that what you want?"

Doyle's breath caught in his throat at the easy acceptance in the soft, inviting voice and the sweet insistent friction of the hard body. He closed his eyes, biting his lip to stifle a groan of sheer joy as Bodie's cock rubbed erotically over his, desperately trying to stay in control.

Dizzy with pleasure, he shifted a little, exploring...and realised, belatedly, that for all his show of calm expertise, Bodie's arms and legs were trembling, and he was strung taut as a bow underneath him.

He rubbed himself tentatively over tender, swollen genitals and, disbelievingly, found a definite answering hardness there.

Amazed, he looked down into deep pools of black diluted blue and saw for the first time what, in his preoccupation with his own embarrassment, he hadn't noticed before-the shattering evidence of Bodie's longing and desire in the depths of those blue eyes.

It was suddenly so very easy and so right...

"Anythin' you want..." Bodie said shakily, as he saw the slowly dawning realisation on Doyle's face.

Almost with a sense of relief, Doyle sighed and bent his head to take a kiss from soft, moist lips which at first remained chastely closed to his tickling tongue. But then Bodie made a little pleasurable sound deep in his throat, an almost-protest of surprise and perhaps disbelief that he, too, could want this quite so much, before his lips parted, drawing Doyle into a dark, wet, cavern of delicious Bodie-warmth.

Doyle found Bodie's tongue and sucked on it slowly, savouring it, his finger burying themselves in fine, short, silky strands of hair, never wanting the kiss to end once Bodie had relaxed and started to kiss him back.

When he finally broke the kiss, he buried his face in Bodie's neck, kissing and nuzzling there, rubbing his nose over the dark, shadowy stubble on Bodie's cheek.

"Is that it?" Bodie's hoarse but amused voice said at last. "Don't tell me that's all I'm gettin'?"

It relieved the tension as Bodie had intended. Doyle chuckled. "One step at a time," he said, "still gettin' used to kissin' you, okay?" and then after a moment, "Am I too heavy lyin' on top of you?"

Bodie's arms tightened around him. "You're fine. You stay right where you are."

One warm, firm hand slid in beneath the elastic waistband of Doyle's tracksuit pants, and once it had pushed his briefs down at the back, began kneading bare mounds of small, velvet buttock. Doyle sighed and stretched upwards to the caressing, soothing hand, and the hand then dared a little further, slipping down between lean, hot thighs, which immediately parted for him.

"God..." a small tremulous voice said from somewhere near Bodie's shoulder as the hand reached even further between Doyle's legs, right to the front of his body, and gentle fingertips made contact with taut, heavy balls.

Doyle bucked sharply upwards and then pressed down on Bodie's cock, grinding his hips against it.

"Oh Ray..." Bodie said softly.

The fingertips retreated, returned to the small buttocks, slipped instead into the cleft between them, searching and finding as Doyle spread his legs wider and lifted himself, and a hot finger slipped inside, the tight passage gripping and squeezing as it moved in and out in a fast, uncoordinated rhythm.

"S'fantastic..." Doyle whispered.

The finger withdrew, the hands deserted him, and a soft voice in his ear commanded him to roll over on his back.

"Here...like this? On the mat?" Doyle panted, doing as he was told, watching Bodie settle on his side next to him.

"Safe enough...place is deserted..." Bodie informed him briefly and breathlessly, fumbling with the drawstring on Doyle's pants, "never last til we get home anyway. Look at the state of us..."

Oh God, just look at the state of us, Doyle mentally agreed, knowing he was already bobbing rigidly upright and seeing as soon as he undid Bodie's pants and pulled them down out of the way that he was in exactly the same state of arousal. The hard, crimson-headed cock rising from its nest of thick, dark, richly- curling hair was so beautiful, so exactly how he'd dreamed and imagined it to be, and the memory of how he'd noticed it such a short time ago still encased in the tight, black briefs, so fresh in his mind, he knew he couldn't hold back...not this first time...that he'd come like he never had before almost before they had time to start caressing each other.

Even as he felt Bodie pulling his pants down and taking him in his hand, heard him sigh and whisper, "...Beautiful...so big...oh Ray, is this all for me..." he was wriggling round so he was facing in the opposite direction and could lean forward and take the huge, delicious cock in his mouth, lapping at it delicately with his tongue at first before he carefully took it all and began to suck along the whole length of it, holding the base with one hand, his fingers sinking into thick hair, drowning in the sweet scent of Bodie that was all around him, while Bodie stroked him...and the sweet ache and tension were building and building inside him, and he knew he'd come...so sweetly and completely...hearing Bodie sighing his name over and over again, as he was doing now, as Bodie came too and he swallowed his sweet seed...

Near, so very near...so close it would be any second...so wonderful to be able to love Bodie like this at last...

"Ray...oi...what the hell're you doin' here all by yourself...been lookin' for you all over. Ray, for God's sake..."

A familiar hand was prodding him on the shoulder...

Doyle blinked, turned, and discovered Bodie by his side, leaning on the railing looking at him........ . and came back to earth with a bump, as he became aware of the almost impossible aching tightness between his legs...

"Where the hell were you then, sunshine?" Bodie went on, sounding more than a little peeved and apparently oblivious to Doyle's predicament. "Didn't hear me at all, did you? Bloody miles away. I dunno, I wonder about you sometimes."

He stopped long enough to take a proper look at his partner, somewhat worried and puzzled by what he saw... The embarrassment...the dazed, faraway look...

"You all right?" he asked more softly.

"Yeah, fine," Doyle said, looking away from him, "just thinkin' that's all." He shook his head, trying to clear it of the vestiges of the fantasy, his disorientation almost too much to handle.

Bodie's gaze followed Doyle's to the deserted gym below them. "Fancied a work out, did you?" he queried. "Not a bad idea, I suppose. Gym's always empty this time of night, and we've got Macklin to contend with end of the week. Do us good to get some more practice. Okay, I'm game if you are."

The sense of deja vu was overwhelming. For a second Doyle believed he couldn't cope and shook his head again blankly, disbelievingly...

"Well?" Bodie was asking, "what d'you say?"

Total deja vu. It couldn't be happening. But it was...

Doyle's hands were shaking, his knees so weak he didn't know how they were supporting him.

But he wanted the fantasy so much he knew he wouldn't turn down even this barest chance of having at least some of it, no matter what the consequences. And it was all becoming so crazy and so unreal, perhaps this was still a part of it. He no longer felt capable of knowing.

He shrugged, gave Bodie an inviting smile. "Yeah, all right," he agreed, "but only for half an hour, mind..."

Maybe, if he was lucky, his dream was only just beginning...

-- THE END --