"What are you thinking about?" asks Max, cradling Nat's head on his chest and stroking the tender skin on his bare upper arm with his fingers.
Naked.
How they are just enjoying each other after saying goodbye to their friends for the last time today.
With Net and James, it was just goodbye until the next morning.
Saying goodbye to ZeeNuNew and TutorYim took on much more emotional colors.
They spent the day together at the pool enjoying Tutor's cocktails.
Interesting conversations and extensive fooling around included.
Whereby probably rather Max and Nat took over the part of the fooling around.
The others came again and again in the pleasure of their playful love affairs.
As if they celebrate their love by giving their fellow men a piece of their happiness.
All the hearts at the pool took off and danced to their own tune.
Zee and NuNews eyes were shining.
They were both lying together on a lounger, spooning with their hands holding each other.
Zee shielded his Nong from the wild outpouring of water that fogged the air every time Max jumped into the pool with Nat in his arms in an even crazier way.
Yim hovered around Tutor throughout.
All his movements were accompanied by him.
And for Tutor, he also liked to play the assistant.
Cutting limes.
Grinding mint and cane sugar.
And being fed a little spoonful of flavor bliss by Tutor every now and then.
And Tutor's amorous smile never left his face for a moment.
When you're caught between lovebirds and tormented by your own longing.
Then you hold on to something.
Substitutes the beloved object.
Puts one's focus on a substitute stimulation.
And so Net stood by the large stone grill and let the flames melt delicious meat.
He felt intoxicated by the love hormones of his friends.
Loving happiness was in the air and he so longed for the one meat that he would love to hold against him.
He would so love to hold James in his arms too, like Zee held his NuNew.
He would so love to see him squirm between his fingers the same way Max did his Nat.
And Yim's almost floating movements around Tutor, made him feel the melancholy.
James doesn't seek his closeness.
He doesn't hover at his side.
And so Net grills the nourishing meat for his friends.
May they feast on their meat frenzy.
He indulges them.
With the sad look of a black cougar.
James, on the other hand, held onto the vlog camera.
His substituite stimulation.
His footage sought out all the brave moments.
He saw the touches and looks of his friends through the camera.
Always through that filter.
The camera.
How can they look so authentic in front of the camera?
It imposes its dogmas on them, after all.
All fanservice?
How do they manage to really feel the moments when they are so dazzled by the camera?
It's all just theater.
True feelings can't be shown so openly.
Only the camera and its accompanying agreements and goals are in the foreground.
This cannot be reconciled.
James cannot take what happens in front of the camera for true.
And yet he admired his friends and felt their happy love flowing through him.
A warm wind that blew him again and again to what he consciously blanked out.
James squinted intermittently at the beguiling scent behind him.
Net looked cute with his black apron.
His black hair lay perfectly with few strands hanging down his tanned skin on his striking face.
His large, dark eyes were fixed on the crackling embers.
His skin.
On his arms.
And James allowed himself only a moment to look at the contrast of the black apron against his bare skin.
Elevations.
His muscular arms.
And he was caught by Nat's gaze, looking at him just so.
And James turned his gaze away from him.
His lips seemed to pout at himself.
He should refrain from doing that.
And besides, Net hasn't exchanged a word with him since they started hanging out here at the pool with those lovebirds.
Actually, he's relieved.
Finally Net is giving him his space.
He's probably exhausted from his constant flirting.
The others are the center of attention anyway.
Net can relax and not play the lover.
It's okay.
There's no camera on them right now.
"Mhmm, you smell so good!", James startled when he suddenly heard Net from behind.
So close.
He had tentatively pressed his face into James' hair and was taking in his scent.
"Here, I picked out the best bits for you!", James caught sight of his hand with a plate in front of him, "Only the best for my darling!", Net purred and grabbed James' frozen hand with his free hand.
He guided it to the plate and tenderly stroked his thumb before disappearing again as quickly as he appeared.
And James' heart raced madly.
He couldn't help himself.
Against this happy seething in his body.
A tingling sensation so strong surrounded his skin that he felt numb.
And when he finally looked at the plate, his heart stopped abruptly.
Such a cheesy dunkey.
A suppressed smile greeted the heart assembled from meat on the plate.
Pieces that, like a puzzle, expressed the simple sign of love.
And Net stood at the grill, unable to take his eyes off the back James.
Give me a look, James!
Give me a look!
And James knew exactly that Net was waiting for it.
He should turn around and give him some kind of reaction to this simple flirtation that was blowing him away.
But nothing about it seemed simple to him.
His body was reacting far too strongly for him to simply respond skillfully.
Nothing in him could play anything now.
And so Net's gaze colored into the sad spheres of his reality.
He should leave him alone.
How many times is he going to get himself rejected?
They like each other.
They're partners.
And he should accept James' resistance.
Something just happened with him.
But that doesn't have to mean James feels it, too.
And so Net held onto the burning flesh in front of him again.
Sadness and uncertainty.
Net and James stood dazed next to each other as it came down to the big goodbye.
Max comforted Nat, who shed tears and had a hard time saying goodbye to the four beloved friends.
And the evening together with the sad-looking Net and the composed yet uncertain James left even heavier feelings in Max empathetic Nong.
And so they both slipped into the shower and snuggled naked together in the white, large four-poster bed that seemed far too huge for their intimate embrace.
Since then, Max has looked into his Nong's affected, thoughtful eyes.
"I'm just thinking about Net and James!" retorts Nat, looking into his Pi's beautiful eyes, "What is it with those two?" he asks.
Max nods and kisses his forehead.
"They seemed very eager tonight. But much more distant than usual. Maybe they had an argument," Max growls, caressing Nat's velvety cheeks.
"Yeah, but I don't just mean tonight. Everyone can see that Net is infatuated with him. And James is getting softer, too, somehow. But then there are phases when he shows himself so cold," Nat describes, nuzzling the fragrant, warm skin against Max's chest.
"But that doesn't have to mean he doesn't like it. He probably needs more time to figure things out," Max explains, squeezing Nat tighter.
Nat grumbles.
"But I feel so sorry for Net. I don't like seeing him so sad. He's always so sweet to James. He doesn't deserve that!" grumbles Nat, "I know exactly how that feels. I feel him like that!"
And Max feels an uncomfortable impulse rising inside him.
"I've never treated you like this. I've never been cold to you! What do you feel about him?" he retorts dryly.
Nat raises his head at the cold tone of his Pi.
He looks into his eyes and sees the flames he loves so much.
He smiles.
His heavy heart does a cartwheel and he can breathe more freely again.
"I mean by that, the uncertain feeling of whether one's feelings are mutual. One-sided love is so painful!" he shows himself to him with his eyes.
And Max's heart whimpers with emotion.
He pulls Nat into a kiss and tenderly licks his wounds.
"You knew exactly how to make me not deny myself. Net just needs to find the right way to make James realize his feelings," he kisses him again.
The sweet lips of his sweetest Nong.
Nat smiles in their kiss.
His Pi is so wise.
And he is determined to help Net and James find their way.
Max and he can be there for them.
That's what friends are for.
To show each other the way sometimes.
But now he wants to go back to those flames that just pulled him out of the swampy sadness.
After all, they won and he doesn't want to spend their victorious night wistfully.
And so he makes big googly eyes and lays it on.
"I feel him like this!" breathes Nat provocatively, hoping for the flames in Max's eyes.
And Max's dangerous look pleases him so.
Nat chuckles.
He doesn't want to push it.
His Max is too sacred for that.
He'd better give him good feelings.
Really good ones.
The kind that show him what he means to him.
How much he loves and desires him.
Only him.
And Max sees the color change in Nat's eyes clearly.
He feels an excitement rising inside him.
His heart is alarmed.
His crazy Nong is up to something after all.
First he wants to make his flames blaze and then take all control away from him.
"Nat! What are you plotting in that little head of yours?" asks Max with slight uncertainty in his tone.
Nat's eyes widen.
Now he was teasing his Pi again, after all.
Don't.
Not on victory night.
"Do you really want to hear what I'm planning?" his lips form tentatively.
Max nods excitedly.
"I'm being completely honest with you now!" begins Nat, "We won. This is a very good occasion for us to celebrate each other profusely," he explains, smirking when he sees Max swallow.
He approaches his face.
"We don't have to plan everything, but for now I'd like to make a wish come true!" he breathes to Max, "And I think that with this wish you'll get one too," Nat licks his lips.
And he lets his gaze wander the body of his beloved.
To the feast he's about to give himself.
And he swallows as he glimpses the response of his words to Max.
They've earned this.
A delicious rush at the sugar stand, where the candied fruit also gets its money's worth.
A substitute stimulation of sensual devotion.