By the time the second part of the act was over, the front of the stage was stippled with loose cash. When the lights went down and two spotlights focused on the platform, a few men in the front row who must have seen Treston's show before started shouting, "Ping-pong," over and over.
Treston and Lyon climbed up on the platform and both reached down for the ping-pong ball shooters at the same time. Treston flung Lyon a quick nod and said, "Are you ready?"
Lyon made a face and said, "Ready as I'll ever be."
Treston noticed Lyon must have been practicing at home with the ping-pong ball shooter because when he inserted the clear plastic tube into his anal canal this time, he continued to smile. He didn't flinch, cringe, or lift an eyebrow. Maybe it was the music. In the past, Treston had always shot the ping-pong balls out of his ass to something like St. Louis Blues. But in order to claim the act as his own, Lyon had decided he wanted to shoot the balls out to The Star Spangled Banner.
Treston didn't say this aloud, but he wished he'd thought of doing this when he'd been performing the act alone. Because when The Star Spangled Banner began and the ping-pong balls began to soar through the air, a few of the older men actually placed their hands over their hearts and stood at attention. And as if this wasn't enough, when the part about the rockets' red glare and the bombs bursting through air played, they pulled the triggers faster and not only got a standing ovation from everyone in the house, but a few men stood at attention and saluted them. From the corner of his eye, Treston saw Chickey saluting while tears streamed down his face. Not many people knew he'd been to Vietnam.
When the show ended and they were backstage changing into their street clothes, Lyon grabbed Treston while they were still in their underwear and hugged him. "Buddy, that was the best show I've ever done. I could feel the energy coming from them. It was fucking outrageous, man. I've never felt such a high in my life."
Treston kissed him on the cheek and said, "I told you that you would be wonderful." He would miss Lyon most of all. They'd said they would keep in touch, but Treston was old enough to know this didn't happen most of the time. People moved away, moved on, and drifted apart. And Cooper didn't seem eager to get to know Treston's friends at the club.
Lyon held Treston closer and rubbed his back. "I couldn't have done it without you. I want you to have all the tips from tonight's show." Chickey always let the guys keep their tips.
Treston shook his head and said, "No. You're keeping the money and I don't want a penny. You have a wife and a kid coming soon."
J.D. was changing in front of the locker directly across from where they were hugging. He was trying to pack his big dick into a skimpy pair of white briefs. He sent them a smirk and said, "Why don't you two just fuck and get it over with? You're making me sick to my stomach already." He sounded sarcastic, but Treston noticed a hint of jealousy in his tone. J.D. had never received so many tips or that kind of applause on his best night, not even with his monster cock.
Treston held Lyon closer and rested his head on his chest. He glanced at J.D. and said, "Get your mind out of the gutter. My friendship with Lyon is one of the most important things in the world to me and neither one of us would ever take advantage of that."
Lyon's hand went down. J.D couldn't see this from where he was getting dressed. At the same time he squeezed Treston's ass he kissed him on the mouth-with his tongue.
A second later, Treston whispered so no one else could hear him. "What was that all about?"
"Just a show of affection to let you know how much I'm going to miss you. And if I ever do turn gay, I'm coming right after you because you're the sweetest little guy I've ever met. You're also the hottest little guy I've ever met, too."
Treston felt Lyon's erection against his thigh and he wasn't sure how to respond. In all the time they'd been friends, nothing like this had ever happened. They'd joked around a lot but never anything serious. He figured it really was a show of affection, so he reached down slowly so J.D. wouldn't see and grabbed Lyon's dick. He laughed and said, "That's about the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. But you'd better calm down, dude. If anyone else sees this they are going to get the wrong idea. I don't think I've ever seen you this hard."
Lyon made a soft gasping noise and he held Treston closer. "If you don't let go of my dick, man, we're both going to be in deep shit."
Treston knew everyone was busy; no one could see what he was doing. As lightly as he could, he eased Lyon's erection out of his underwear and continued to stroke him. "They'll never know." He knew what he was doing was wrong. He wasn't in love with Lyon and the deepest emotional attachment he had to him was based on friendship. But he couldn't deny the huge ego boost he'd received in knowing he could get a straight guy this excited. It made him feel powerful, as if he could do the impossible.
"Seriously," Lyon said. He started to laugh. "You're getting me close." He started bucking his hips a little.
Treston continued to stroke him. "It's for your own good."
Lyon could barely speak by then. "H-h-how is this for my own good?"
"It's the perfect way to get rid of an erection." He gripped him tighter and stroked faster. He glanced over to see what the other guys were doing and he knew they were still safe. J.D. was digging through the bottom of his locker and the other guys were arguing about whether or not sparkles should be used by male strippers.
"Oh fuck," Lyon said. "I can't hold back. You gotta let go right now. Seriously."
But Treston refused to release him. It took all of a minute. When Lyon came, his body went rigid for a moment and he inhaled deeply. By the time he exhaled, there was come all over Treston's thigh.
"What are we going to do now?" Lyon asked. He started laughing. "If we stop hugging they'll all see what happened."
"Calm down," Treston said. "No one suspects anything. It'll be our little secret." Treston had always believed there were certain unexpected things that occurred between people sometimes and no one else had a right to know about them.
"I have an idea," Lyon said. "But you have to let go of my dick first. Put it back inside."
When Treston released Lyon, he packed his dick into his underwear, and then he reached up and put his arms around Lyon's shoulders again. "Okay. Do whatever you have to do. You're the boss."
Lyon reached down and started to tickle him. Treston doubled over laughing and begged him to stop. In a move so fast Treston barely saw it coming, Lyon grabbed a towel from a bench and wiped the come of Treston's leg. After that, Treston thought Lyon would stop tickling him, but he didn't and Treston tried to push him away. But Lyon was much stronger and Treston knew he could never overpower him. By the time everyone turned to see what they were doing, it looked as if they were horsing around as usual.
The other guys watched as Lyon tickled Treston to the floor. The more Lyon tickled the harder Treston laughed and begged him to stop. Oh, this was cruel and Lyon seemed to be enjoying it too much. The other guys started to shout, "Don't stop," and Lyon climbed on top of him and pinned him down. Eventually, their erections subsided and no one would suspect a thing. Treston knew it was safe to stand up again and finish getting dressed. But a moment before they did get up Treston looked up with tears in his eyes from laughing so hard and saw Cooper standing over them. He was looking down at them both in nothing but underwear, rubbing his jaw, with his head slightly tipped to the left.
The moment Lyon saw Cooper looming he stopped tickling and jumped up to his feet. Then Treston stood up and said, "We were just fooling around." He gestured to Lyon and smiled. "This is my buddy, Lyon. We mess around that way all the time. He's the guy with the wife and kid on the way I told you about."
Treston noticed J.D. standing behind Cooper, looking him up and down in a disapproving way. The other guys who'd been laughing went silent and returned to what they'd been doing. It felt as if Cooper had sucked all the life out of the room.
Lyon extended his hand and said, "Treston's my best buddy. It's nice to finally meet you, Cooper. He's told me a lot about you. He talks about you all the time."
Cooper hesitated. For a moment, Treston thought Cooper would refuse to take Lyon's hand. But he shook it and said, "It's nice to meet you," in the same lifeless, deadpan tone he used every morning after he fucked Treston and said, "That was nice." Then he looked at Treston and said, "I saw your show tonight, the one with the ping-pong balls."
Treston shrugged. "We went on later than usual because of another act that ran over."
Lyon had no way of knowing how Cooper felt about Treston's job as a stripper, because Treston had never gone into much detail. Lyon smiled and asked, "Did you like the show? It's really not supposed to be taken seriously. It's all in fun." He'd once mentioned to Treston he'd learned he had to explain these things sometimes. Not everyone had a sense of humor-or got his sense of humor. Treston had stopped caring about what other people thought of him years ago. He explained nothing.
Cooper looked down at the floor and said, "I've never seen anything quite like it. It was interesting."