Chapter 1

Prologue

James was a great roommate.

Well…

James was a good roommate.

Well…

Ok, James was a roommate who reliably handed me his rent check with minimal complaining after being reminded 3 times. But he did it shirtless, and his chiseled abs made up for the complaining and reminding. He was both thick and thicc, a personal trainer to the LA stars who hadn’t quite made it yet. Like everyone in LA, James was following his dreams, his just happened to be looking like a knockoff Chris Hemsworth and getting paid to work out. His muscular frame, blond hair, and leading man jawline drew stares on the street.

I, Erik, met James when I moved out to LA for my first big gig as a phone app developer. I had been shamed into hitting the gym by the beautiful soon-to-be-actor waiters, and was making modest progress. James approached me and tried to recruit me as a personal training client, and it took me longer than I’d care to admit to realize he wasn’t hitting on me. But still, we ended up grabbing lunch after the gym, and quickly stumbled into being friends. The timing seemed serendipitous, because although my big LA job paid well, I had drastically underestimated how possible it was for a salad to cost over $20. I needed a roommate, and James was impulsive enough to say yes.

My office became a second bedroom, and my computer moved to the now cramped living room. We spent the first month figuring out how to stand each other, finding every little bad habit that made us consider the jail time for murder. James loved cooking healthy meals, but felt that dirty dishes could sit out for far too long. I liked staying up late playing video games on my computer, but James had early-bird clients at the gym.

James liked it colder, but I was frugal in the summers and kept turning the AC down. He retaliated by walking around the apartment shirtless, complaining about how hot he was and splashing water from the sink onto his “sizzling” abbs. This led to me popping a hastily concealed boner, and outing myself. James seemed surprised, but I noticed he subtly puffed out his chest at the attention. Turns out that James, the walking advertisement for testosterone, was “a bit bi himself”, though normally he went for chicks.

We’ve been friends and roommates for six months now. Sometimes our boundary as just friends has made things…hard, like when I saw his laundry and learned he works out in jockstraps, but he seems to like teasing me about my lingering stares more than anything. He’s a sucker for attention, and he takes my jealousy towards the girls he brings home as a compliment.

Things are fine. We’re…just friends.

Chapter 1

I practically threw open the door in my excitement on Friday evening, beaming like a madman. James jumped up from the couch, wearing nothing but workout shorts as usual. God it was a sight to come home to.

“You got it?!” He guessed.

“You bet your sexy ass I did!” I crooned, unrolling the sleeves on my button up and loosening my tie, “You’re looking at the newest LEAD app developer at Daily Levels!”

“Then it’s celebration time!” James sang as he opened the fridge and grabbed two bottles of ice cold soda. James rarely drank anything other than water to preserve his shredded physique, and he’d convinced me to try giving up booze to lose a few pounds. But this was a special event!

“No more stupid widgets for me,” I said, taking a bottle, “I’m OFFICIALLY on the team for the new habit app!”

James playfully grabbed my tie to pull me into a hug. “I’m so proud of you Erik!” He said, practically crushing me with his extra size. He was only 2 inches taller than me at 6’3”, but he’d proved multiple times that he could pick me up with ease. I gave him a quick squeeze back, but he made the shirtless hug last long enough that I had to think of nuns and multiplying fractions.

That night we ordered in and watched movies full of ripped studs playing super heroes. James broke his caloric intake for the day in my honor. I eventually stripped down to my undershirt and swapped into comfy pants. We were midway through a dramatic character death when my phone buzzed.

“Tell them to blow you if it’s work.” said James, but I waved him away. I wasn’t going to miss my first work message right after a big promotion.

In my work inbox was an email from “Controller”. I didn’t recognize the codename, but it came from our work server. The subject line just said “Proceed with caution”, but when I opened the email it was blank. Suddenly, without prompting, a progress bar popped up and my phone started downloading something.

“What the fuck?” I muttered, but as I tried to cancel the download a flurry of windows and applications opened and closed on my phone in the blink of an eye!

“Everything ok?” Asked James, leaning over.

“I think some dick at work sent me a virus? This must be some BS security training thing.” I stopped tapping as my phone went silent and rebooted.

“Need me to kick someone’s ass?” Asked James, and by god I think he meant it.

We both watched as my phone turned back on, and I checked to see if anything changed.

“Oh good, your Grindr’s still there.” teased James.

“I just have it for, you know what, never mind. And you’re one to talk, Mr. Revolving Door.”

“Hey, a man’s gotta eat.” Joked James, “Sometimes it’s food, sometimes it’s pussy. A few times it’s been dicks.” He nudged me with his elbow playfully and waggled his eyebrows, but I was too lost in my phone.

I’d found the one thing that was different, an app with a generic game controller logo named “JAMES”.

“Come on man, you’re scaring me” said James, “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, it’s just…there’s an app on my phone with your name on it.”

“What?” he said in disbelief, but I showed him as he leaned over. “You HAVE to open it!”

“It could be a virus,” I said, but to be honest I was curious too. Thankfully I didn’t have to decide, since James reached out and tapped the icon. I snatched my phone back before he could do more.

“Don’t be a scared baby Erik,” jeered James, “What’s it say?”

I looked at the app, holding the screen away to get a look at it before him. On the screen was a simple prompt that said “Level up to unlock more!” I cleared the prompt and saw a simple interface. In the top left it said “Lvl 01” and “000/002”. Below that was a box that said “Horny” and a slider placed at 2 out of 10.

“This is a fucked up joke…” I said, and didn’t resist as James pulled my phone over to look. “I swear, I didn’t make this up man.”

James’s face scrunched in confusion. “I don’t see anything,” he said, “It’s just blank?”

I took the phone back, but it had the same interface for me. “For me it’s some simple game screen,” I said, “but it’s kind of fucked up. It says you’re at level 1 and there’s a slider for…for horniness.”

“Well what’s it say?” Asked James, grabbing his crotch, “I’m soft as a pillow under here.”

James laughed, and I realized how close he was to me on the couch…and how shirtless he was…

“It says you’re at a 2, no, a 3 now.” I said, “I’m sorry man, this is a fucked up prank or something.”

“You said it was a slider right?” asked James, “…can you change the number?”

“…I probably shouldn’t…” I shifted in my seat as my crotch started to stir.

James stood up. “I dare you,” he said, and put his hands on his hips, “See, barely a semi, but I won't hide it. For science! Come on, let’s see if it works!”

James standing in front of me talking about his cock circuited my usual defenses for looking away, and I stared at the bulge in his athletic shorts. I’d caught a few glimpses through his bedroom door when he was changing, the man wasn’t shy about closing his door, but I’d never really seen how hung he was.

I licked my lips. My thumb slid the “Horny” slider up.

“Fuck!” James said, staggering and almost falling over. I dropped my phone on the couch and jumped up to steady him.

“Did that hurt you?” I asked, worried.

“No, it…fuck I mean that feels good. Really good!” Said James, breathing heavily. “I didn’t think it would actually DO anything but, I mean…” sure enough, I could see his cock rapidly tenting his shorts. “Fuck man, looks like it’s contagious too.”

I let go of James and took a step back, becoming embarrassingly aware that my loose pants did little to hide my own erection. James stretched his arms overhead and moaned softly, completely nonchalant about the considerable tent in his shorts.

“What did you set it to?” He asked.

“5, out of 10”

“Fuck me, that’s only half way?!” James laughed, “I feel like I haven’t busted a nut in 2 days. Stop worrying about hiding your dick man, this is hot as fuck. If you weren’t at least a little hard right now I’d think you lied about me being cute.”

“I said that once you pr-” I stopped mid sentence, annoyed, “You know what, nevermind. You’re right, this is fun.” I reached for my phone, and my cock twitched a bit as I noticed him looking at my crotch. “You seem to like 5, how about 7?”

James was ready this time, and I could see as it took effect. He breathed in deep, rubbing his hands through the light blond hair on his thick pecs, fingers gently brushing his nipples. His hips swayed and thrust lightly, and I noticed precum starting to leak through the tip of his tented shorts. It was the hottest sight I’d ever seen.

“7 is…7 is real good…” said James with his eyes closed, the playfulness gone from his voice. He kept one hand fondling his chest, the other reaching back to grab one massive ass cheek as he kept slightly thrusting. “It would be weird to jack off right now right? Like, crossing a line as roommates and all that…”

“Yeah…crossing lines…” I muttered, transfixed on this barely clothed adonis, one of my closest friends, seemingly in ecstasy before me. My words broke some semblance of self control in him and he turned to me, grabbed my face and tilted my lips up to meet his as he lunged into an aggressively deep kiss. I was in heaven, my cock throbbed as it touched his through the fabric of our shorts. I didn’t know what to do with my hands, but his moved to my shoulders, to my side. One of Jame’s hands plunged straight under my shorts to grab my ass, pulling me closer to grind out cocks together. Our tongues touched.

I slid the Horny slider to 1.

James froze, and I barely dared to breathe. He slowly stepped back, confused.

“I’m sorry” we both said at once. I blushed.

“I didn’t mean to,” stammered James, lacking confidence for the first time since I’d met him, “I mean I shouldn’t have…crossed lines…”

Feeling like I’d stolen his bravery, I stepped towards him, gently taking his hand. I was amazed that a man’s hand could feel so strong yet so vulnerable.

“Change doesn’t have to be bad” I said, “You know I think you’re stunning, but living together could get…complicated.”

James seemed to be rubbing every brain cell in his head together. He absentmindedly rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb as I kept talking.

“You tease me all the fucking time,” I said, “you get me so damn horny and I’ve never tried to do anything about it. I didn’t think you wanted me to try. But this…”

James looked at the phone in my hand, the numbers and buttons only I could see, the Horny slider still set firmly at its lowest setting. He looked back to my hopeful eyes and I’d never felt more vulnerable. Slowly, tender this time, James leaned in and brushed his lips on mine, my eyes closed in relief. Firmly, gently, he pressed against the small of my back to bring us together, neither of us fully hard anymore. James pulled his lips away as his arms wrapped around me. My head moved to rest against his massive chest.

“I’m sorry for teasing you.” he whispered in my ear before letting me go and stepping back. He nodded at the phone still in my hand. “Let's not overthink this. Have a little payback, show me how horny I’ve made you.”

My cock throbbed back to life and I looked at the app in my hand, feeling a rush of power and control.

I slid the Horny level to 8 and dropped the phone on the couch.

James gasped as the shock rolled through his muscular body. He stretched his arms wide, muscles flexing to display just how much strength they held. His cock stirred quickly in his shorts again, and this time I took the lead.

My hands grabbed his biceps, I kissed his neck. He put both his hands behind his head and moaned as I tweaked his nipples, my fingers dancing across his fur coated pecs. I bent down and flicked my tongue over his right nipple, turning his moans to a whimper. I moved a hand to his waistline and slid his shorts down. My mouth moved to his for a kiss as I felt his rigid cock in my hand for the first time. 8 girthy inches of shaft, cut, dripping precum that made his thrusts slide back and forth. I stopped kissing him to glance down, and it was a sight to see. James’s cock throbbed, the slick head looked so hard, like it was about to pop.

James looked at me pleadingly, his hands still behind his head. I gave his cock one stroke and pulled my hand away…two…he rose up on his toes on the third.

“Please…” James whimpered.

“Ask again.” I said, stroking his cock a fourth time, slower than the last.

“Please.” Pleaded James again, his eyes closed, trying to thrust but my hand was just out of reach. I darted in and stroked his cock a fifth time.

“PLEASE let me cum Eric!” He begged! I kissed him on the mouth again, grabbing his meaty ass with one hand and rapidly stroking his cock with the other. His glutes flexed, and he roared into our locked lips as his cock erupted, shooting rope after rope of hot cum onto the front of my pants.

James sagged into me, resting his head on my shoulder. I held the beefy man as he breathed heavily, his energy completely spent. I lowered him slowly to the couch and kissed him on the forehead as he murmured expletives and praise.

I picked up my phone, almost forgotten in the heat of the moment, and checked the app. HIS app. The Horny slider was swiftly moving down. Now 6, now 5. I took off my cum drenched pants and laid naked against Jame’s muscular body on the couch. James subconsciously pulled me closer with a meaty arm. The slider on the app bottomed out at 2 and James passed out.

My cock hadn’t gotten to unload, but the stress of the work day and the recent excitement had left me exhausted.

I noticed one last thing before I closed my phone and fell asleep against my hunky roommate.

The experience bar on the app had moved up to Lv 01:001/002.

To be continued…