Interactive: Climbing the Ladder, ch. 1

“So you’re the newest member of the HBL family?  Nice to meet you...I’m Duncan.”  

“Shawn,” the dark haired young man said, reaching out and matching the vice-like pressure being applied to his hand.  The blonde grinned and seemed impressed, leaning back in his chair to size up his new cubicle-mate.  Shawn did the same, squaring his broad shoulders and puffing his solid chest out as he noted Duncan’s perfect fade, fitted clothes, and athletic frame.  He already didn’t like the smug pretty boy.  They appeared to be about the same age and build, but Duncan still had the air of college frat boy, not young professional.  

“Well, there’s your desk,” Duncan said, motioning to the small work station opposite his own.  “They came by and hooked up your system yesterday so you should be all set.  How’re you settling in?  You staying in the Tower?”  

‘Yep,” Shawn nodded and dropped into his chair, “you?”  

Duncan shook his head.  “Nah...not anymore.  I did for my first year but finally got out.  Not a bad place, especially when you’re new, but I’ve had my fill of dudes for a while.”  He laughed then lowered his tone, glancing around as he continued.  “Seriously, they don’t fuck around about that whole ‘no women on the men’s floor and no men on the women’s’ thing.  You want some pussy...best hit that tail elsewhere and not bring it back home.”  The blonde man nodded towards Shawn’s desk, his voice dropping to a whisper.  “Last I heard, Mike got busted hooking up with a chick in one of the women’s showers, and now here YOU are.”  

“Noted,” Shawn said, trying to figure out if Duncan was just fucking with him or if the other man was serious.  From what he’d experienced since moving in, it could go either way.  

The “Tower” in question was a highrise apartment building owned by Hadley, Bowen & Lath, a throwback to the early days of corporations when the workers would all live in company housing.  Now, people had the option, but for a poor young recent college student, it was perfect.  The rooms were clean and modern but small, especially since they put people two to a unit, and Shawn didn’t know what he’d do even if he’d wanted to bring a girl home given the size of the efficiency apartment and the almost complete lack of privacy.  HBL was all about “bonding” and “family” to build a stronger workforce, but Shawn figured they just wanted to save money and cram people in.  What that “bonding” looked like for him and his roommate Cayden was awkward morning wood and a necessity to be comfortable with public nudity.  In just the few days they’d roomed together Shawn had already become intimately familiar with Cayden’s stocky, muscled frame.  

It was like living in a fancy dorm, which Shawn was used to.  He’d done that for his first two years of college and had lived in the frat house for the last two, so shared spaces and letting it all hang out in front of the guys wasn’t anything new.  It was actually a comforting transition, a way that he could cling to a bit of his youth as he crept into his adult years.  There was a bit of a Big Brother feel to the whole thing, but the building had a state of the art fitness center, a pool, a sauna, and even the showers and bathrooms were like something out of a resort, once you got past their communal nature.  And it wasn’t as if he could afford to live anywhere else in such an expensive city.  Shawn told himself it would just be a good incentive to put in as many hours and save up as much as he could.  Late nights at the office weren’t so bad when the other option was going home to a closet with a naked dude in it.  

Beyond the Tower, the whole company seemed geared towards keeping its workers as close to the central office as possible.  There were onsite physicians and restaurants and gyms and recreation areas.  There was even a movie theatre and a nature trail.  Shawn could practically hear the Human Resources voice in his head telling him to go ahead and put in those fourteen hour days; everything he needs is right here.  

He told himself he could handle it, being just another cog in the machine.  With a company of this size he could always fade into the background if he needed to until another option presented itself.  It wasn’t as if they could keep track of everyone at a place this size, he thought.  The HBL campus itself was as sprawling as the company itself, with more buildings and divisions than Shawn could keep track of.  Hadley, Bowen & Lath billed itself as a financial firm, but they had their fingers in just about everything from insurance and construction, to tech start-ups and medical research.  From what he’d been told by one of his professors, Shawn knew that if he could get his foot in the door and deal with some of the company’s bizarre trappings, he was looking at life-long financial security before he’d hit thirty.  

That was going to be easier said than done.  By the end of his first day Shawn was exhausted.  Almost before he knew it ten hours of analyzing figures and crunching numbers had passed, leaving his head spinning from the rapidfire requests that seemed to come from every department at once.  At first he thought he was being tested, but looking over his shoulder, Shawn saw Duncan was just as busy, and he wondered how anyone found the time to use all the wonderful company amenities if this is how a standard day went.  

He was at least grateful for the Tower’s gym.  The bustling fitness center was like an oasis, letting him move and sweat after being chained to a desk all day.  As a lifelong athlete Shawn started to feel claustrophobic and frustrated if he couldn’t burn off his virile young energy and it showed, leaving him with a defined, leanly muscled frame beneath his boyish face.  It was also an opportunity to scope out his new neighbors, both the guys on his floor and the women he barely ever saw.  Given how young most of the Tower’s residents were the gym reminded him of being back on campus, especially in the way they all obviously checked each other out.  The handsome young jock caught women and men alike staring at his perky bubble as he ran on the treadmill, and watching his deceptive arms inflate as he curled at the free weights.  He was just as guilty, eyeing the way ample bottoms and ample breasts bounced and swayed as his forbidden coworkers went through their sets.  

The pent up tension in the air was impossible to ignore, setting Shawn on edge.  Instead of being relaxed from the physical exertion he was just horny, painfully aware of how long it had been since he’d last gotten laid.  For someone who used to hook up at least two or three times a week, the past two weeks felt like he’d taken a vow of celibacy.  

Shawn hoped a cold shower and the sight of naked men would help.  He tried to forget the curvy frames and flowing hair as he jogged up the stairs to the seventh floor, peeling out of his damp tank-top as soon as he was out of the stairwell.  His sculpted torso glistened with sweat, the beads of liquid trickling through the dark, sparse patches of hair stretching across his pecs and down his abs as he walked through the doorless entry to the showers.  Once inside, there was a row of shower stalls to the left and a series of matching benches to the right, with a mirrored counter full of sinks on the far wall.  

As he stripped out of his shorts and boxer briefs, Shawn was grateful for all the time he’d spent in various locker rooms over the years as the showers provided about as much privacy as their rooms did.  Though there were separate “stalls”, they were only separated from each other by a small half wall which rose up from the floor, doing nothing to obscure the view from the person next to you or from anyone who walked in.  The space was stylishly designed and strategically lit, but it was pure form over function, giving the room a unique look even as it left the men using it on display.  

Shawn just shrugged it off.  With his fit, tapering build and wide, above average cock, he had nothing to be shy about and was well aware of the fact.  He nodded to the chiseled brunette, the only other man in the room, and took up a stall a few spaces away.  He’d seen him in passing and was already familiar with the striking, model-caliber face, and now he saw that his neighbor had a body to match.  Shawn tried to be discreet as he noted the other man’s shredded, precision build, the muscled adonis looking more like a bodybuilder than someone who worked in an office all day.  He cleared his throat and did his best to look in the other man’s direction without actually looking at him.  

“Hey man, I’m new to the building.  Shawn.”

The other man looked over and flashed a smile so charming even Shawn felt it.  “AJ,” he said, nodding.  “I wondered who the new face was.  You just start?” 

“First day, actually.  Is it always so busy?”  

AJ gave a short laughed and shrugged his striated shoulders.  “Comes and goes.  You get used to it.”  

“Fuck, man, I heard this place was tough but they really throw you in the...deep...end…” Shawn trailed off and blushed when AJ turned to fully face him, showing off his granite shelf of a chest, tank tread abs, and small, barely visible nub of a cock.  Over the years Shawn had seen guys of just about every size and shape, but he’d never seen such a ripped pretty boy with such small equipment before.  The contrast was jarring.  

The sculpted man looked down, following Shawn’s eyes to his tiny package.  “I know, right?” he said, his tone defeated.  

Shawn quickly looked away.  “Shit, sorry man, that was so rude of me.  I didn’t…” 

“No, it’s cool, don’t worry about it,” AJ interrupted.  “Not quite what it used to be.”  He turned off his shower and started toweling dry, changing the subject to where they’d each gone to school and where they were from.  

Shawn was so flustered he didn’t register AJ’s strange comment about his cock not being what it used to be until the conversation had already moved on, and he didn’t want to offend his new friend by bringing it back up.  But he couldn’t stop thinking about it.  Even after AJ had left and he was heading back to his own room, towel around his trim waist, he couldn’t get the sight from his head.  The little nub had been smaller than his thumb, making his own thick hose seem gargantuan by comparison.  Back in the room, he dropped his towel and gave his dangling equipment a reassuring squeeze, wondering what it must be like to go through life with such a perfect face and body while packing such meager equipment.  

It wasn’t a problem he could sympathize with.  As Shawn hefted the heavy balls dangling between his toned, hairy thighs, his cock was rapidly twitching to its full seven inches.  The bizarre encounter in the shower had done nothing to take the edge off, confusingly adding to his already horny state as he thought about what sex for AJ must be like.  

“Goddamnit,” he grumbled, frustrated as his throbbing rod refused to soften.  It was clear he was going to have to take care of it, but Shawn didn’t know when Cayden was due back.  He could pump out a quick load without anyone knowing, or the other man could walk in after his first stroke.  They’d already seen each other hard, but Shawn wasn’t sure if this was a line he wanted to cross after only knowing someone four days.  He was stuck.  Either he put on a pair of underwear and walked around with a tent all night, or he took the risk.  

Shawn sighed and gave the door one last look as he reached down and wrapped a hand around his pulsing organ.