April Fool Backfire

This is my first attempt in this category. Authors like votes, love comments, and I'm looking to improve my writing. Constructively tell me what you think, please and thank you.

4,980 Words

Colin tapped the phone screen, frowning. He scrolled through a number of articles without success. Noah, his gym buddy, racked the bar on the bench press and laughed at him.

"You know," Noah said, sitting up on the bench, "There's just not much out there for sexy pranks if you're a guy."

Colin nodded. Women seemed to have the monopoly on trying sexy things for April Fool's Day. Colin wasn't much of a prankster in the first place but he wanted to have some fun with Grace, his moderately-new girlfriend. They were four months into their relationship and he wanted to shake things up. His last two girlfriends ended things first, citing a lack of creativity on his part within the framework of dating. That was nebulous and Colin hadn't understood. When pressed for explanation, neither had (at each respective break-up) offered up further details.

Maybe it was just him. He was sure going to try with Grace, though. He really liked her. She was down-to-earth, fun, smart, and she had a quiet way around her that didn't demand attention. Colin really liked her. He always looked forward to seeing her and they had a growing relationship that seemed to play off each other better than his past girlfriends. His exes, numbering half a dozen in total, were long gone in the rearview mirror. He was with a woman who was confident and conformable with herself. She impressed him.

Now he would try to impress her ... or at least tease her a bit.

"Hot damn! I found it," Noah announced. Colin looked over, eyebrows raised, waiting.

"So," Noah explained, "Here's an app where the two of you log in, link with each other, and then pick out fantasies or kinks you like. And if there's a match, it lets you know. It's a safe way of trying to share things that you'd be shy about. If there isn't a match, nothing gets shared."

Colin grinned, "And I'll just pick all of them and see what she's into, huh?" he said.

"No, stupid. Grace is too clever for that," Noah said, frowning, "If you did that, she'd figure out real quick you were faking it. Man, you are not good at this! Just pick a few fantasies and see what happens. If nothing hits, well, okay at least you're being creative. If something does hit, hey, you'll have some inside scoop on her kinks. And you can have a laugh about it afterward."

Colin pasted the URL into his phone's browser, clicked on the app, and downloaded it. It was free. He scanned the list of kinks. There were all kinds of things in there. He started tapping at random, picking here and there without reading what he was selected. Grace would also pick and he could laugh about any matches with her later.

April Fool!

He sent her a text with the app info and said it might be something fun for them to do.

Moments later a shocked emoji face popped up on his screen. A question mark and a thinking face followed shortly after.

Then: I like it. I'm in.

Colin enjoyed getting texts from Grace. She responded quickly for the most part and yet he never felt needy. She recently started to send memes just for fun. There was more joking and flirting and he matched her energy. They didn't text all day long, though, and the pace just felt right to him. He decided right then he simply loved having her in his life.

------------

Grace texted Colin an hour later.

Come home

That was odd. First, they lived in different places. Colin was roommates with two other guys in a big apartment that was right downtown, not that it was much of a downtown. Grace wasn't far away but she never referred to her place as 'home' before. The verbiage had been 'my place' or 'your place.' This was a change.

His phone dinged again.

NOW

Moments later, a video link popped up on his phone. He tapped the link. Onscreen, Grace smiled at him, waved, and put the phone down on the dresser next to her bed facing her. Colin recognized the white cotton robe she wore. It had strawberries on it and it was soft and comfortable. Grace faced away from the camera, still in full view, and shrugged the robe off her shoulders. Skin ... white, soft, beautiful skin came into view as the material slid lower. It revealed more and more of her back. She wore nothing above the waist. Colin's mouth went dry and his heart quickened as the robe fell to the floor. She was completely nude. She looked over her shoulder at the camera, winked and wiggled her bare ass at him. She walked out of the bedroom doorway to the front room, hips swaying. She was completely naked. He could hear her call out, sing-song, "I'm waiting."

He went home, NOW.

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The sex was enthusiastic. As soon as Colin got in her apartment, Grace pinned him against the door and pressed her body into his.

"Get hard for me, please," she whimpered, her hands fumbling at his pants. It took no time before her hands were inside the waistband of his boxers, yanking them down. His knees buckled as she knelt and took him in her mouth, working him to get him hard. He responded and she dragged him to the ground, climbing on top. She was soaking wet and slid right down the length of his cock. She ground into him, her heavy breasts easy access for his hands and mouth. Shortly after, she came with a shudder and a cry. She collapsed onto his body.

Play it cool Colin thought to himself, letting Grace catch her breath. She had never been this aggressive before and he knew it was something he had sent. They must have gotten a match.

"So," he asked casually, "Which one did you like?"

"I haven't wanted to say anything or make you feel uncomfortable or weird," Grace said, a grin spreading across her face. "I'm thrilled because It's always been a fantasy. I'm so glad you did this. I'm excited now because I was shy and embarrassed to ask. I brought it up once with a boyfriend and he rejected me and dumped me, basically on the spot."

Oh, shit. What did he pick? He nodded, encouraging Grace to go on.

"I love that you want to touch another man. I think it's really sexy."

Colin's heart dropped.

"I know a ton of guys are into the girl-girl thing," Grace said, "but two guys jerking each other off is just primal. A penis exists for sex. I'm not a man but I've seen how it controls you guys," she was getting into the discussion now, "and so for two guys doing that with each other, or you just jerking off another guy, that's so fucking hot. And that it's not just me thinking about it is even hotter."

She paused and let out a satisfied sigh, resting her body against his. She looked like a cat curled up with a favorite person, entirely content.

"I'm so glad I can talk about this with you. It makes me so happy there's common ground here. After the other reaction, I would be too afraid to say anything ever again," she looked up at him, "I really like you, Colin, and I don't want to lose you over some nonsensical homophobic reaction."

She reached her body up, her breasts pressing against his chest, and kissed him on the tip of the nose.

"Thank you for sharing," she said, "It feels like something important just happened with us here."

Colin was now panicking. He opted for silence, not trusting his voice to make strange cracking noises or saying something completely wrong. Grace just opened up about something that was obviously vulnerable for her and there was no way Colin was going to drop a "Happy April Fool's!" on her now. He liked her too much. Maybe, just maybe, she'd forget or wouldn't press it if he didn't say anything. If he just let her nap on him, she'd wake up and forget about any of it.

"How soon do you want to do it?" she asked, "I bet I could set something up within the next few days."

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"So, you're going through with this?" Noah asked, adding weight to the squat rack bar. A shit-eating grin played at the corners of his mouth.

"Yeah, don't judge." Colin said, sounding defensive, "I'm being open-minded. It's just physical, right?"

"And you have to now, basically," Noah agreed, "since she talked about feeling embarrassed and rejected and there's already so much fear and guilt loaded into sex anyway." He stopped for a second, evaluating Colin, "You're really going to do it, aren't you."

It wasn't a question. Colin nodded, shoulders shrugging. They were both quiet while Noah went through his reps.

"I was thinking," Colin said after Noah finished, "maybe I come up with something she has to do to reciprocate and that'll put her off. That way I can back out without hurting her. Something like, 'I'll go through with this but you have to do such-and-such for me,' like that."

Noah shook his head. "Nope. That app for your prank there? The verbiage is something like 'things I really want to try but can't tell anyone' or something like that. It'll be suspicious to go from wanting to try something new to demanding something in return. Plus, what if you create an uncomfortable scenario and she's into that shit too? You have a freak on your hands, man, and you gotta handle her the right way."

Colin was quiet, looking inward to his very soul.

"I give you a lot of credit for actually considering going through with this, man," Noah continued, "I see your mind working, wondering if you could really give a handjob ... or whatever ... to some random dude just to make your lady happy."

"She loves the idea," Colin said, "and she was ecstatic that she could open up and share it with me. That's the part that makes it challenging. I think I could back out but then I'd have to fess up and tell her it was an April Fool's prank and I was just kidding. That'll hurt her. Like a lot. I don't think I can do that. I don't want to lose her."

"There it is," Noah said, nodding sagely, "And it's not like you've never asked former girlfriends to do stuff they weren't exactly into, right?"

Colin nodded.

"And they still did it," Noah said.

Colin nodded again. He never forced anyone to do anything they didn't want to. He wasn't aggressive or pushy in bed. But he shared a few things he liked and girls sometimes went with it.

"There you go," Noah continued, "just, uh, wash your hands after?"

"I'm going to take a super-fucking-hot shower for sure," Colin joked. Noah laughed along with him for a few moments before both fell silent.

"She's something special, isn't she," Noah said quietly. Colin nodded. She really was.

------------------------------

Colin walked into Grace's apartment, unlocking the door with the key she'd given him a few days earlier. The spicy aroma of dinner, something garlicky, floated into the hallway.

"So," he asked, "How are we going to do this?"

Grace perked up, a massive grin spreading across her face. She sprinted into Colin's arms, nearly knocking him over. Laughing, she hugged him, her arms wrapped around his torso, squeezing him tight.

"Okay," she said finally, "full disclosure, I masturbated twice today thinking about it. I could go again if you want to help. And I have a plan for how this can work."

"You, uh, aren't worried about any fallout or hurt feelings after," Colin said, giving it one last shot, "I'd hate for this to be perfect in a fantasy world but fail in reality. I really like you. I don't want this, or us, to change."

She shook her head. It was better to try than not know. "We've already changed," she said, "for the better."

"So you have a plan," he said, "Am I in for a PowerPoint presentation?"

Grace laughed, "No, not at all. I'll walk you through what I think, which will turn me on again, but I have an important question first." He nodded. "Do you have a type?"

Colin did a type. Someone with breasts and a vagina. Grace didn't bite on his hints about reservations with all this, though, so here he was. He shook his head.

"Hygienic is all I ask," he said.

"And you've seriously never brought this up to anyone else before?" she asked.

"I have told zero people I wanted to do this," he confirmed. She squealed in delight and clapped her hands, rapid shots in the small apartment.

"You trust ME of all people, that makes me feel so special and important!" she said, bouncing.

A pause.

I need to commit to this, Colin thought. Things would go poorly if he played it wrong. Grace had already said as much from her earlier relationship. His chance of escape was swiftly dwindling. She was leaning in, engaging, and he'd rarely seen so much joy in someone's eyes.

"So, do you have a type of guy as you're imagining these fantasies?" he asked, "besides, uh, me?"

Grace straightened up. Her gaze went over his head to a faraway place ... probably somewhere where a bunch of waxed male models were all butt-fucking each other. Colin battled to keep an open mind.

"No," she finally said, "It's not about the guy as a person. Old, young, black, white, hot, nerdy, a bro, whatever, I don't care about that. It's all about the penis. His dick. His COCK," she stated that last word with enthusiasm, "And that's what matters to me. It's the fact that the very center of just about every male's universe is that length of skin flopping around between his legs. The fact that men will go to literally any length for someone to touch it is insane but that's what makes it so hot."

She thought for a second.

"I imagine that if I had a dick, I'd want it sucked all the time too. I don't know why, exactly, but it's just hot. Someone has a super-sensitive bit of skin and they would just put it in a random stranger's mouth. I don't know why that turns me on so much but it does. It's daring, I guess. And it's dirty if it's two guys, straight-looking guys, doing it with each other. Stroking each other, sucking each other. Hot."

She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and tapped at it a few times.

"Here," she said, moving next to him to show him the screen. She had a gallery up, static images of nude men. There were a lot of penises. All sizes and shapes, some hard, some soft. Some hilariously huge, some tiny. She scrolled for a bit.

Colin had watched enough porn to have seen plenty of penis in his life. He was a gym guy, he had been on sports teams, so male nudity wasn't new to him. After a few moments of watching, he found the pictures all kind of looked the same. And it struck him that an erect penis looked a bit ridiculous. How could women not just laugh seeing a guy with a boner sticking out from his body?

"Which ones do you like?" she asked, her eyes focused on the parade of penis scrolling by.

Commit, Colin thought to himself. He pointed out a few. They were random selections at first but he found every one he picked was a white guy and they were all in the mid-sized department. Grace noticed it too because she grinned up at him.

"You DO have a type!" she said triumphantly, "Now I'm going to go find him."

---------------

It took Grace three days.

Colin wasn't sure about the pace of play to schedule anonymous gay hook-ups but three days didn't seem like long to vet another human being. Did this guy have a wife or girlfriend who was going to be pissed? Did it matter? Did he provide negative tests for STDs? Did Grace ask about COVID vaccinations or did that not matter to her?

Colin didn't know. He was self-aware enough to recognize he was trying to distract himself with the details. He had buried himself in logistics and minutiae to divert his attention. Grace would make sure things were safe and he didn't feel the need to question her decision-making. He kept his questions to himself after Grace announced she found the perfect man. She gave no details. Surprisingly, Colin found himself preferring the word 'guy' to 'man' and said as much. Grace took it in stride and adopted the vocabulary for him.

It was now Tuesday evening, just after 8:00 pm. Grace and Colin were sitting in his car. She navigated him to the parking lot of a Travelodge a few miles down the freeway. The lot was nearly full and lights burned behind drapes in most of the rooms' windows.

It was warm for early April and Colin chose jeans and a non-descript polo. He didn't know what one wore to meet a stranger for some gay sex so he landed on 'comfort.'

Grace wore her yellow sundress. Goosebumps pebbled her calves and arms.

"Isn't it a bit cool for that?" Colin asked as he walked her out of her apartment building to the car.

"Yeah, but I asked the guy to keep the room hot. I'll need easy access because I'm going to have fun too."

Colin's heart pounded in his chest hearing that. They really were going through with it.

"Do you mind if I touch him too?" she asked now, genuinely curious. Colin laughed internally. He didn't know what was going to happen next. He was going to jerk off a guy, Grace was going to be rubbing out an orgasm or three, entertained by him, and then ... who knew what? Colin had never experienced an orgy, had never been in a threesome, nothing like that. He didn't know the etiquette. Commit, he thought to himself for the hundredth time.

"Go for it if it feels right," he said, shrugging and playing at being confident. He fought to hide the slight shake he felt vibrating throughout his body.

It was the correct answer. Her eyes flashed, wide with arousal.

"I want to watch you undress him," she said, husky voice. "Then I want to watch you stroke him," Colin's mouth went dry from nerves, actually going through with this for her. The shakes picked up as his body tried to burn nervous energy.

"Then get him hard. And if you want to use your mouth, you can but you don't have to," she said, obviously hoping he'd opt for it. "And get him off. That's what I want to see: you giving another guy an orgasm."

A plastic bag blew through the parking lot. Evening traffic hummed by on the freeway behind them. Colin shivered, reacting to the stress of the situation. It wasn't excitement but it sure was something. Adrenaline dumped into his nervous system.

"Does this guy have a name?" Colin asked, hoping he didn't. Worst case: he may know the guy.

"No, he's anonymous and from 'not here.' That makes it hotter," Grace said.

Colin let out a shaky breath. He could do this, right?

"You do want to do this, right?" Grace asked, fear creeping into her eyes, "I mean ... " she trailed off and he could tell she was getting uncomfortable. She looked at the tremble in his hands gripping the steering wheel and evaluated his face. Colin doubted he could pull off a fake grin. Not now. Not this close to the moment of truth.

"I've never done this before. I'm nervous," he confessed, 100% honest, " But I can't wait to see you watching me. This is also about you."

She leaned over and kissed him hard. Her hand went to his crotch.

"I'm going to such good care of you afterward," she said, rubbing him with her palm. Colin responded to her aggression and her touch, kissing her back for a few moments.

They got out of the car and walked to Room #122. The room faced the parking lot.

The door was cracked an inch, held open by the thrown bolt. Bold of the guy to do that, not knowing who was really coming. Colin thought back to what Grace had said about guys doing just about anything to get their junk touched. Here was a perfect example.

The two slipped inside the door. Grace let the door close and twisted the bolt. She locked the chain for good measure.

"It's us," she said, her voice raspy. A grunt of acknowledgement came from the bed.

Colin, heart in his throat, moved forward into the room.

The guy was in there, lying face up on the bed. He was white, skinny, had a covering over his eyes and a COVID medical mask over his face. Colin couldn't tell who it was.

A quick look told Colin the guy was young, early-20s. He was shirtless, his thin chest moving up and down as he breathed. He wore a pair of thin running shorts and nothing else. There was a lot of skin showing. The guy didn't move much, just waiting, head cradled in his hands, arms up, like a pillow.