The Curse of 100 Bottoms Ch. 11

So, that's why I feel like I have to tell you the truth. I know you said that it was just sex between us last night. And I know that you've had a lot of it, and I'm probably just some dumb virgin who can't get it together. But I think it's different between us than it is with guys like Hicks, or any of the other guys you've been with. I think it's special. I felt something when we were together, and I think you felt it too. I'm tired of being scared, so I'm going to try and be brave again and tell you how I feel. Because I think we have something worth being brave for.

(Wait for him to respond).

Willem set the piece of paper down on the floor. He stared at the wall, the alarm on his phone continuing to buzz underneath his bed as the emptiness finally began to dissolve.

* * * * *

Willem banged on the window to the empty storefront.

"Hello?" he called out. He put his hands against the glass, trying to see if there was anyone inside. "Yzma? Are you there?"

He banged on the window again. "It's fucking cold out here, so if you're in there, let me in!"

"She's not there," said a voice from behind him.

He turned to see an old woman leaning out of the door of the store next to him.

"Yzma Taint's Emporium closed down," she said.

"Do you know where she went?" said Willem.

The woman shrugged. "Store's been closed for weeks now. Haven't seen her since Thanksgiving."

Willem turned and walked back to his car. He pulled out his phone and opened up Instagram, searching for the drag queen's account. His heart sank in his chest when nothing popped up. What happened to her account? Had she deleted it?

He set his phone down, gripping the wheel. Where in the world was Yzma Taint?

Willem drove back towards Westwood along Santa Monica Blvd, his shoulders slumped in defeat. As he grew closer to West Hollywood, he could see the rainbow Christmas lights and Pride-themed holiday decorations that lined the streets. He pulled over and parked at a meter, getting out of his car as he joined the gays walking along the sidewalk.

He could still remember the night he had first gotten cursed, seeing the way these men carried themselves as they flaunted down the street. He'd always found it so annoying. Now, as he watched the couples walk by holding hands, his heart hurt with jealousy. Why was he doing this to himself? That would never be his life.

He walked along feeling sorry for himself when he suddenly stopped. He recognized the bar immediately—it was the place where the curse first began. There was the corner where he'd first seen Jake, staring nervously up at the bar as he prepared himself to enter. Willem walked around the bar to see the alley where he'd gone after Jake. He could see the wall that he'd leaned against when he'd pulled his pants down, begging Jake to fuck him. He could see the door that Bussy had first walked out of when she'd confronted them, right after he'd hit Jake in the stomach and called him a faggot.

His stomach sank as he remembered that. What kind of a human being had he been?

"Fucking hell," said a voice as the door suddenly opened. A very annoyed-looking drag queen stepped out into the alley, decked out in a red satin poncho with fluffy white trim and a Cindy Lou Who wig.

"If one more bitch orders a peppermint martini I'm going to burn this mother to the ground," she growled as she pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her purse. She stuck a Virginia slim between her lips, shielding the cigarette with her hand as she lit it.

"Yzma? Is that you?"

She turned to see Willem staring at her, a look of desperate hope on his face.

"Oh, well look at you," she said with mild surprise. "Looks like you fucked your way up to the top. Have fun?"

"Yzma, thank God. I went by your shop-"

"Eh, that was a bust. Turns out Kickstarter doesn't let you keep the money if you don't reach your fundraising goal. Who knew?" She shrugged. "Anyway, it's just Bussy again. Back to my old tricks working the front door at a shitty gay bar. What are you gonna do?"

"I need your help, Bussy," said Willem.

She raised an eyebrow. "You've broken the curse. What more do you want from me? Go live your boring little heterosexual life."

He took a deep breath. "I need you to curse me again."

She groaned. "Oh, God. You're not one of those magic-heads, are you? I get it, nothing feels better than a magically enhanced fuck. But that's not a permanent state of being. Trust me, the withdrawal can be a bitch but it doesn't last forever."

"Please-"

"Sorry, sweetheart. This isn't magic-on-demand. You want your fix, you'll have to find another witch bitch to piss off." She stubbed out her cigarette and turned to walk back into the bar.

"You owe me!" shouted Willem.

"I owe you?" she said, laughing in disbelief as she turned around. She lifted her hand, pointing her red and green nails directly at his head. Willem fell to his knees, clutching his head in agony as ringing overwhelmed his ears.

"Au contraire, little one. I think you'll find that I owe you absolutely nothing."

"Then a favor," he pleaded. "I'll do whatever you want, just please curse me again."

She walked slowly toward him, her hand still outstretched.

"You really want that? To get fucked by 100 more guys? You want to get filled by men who you don't even know, to crave their cum like you need air to breathe? You'd give up your free will again just to be a slave to dick? Is the high really worth that much?"

Bussy lowered her hand and crouched in front of him, staring pitifully at him.

"No," said Willem as the ringing in his ears subsided. "But I would rather die than go on living with this emptiness. I need him back."

She raised an eyebrow. "Need who back?"

"Jake... please, I can't live without him."

Her eyes widened as a look of recognition flashed across her face. She stood up, shaking her head as she pulled another cigarette out of her purse.

"I'm sorry. I won't do it. It's too dangerous."

"What do you care?" Willem said angrily as he got to his feet. "You're the one who cursed me in the first place."

She lit her cigarette and stared at him for a moment. "I cursed you because I wanted to teach you something. Why would I curse you again when you've learned everything you need to?"

"So that I can be gay again! So that I can be with Jake."

"Tell me, Willem," she said, crossing her arms and taking a puff of her cigarette. "What have you learned?"

He rolled his eyes. "That I'm a selfish asshole."

She nodded. "We're in agreement so far. What else?"

"I don't fucking know... I learned that sex with another guy can feel really fucking good, okay?"

"That's good. Keep going."

Willem sighed. "I learned that when a guy strokes you while he's fucking you, it makes it feel 1000 times easier to get fucked. I learned that it's just as gay to top as it is to bottom, that neither of them makes you any more or less of a man. I learned that having sex without kissing is almost not even worth it. I learned that some guys couldn't find your asshole on a map despite the fact that it's literally right there in between your cheeks!"

"Hmph. You're telling me. What else?"

"I learned... that other people have problems, too. I learned that it really sucks when someone treats you like you're disposable the second that they're done fucking you. I learned that it's different when you have sex with someone that you actually care about. I learned that I never had it half as good with anyone else as I did with Jake."

He bit his lip as he fought back tears.

Bussy put her hand on his shoulder. "What else have you learned?" she asked him gently.

He looked up at her. "I learned that I love Jake," he said as tears spilled down his cheeks. "More than I ever thought that I could love another human being. That's why I need you to have a fucking heart and curse me again so that we can be together!"

She smirked. "Wow. All that from one little curse. Not bad for a bargain-basement witch, huh?"

Willem grabbed her arm. "Please. Please, just make me gay again. So that I can be with Jake."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think you need a magic curse to be with this boy?"

Willem frowned in confusion. "Of course I do. I'm straight."

"Are you?" she laughed. "Because right now you're standing in front of me, begging me to take away your free will, begging me to make you a bottom again so that you can go off and be with the boy of your dreams. What's holding you back?"

Willem blinked. "But..."

"I told you," she said. "There's two things magic can't do: anal orgasms and love. That's all you, baby."

Willem looked at her, his eyes searching hers as he tried to make sense of it all.

"What if... what if I can't do it?" he asked hesitantly. "Without the curse? What if it's not the same?"

She smiled kindly at him. "Sweetheart, none of us get guarantees in this life. Maybe it won't work out. Maybe it won't feel the same. But you're never gonna know until you grow a pair and take a chance to find out."

Willem smiled, his face flush with nervous excitement. "Thank you," he said before turning to walk away.

"Hold up," she said, lifting her hand as she rooted around through her purse. She pulled out a small vial and handed it to him.

"A parting gift. Specially brewed by yours truly."

Willem squinted at her suspiciously. "If you think I'm going to use one of your tonics on Jake-"

"It's for you. Trust me, honey," she said with a wink. "You'll thank me."

* * * * *

Jake kept his eye trained on the clock. 4:59.

"Please God," he thought. "No last-minute stragglers."

He looked around at the empty coffee shop. It had been dead the last hour, but you never know when you might get someone at the last second who wants an extra hot decaf mocha with whipped cream when you've already wiped down the espresso machine.

Jake's eyes lit up as the clock turned 5. He locked the entrance to the coffee shop, then strode quickly over to the iPad at the back and began to blast his favorite music. That was the one benefit to closing alone: you got to play whatever you want. Nothing killed the emptiness better than blasting some feel-good music.

"And I'm dying to know, is it killing you like it's killing me, yeah," sang Jake as he danced around the coffee shop, wiping down the tables.

He'd gotten the nightly closing routine down pat. He could do it all in 10 minutes if he wanted, but what was the point of racing home to an empty apartment? The nights were the hardest part, anyway. At least during the day, he could go for hours without thinking about him.

"Cause the story of us looks a lot like a tragedy now!" he belted out as he tossed the wet rag into the laundry bin. He turned to go count the cash from the register when he stopped cold.

Willem stood on the other side of the door, staring at him. He waved nervously.

Jake blinked in shock, not entirely sure he hadn't simply manifested Willem through sheer imagination. He walked over to the door and unlocked it. "Hi," he said sheepishly.

"Hey."

They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment.

"What are you doing here?" Jake asked quietly.

"What?" said Willem, the music still blaring loudly around them.

Jake's cheeks burned from embarrassment as he rushed over to the iPad. God, he looked like such a fucking idiot dancing around the café! This was not how he wanted things to go when he saw Willem again. He'd always imagined that the next time they saw each other he'd have his shit a little bit more together. At the very least he thought he wouldn't be working at this fucking coffee shop anymore. Or maybe they would have never seen each other again at all. LA was a big city—he could have gone the rest of his life without having to see the straight boy who broke his heart.

Jake shut off the music, leaving the place deathly silent. He could hear his heartbeat thumping in his ears.

"It's really good to see you again," he heard Willem say behind him.

He walked over to the register and pulled out the cash, avoiding Willem's gaze. "I'd make you something, but we're closed," he said as he started counting the money.

"Oh, I'm good," said Willem. He walked slowly over to Jake. "I just came here to see you."

Jake paused for a moment with the stack of bills in his hands. He could feel the hope rising in his chest. He shoved it back down.

"What for?" he said as he went back to counting the cash.

Willem paused at the icy tone in his voice. "I, uh... got your note."

Jake bit his tongue. All the work he had done to get over Willem was in serious danger of collapsing.

"I gave that to you months ago. Why now?"

Willem shrugged. "You were right... I was afraid."

Jake looked up at him. The look on Willem's face toppled whatever defenses he had left. He gave up counting the cash, throwing the bills on the counter.

"What are you saying, Willem?"

"I went to see Bussy."

Jake's eyes widened. "Did she...?"

"She wouldn't curse me again."

Jake's face fell. The hope that had been ballooning inside him burst, searing painfully in his chest. He looked away, shaking his head angrily.

"Then what are you doing here? What do you want from me?"

"I-"

"I was doing good, you know," he said, his eyes blazing with anger. "I was moving on. It's not... it's not fair of you to just show up like this."

"I know," said Willem gently.

"Then why the hell would you come?"

"I came because you were right," said Willem. "When you told me that it was different between us. I do love you. It wasn't the curse, it was me."

Jake stared at him in confusion. "I don't understand. If you're not attracted to men... what does any of it matter? What's changed?"

"I don't know... I think it's you, Jake," Willem said. His eyes darted back and forth as he searched for the words. "You... changed me. You made me brave. You made me realize that it's worth risking it all to be true to myself. That I had to be willing to lose everything in order to know what's really important to me."

He took a step towards Jake, reaching tentatively to grab Jake's hand.

"There's still so much shit I don't know. I still don't know what my future's gonna look like. I don't know how to do this. How to be the boyfriend you need, who can make you happy... how to hold your hand walking down the street and not feel scared. I don't know how to be in a relationship with somebody, to take care of them or put them first."

He squeezed Jake's hand. "But I wanna learn. And if you can be patient with me, then maybe you can teach me. Because of all the shit I don't know, the one thing I know for certain is that you're the only person I've ever really loved. Man or woman. Really loved, fully and unselfishly. It's just... none of it's worth it if I don't have you in my life."

Jake looked up at him. His eyes were brimming with tears.

"But... are you attracted to me?"

Willem smiled. "There's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

He lifted his hand to Jake's neck, pulling the taller boy down to him. He leaned up on his tiptoes and brushed his lips against Jake's, his heart pounding in his chest as he closed his eyes. For all of the kisses that they'd shared, all the times that they'd had sex and been intimate with each other, this felt like they were kissing for the very first time. Willem opened his mouth, hesitantly running his tongue along Jake's lips, gently asking him to let him in. Jake opened his mouth in response, greeting Willem's tongue with his own.

The two boys kissed each other deeply, breathing softly through their noses as they held each other's faces. Willem's heart swelled at the feeling of Jake's warm lips on his, awakening something deep inside of him. The door to his hiding place creaked open as the memories floated out, dancing across his eyes. He saw himself with Jake time after time, their bodies joined together like crashing waves. He felt Jake's body on top of his, as warm and soft as his face felt in his hands now. He saw the chest hair peeking out from underneath the floral shirt; the ceiling fan casting moonlit shadows; the smile on Jake's face as they watched TV on the couch, curled up under the same blanket but not quite touching.

Willem broke the kiss, his hands falling to Jake's chest as he pushed him away. Jake slowly opened his eyes to look at Willem, his face belying the desperate hope that he could never quite extinguish.

"How did it feel?" Jake asked.

Willem grabbed Jake's hand and lowered it to his crotch. A smile broke out across Jake's face as he felt Willem's hardness in his hand, rigid and leaking.

"I don't understand," he said quizzically. "How is it possible?"

Willem smiled. "It's possible because I love you."

Jake kissed him again, pulling Willem's body in close to his. The kiss had awoken something within Jake as well. He felt a surge of energy coursing through him so powerful that it threatened to tear them both apart. He pushed Willem towards the back room, kicking open the door behind him. He ripped off his shirt, tossing it aside as Willem pulled off his. He shucked off his pants as quickly as he could, his hardon sticking out of his briefs and leaking precum against his stomach.

Willem laid back on the ground, pulling off his pants as he grinned excitedly up at Jake.

"Wait a sec," said Jake. He grabbed a couple of coats out of one of the employee lockers, laying them down underneath Willem to form a makeshift cot.

"Lost and found," he said with a sheepish grin.

Willem laughed as he pulled Jake on top of him. Jake ground his crotch into the blond surfer boy's, rubbing their cocks together as their tongues intertwined. A wet patch had started to form in Jake's briefs, rubbing up against the wetness in Willem's underwear. After months of nothing but his hand to keep him warm at night, Jake wanted to blow his load right then and there. But he needed to taste him again.

Jake flipped Willem over, grabbing Willem's boxers and peeling them off slowly. He gasped.

"How did you-"

"Courtesy of Bussy," Willem said with a grin. "One of her magic tonics." He shook his bubble butt at Jake, causing it to jiggle back and forth.

Jake was salivating. He dove in face first, prying apart Willem's cheeks as he hungrily ate out his hole. Willem's eyes rolled in the back of his head as he felt Jake's tongue flitting in and out of his hole. Jake wiggled his tongue around, opening Willem up and savoring the boy's taste. Willem moaned, rubbing his cock up against the coats underneath him. He yelped as Jake spanked him.

"God, I missed this ass," Jake said breathlessly in between eating him out.

Willem surrendered to the pleasure from his hole, melting like putty in his lover's hands. Jake kissed Willem on his ass cheek, then licked his tongue up Willem's spine towards his neck. He kissed Willem on the neck as he positioned his cock against Willem's hole. He slowly started to slide it in when Willem reached back and grabbed his arm.

"Fuck. Hold up a sec," Willem said.

Jake pulled back. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not a magical power bottom anymore. You can't just shove it in me without any lube."

Jake blushed. "Oh. Sorry."

Jake spit in his hand, rubbing the saliva on his cock before sliding back into Willem. Willem took a deep breath, trying his best to relax and let Jake in. He was impatient to feel Jake inside him again, rubbing up against his special place and reaching that sweet spot between pain and pleasure. But he knew that he would have to take his time now that he didn't have magic to enhance the process anymore.

He moaned as Jake reached down and started stroking his cock. His hole began to relax, opening up to receive Jake's girth. Jake kissed him on the neck again as he lifted his hips, slowly fucking in and out of Willem's hole. Willem reached back and grabbed Jake's hair, holding him close behind him as he moaned. He turned and started to kiss Jake, their tongues battling as Jake penetrated him. It was starting to feel good—really good. Better than it had ever felt during the curse. Something had broken open within Willem, something he had been holding back that he had never even realized.