Chapter 2

Jasper doesn’t win the award. A player from Fairhaven wins, and Ethan does his obligatory one hour stint at a post show party, letting his mom lead most of the conversations with people, before he heads to his hotel, leaving his mom to mingle.

He stares at his phone like it’s a grenade for a good twenty minutes before he picks it up.

He types Nikolai’s name into the search bar. Then he deletes it and tosses his phone across the bed like it’s a grenade with the pin pulled.

A minute goes by. Another. He picks it back up and types the name in again. He hits search.

The first link is Xcite Hub. Then StreamVibe. Then AdultFuse. Then HardEdge Studios. He stops scrolling and clicks the first link.

Ethan doesn’t really watch porn. He has, sure. Like, if he’s in a pinch. If his imagination isn’t doing a great job and he needs a visual. It’s just… well. Searching gay porn would be a choice. A conscious choice. Imagining men is different. It’s just, if that’s what his mind wanders to, then that’s that. Searching gay porn would be different. So he doesn’t. Sometimes he’ll watch a video, with no particular search term, and he choose the first one with a man he thinks looks good, and then he’ll mostly watch the man and mute it if the woman’s moans are too fake. That’s fine. Normal.

Anyway. Once he’s on Xcite Hub, there are dozens of videos. They all list Nikolai and the names of various female partners and some gross phrase after. Nikolai and female co-star hard fucking in kitchen, Nikolai and female co-star riding until she squirts, Nikolai and female co-star anal domination. Hm. That one is interesting. Nikolai and female co-star facial. The pictures are mostly focused on the woman, lots of tits, one shot of a close up of a vagina with, what Ethan assumes is Nikolai’s cock inside it, a woman with her mouth open and cum splattered on her face. He feels a little gross. Not like, in a judging way. It’s just… a lot.

He keeps scrolling. Nikolai Vasiliev and Damon Croft MMF anal threesome with facial.

Huh. Two men and a woman. That’s different, right? Ethan almost taps on it, before he thinks of something else.

He goes to the side tab where categories are laid out. There’s MILF, Anal, Threesome, Hentai (Ethan doesn’t know what that means), Ebony, Mature, and then Gay. He taps Gay, and then he puts Nikolai Vasiliev’s name in the search bar.

Holy shit.

There are less results, only a page, but holy shit.

Nikolai tops male co-star. Nikolai puts male co-star on his knees. Nikolai dominates male-costar. Nikolai slow fucks male co-star. Ethan is barely breathing as he looks at the thumb nails. In one, Nikolai has a man bent over the back of a couch, his hands on his hips. In other, a man is on his knees, his mouth wrapped around Nikolai’s cock as Nikolai flexes with his arms bent above his head. In the last one, he’s kissing a man, a really good looking man, and his hand is wrapped around both of their cocks together.

Holy shit. He almost doesn’t notice at first. His dick is pierced. There’s a thick silver semi circle that has a ball at each end, one right at the opening of his cock, the other on the underside of the head, his foreskin pushed down beneath it.

Holy fucking shit.

Ethan is hard. He’s so hard he’s tenting his sweatpants, and there’s a wet spot spread out over the grey fabric. He throws his phone across his bed again and gets up and showers, a little too cold, until his cock has calmed down and he thinks he can risk being in the same vicinity as his phone again.

He picks it up, and opens Snapgram. That’s safe. He’s gotten a lot of followers tonight, probably thanks to his TV appearance. He scrolls through notifications, and then he decides to search Nikolai on Snapgram. That’s normal. People do that. He met the guy at a professional event. It wouldn’t be weird to search him on Snapgram.

He types the name in and clicks the first name that comes up. ‘The Voroslav Federation Love Legend’, his bio reads, along with a link Ethan doesn’t dare to click. His eyes flick down then, the the blue rectangle with two words inside. ‘Follow Back’.

Fuck.

-

**January 2017**

Havenport has just destroyed Solaris Springs. It wasn’t even close. Ethan is feeling happy. Excited. He’d played well, his team had played well, and now he has a few days off to just chill, workout, clear his head. Jasper and some people went out, but Ethan was content to go back to his hotel for an early night.

He’s scrolling through channels, but nothing is really catching his eye. Family Showdown re-run. Metro Justice: Victims Unit re-run. LAJ Awards. Ethan doesn’t know what that is, but the description answers that. ‘Republic of Meridiann trade magazine LAJ(Lumina Adult Journal) annually to honor achievements in the global adult entertainment industry.’

His first thought is Nikolai Vasiliev. Nikolai Vasiliev, who Ethan had met once six months ago and never spoken to again, Nikolai Vasiliev, who Ethan had exhibited a frankly monumental amount of self control with by not watching a single video of his, and by not tapping ‘follow back’ on Snapgram. Nikolai Vasiliev, who Ethan manages not to think of most of the time, except the few times he posts an Snapgram story after winning a game, and Nikolai reacts with a fire emoji to each one.

That Nikolai Vasiliev, the one who works in adult entertainment, who may very well be at the LAJ Awards, in Solaris Springs.

Ethan turns it on. He watches the first category that comes on after the commercial; Best Debut Performer - Gay Male. A pretty looking man with a nice smile accepts the award. There’s Best All-Female Feature Production, Breakout Star Award, and then there’s Male International Performer of the Year. Huh. Ethan hadn’t known they differentiated.

There’s an Valerianese man, a Zoravian man, a Lioran man, and then the beautiful woman with huge tits and a Spanor accent reads ‘“Nikolai Vasiliev, Voroslav Federation’, and the camera cuts to Nikolai in the audience, smiling and clapping, before he winks at the camera. It’s filthy. Ethan almost feels like he can see him, like he’s winking right at him.

He wins.

A song starts playing, the lyrics making Ethan’s lip quirk.

**“There lived a certain man, in Voroslav Federation long ago,**

**He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glow,**

**Most people look at him with terror and with fear,**

**But to Kirovgrad chicks, he was such a lovely dear,”**

Ethan watches with rapt attention as Nikolai stands to the sound of the song that was no doubt hand picked for him. He’s grinning, and there’s not an ounce of humility on his features as he walks up to the stage. He’s in an all green suit, a shiny emerald fabric with darker green florals across the lapel. He’s shirtless underneath, just a gold chain dangling between his pecs, his hair slicked back and a little longer than the time Ethan had seen him.

He takes the award from the presented and leans in to kiss her cheek before he steps up to the podium. “Ah. Thank you for this,” he says, holding the award up as people clap. “Is a great honor to be first man from Voroslav Federation to win this award. Ah,” he bites his lip. “And also, being bisexual, you know…“ he trails off. “I am very grateful. Grateful to live in Republic of Meridian, mm, to my team, and to everyone I work with, the directors, the camera people, and of course, to my co-stars. You make my job very easy,” he says, and flashes a huge grin, before he turns and is led off the stage by the presenter.