Cody

Grooming

The day after I moved into my apartment here in Bahrain, I went around to the neighbors on my floor to introduce myself. I always found that having made this face-to-face introduction makes for better interactions with them if needed in the future (asking them to turn their music down, needing to borrow a cup of sugar, etc.). Cody's was the last apartment on my rounds.

"Hi. Just moved in and wanted to introduce myself. I'm in the last apartment at the opposite end." I extended my hand but he looked both confused and distracted, eyeing me up and down.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized, after an awkward moment. "Thought you might have been the food delivery guy I just buzzed in. I'm Cody." He shook my hand and I could feel how small his hand was in mine. The physical differences between us were noticeably apparent. He was about 6″ shorter than me, younger in his mid-20s, shaved head, and a nervous glimmer in his eyes that tried to hide what I had immediately been able to tell: he was a fag in need.

 "Well, Cody, it's good to meet you," I said, holding his little hand longer than usual in mine as I tried not to crush it while looking him in the eye. "Sorry to disappoint you, but no food. Haven't even had time to stock my fridge yet."

The elevator down the hall dinged and a guy carrying delivery bags started walking towards Cody's apartment. "Well, Sir, if you need any help moving in or with anything, I'm right here if you need," he said with the verbal acknowledgment of my status in the hierarchy.

"I'm not an Officer; you don't need to call me 'Sir', you know."

"I know, but you look like someone people would call 'Sir', so you never know."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I laughed. "Well, your food's here. Good to meet you. I'm sure I'll see you around."

"I hope so, Sir," he said, emphasizing my title, as I headed back to my apartment.

Oh yeah, he's a fag, I thought to myself.

-----

The next morning, I spotted Cody heading in to work as I was walking in. We exchanged some small talk, he asked how I was adjusting to the constant heat, and we talked about where I was working. Turned out that our work centers were near each other.

"Do you drink coffee in the morning?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm not much of a morning person, so it's kinda a necessity. I go all 'Hulk Smash!' if I don't get my caffeine," I joked.

"I'll try not to piss you off then," he smiled. "I used to wrestle in high school. I was pretty good, but I don't think I was ever good enough to take down someone as big as you."

"Did you just call me fat, tiny?" I barked at him.

"No! I meant you've got a lot of muscle on you! I didn't mean..." He looked at me and seeing me crack a smile, realized I was fucking with him. "Jackass." He laughed.

"Be careful what you call me before I've had my coffee," I reminded him playfully.

Cody bought me my morning coffee before we split to report to our work centers.

-----

After work, I headed to the gym. Although the gym is air conditioned, when it's over 100 degrees outside, it doesn't stop you from sweating your balls off even when you're just standing around.

"Here; it's better than the water fountain. Trust me," I heard a familiar voice say to me. I turned around and Cody was handing me a fresh bottle of water.

"Thanks, stalker," I said, greedily gulping down the water. The cold water hit my throat hard and I let out a much needed burp.

"Classy," Cody joked. "And oh so manly."