THE THIN END OF THE WEDGE

He had really started it all himself, Face thought, as he stretched languidly
 on the bed, feeling the satin sheets caress his naked body. It had seemed
 harmless enough at the time. They had both been a little bored, and the
 feather duster had just been, well, the nearest thing to hand. Murdock was the
 most wonderfully ticklish person it had ever been Face's pleasure to tickle
 between the sheets; yelping out loud in delight and wriggling his creamy ass
 around in the bedclothes until both men were breathless with arousal and
 laughter. The usual had followed, an hour or two of raunchy sex, followed by a
 good laugh at one of Hannibal's latest monster movies, snuggled up against the
 pillows together. And that had been that. So Face had thought. But the
 creative juices of his lover were only just beginning to flow.

 Face watched now, moistening his lips a little, as Murdock re-entered the
 bedroom, wearing only a big smile. He carried a brand new box of animal
 crackers in one hand, and in the other, an ice bucket which was being used to
 keep a carton of chocolate ice-cream cold.

 "What took you so long?" said Face, shifting uncomfortably with the raging
 erection he'd been working on.

 "Patience is a virtue, Faceguy! I was deciding between chocolate ice-cream or
 vanilla with pecan nuts. Chocolate's worse on the sheets, but if you have
 pecan nuts, them little suckers get into places you're still finding 'em days
 later. If you wanna have pecan nuts stuck in your -"

 "Okay, okay - I get the picture! Chocolate it is. *If* we have the ice-cream
 and not the crackers."

 The pilot grinned lasciviously. Dropping his consignment and clambering onto
 the bed, he threw one leg over Face, straddling his hips, letting their hard
 shafts slide together and locking his mouth onto the younger man's in a deep
 kiss. Working his way up Face's cheek until his breath tickled the
 lieutenant's ear, Murdock asked, "You got a nickel?"

 "Why would I want a nickel at a time like this?"

 "Flip for it. Heads it's the ice-cream, tails we go with the animal crackers."

 With a groan, Face reached out a hand and fumbled blindly around the
 nightstand. After an eternity, he located a nickel and pushed it at Murdock.
 The flipped coin landed on the taut mesa of Face's belly tails up.

 "Animal crackers!" yelled Murdock, sounding like he'd just won a slot machine
 jackpot. He dived off of the bed and resumed his place astride Face's lap a
 second later holding the open cracker box. Digging around inside, he inquired
 mischievously, "Now, Facey, you do remember the rules of 'Hunt the Cracker',
 don't you?"

 "'All crackers to be selected at random. A maximum of ten minutes allowed to
 find and extract each cracker once hidden. Fingers absolutely forbidden to use
 when extracting crackers; only mouths and tongues allowed.'"

 "And you did agree to be first to do the hiding?" When Face nodded cautiously,
 Murdock's grin got even wider. Removing his hand from the box, he dangled a
 large long-necked giraffe in front of his partner. "Ohhh, Face - now *this* is
 gonna be interesting!"

 FIN