A Day at Jerk At Work
“And this would be your space,” Ted said.
“My space?”
“Yes. This is where you’d work.”
“But someone’s already working there?” Brian said as they watched the young man with the shaved head jerk off. He seemed to be quite into it. Brian watched for a few seconds.
“He finishes up in a few minutes,” Ted explained. “We’d schedule you into this space following Chuck, who will be the next one to use it.”
“You make it sound like…” Brian searched for the right word.
“A business,” Ted supplied.
“A production line.”
Ted chuckled. “Well, it is kind of a production line.”
“It’s kind of gross actually.”
“Well thanks a bunch. I’m sorry if my little business offends your aristocratic sensibilities.”
“No you’re not,” Brian told him.
“I’m not? Not what?”
“Not sorry. You think you’re putting one over on the gay populace at large … and I guess you are,” Brian admitted.
“I’m not putting something over on anyone. I provide a service, and you could be part of that service to gay men everywhere,” Ted stated.
“Yeah, a service,” Brian snorted.
“If you’re not interested in my proposal then don’t waste my time.” Ted was getting his back up at Brian’s negative attitude.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t interested,” Brian corrected. He watched the shaved head guy shoot his load. Brian shook his head thinking about himself doing the same thing. “That’s what you want me to do?” Brian asked with a frown.
“Precisely.”
“Ted…”
“Well, not exactly like that. I’m sure you’ll have your own inimitable style, Bri.”
Brian thought about that for a minute. “How much would I be paid?”
“Five hundred for fifteen minutes work, but I get the rights to re-broadcast.”
“Re-broadcast?”
“We record each jerk off, and then viewers who belong to our site can watch replays.”
“So it would stay on the internet?”
“Once it’s on the internet, it’s always on the internet.”
“I don’t know, Ted.” Brian had a funny feeling about this whole deal.
“You can’t beat the money,” Ted reminded him.
“It’s certainly a step up from the Big Q.”
“There’s no comparison,” Ted chuckled.
“And I don’t have to sell anything?”
Ted shook his head. “No product … except yourself.”
“I’m pretty good at selling myself,” Brian responded.
“I know.”
“So, let me get this straight, pardon the pun.” Ted smiled and nodded for Brian to continue. “I report here at eight p.m. tonight. I whack off for fifteen minutes … max.”
“It’s kind of hard to whack off for that long.”
“I never found that to be true, but I am out of practice with my right hand.”
“I’m sure Justin takes care of that for you.”
Brian grinned. “I’m sure it will come back to me in no time … like riding a bike.”
“Goes without saying, Bri. What I meant was that you need to learn to pace yourself. The people who pay to watch want a show. So you need to take it slow, get them worked up as you’re getting worked up.”
Brian frowned. “I don’t think I’m much of an actor.”
“You’ll just be doing what comes naturally,” Ted assured him. Having Brian Kinney jerk off on his website could be a bonanza for his business. Ted could just envision all the men that Brian had been with, and all the ones who wanted to be with Brian, paying their $29.95 to see the Stud of Liberty Avenue do it.
“I suppose it can’t be hard, and I am always hard,” Brian joked. He had some severe misgivings about this whole thing, but five hundred bucks would go quite a ways at this point in his non-existent career as advertising exec.
“Then do we have a deal?”
“That’s all there is to it? I say yes and we’re in business.”
Ted nodded affirmatively.
Brian thought about Ted’s offer. The money was certainly tempting. It was short work for big returns. “I need to talk to Justin about this.”
“I always thought you made your own decisions,” Ted said. He wanted Brian signed, sealed and delivered before he decided to back out.
“I do make my own decisions, but Justin is part of my life. I want his input.”
Ted found that he couldn’t argue with that. “Okay,” he said, “but I need an answer by seven tonight.”
“Okay,” Brian said as he turned to leave.
“Who’s he?” a voice said behind Brian. Brian glanced over his shoulder and saw the shaved head guy talking to Ted.
“He may be my next star,” Ted replied.
Brian smiled to himself as he walked out of Ted’s makeshift studio.
*****
“When you have a minute, I have something I need to talk to you about,” Brian said as Justin hustled by Brian’s booth in the diner. Justin’s arms were laden with plates that he was delivering to a nearby table. It was the dinner rush at the diner. Justin nodded to indicate that he’d join Brian as soon as he could.
Brian waited, sipping his coffee. He thought about his meeting with Ted wondering if he should accept Ted’s job. Brian was rather ambivalent about Ted’s offer. He wanted the money, but the idea of being on the internet and whacking off didn’t thrill him. He wondered what Justin would say about it.
“Refill?” Debbie asked as she passed by with the coffee pot. Brian held up his cup which Debbie promptly filled. “He’ll be with you in a minute. I told him to sit down when he finishes with that table.”
“Thanks,” Brian said.
“I know something’s wrong. I’m glad you’re talking to him.”
“How do you know something’s wrong?” Brian was curious to know what tipped Debbie off.
“Do you normally come here at dinner time?” she asked. Brian shook his head. “That’s how I know.”
“Deb, I need his opinion about something,” Brian explained. He wasn’t sure why he was telling her that.
“Good man,” Debbie replied before she moved away to fill some more coffee cups.
“So what’s up?” Justin asked as he slid into the booth across from Brian a couple of minutes later.
“I have a job offer.”
“Great! What firm?”
“It’s not with an ad firm.”
”Oh?”
“Ted offered me a job.”
“Ted! Wow! All your friends have tried to help you.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“Did you tell them that you appreciate their efforts?”
“None of the jobs has worked out very well.”
Justin nodded. Brian had told him about the fiasco at the Big Q and the angry
customer at Torso. “That doesn’t mean that their hearts weren’t in the right
place.”
Brian nodded. “I know.”
“So what’s this job Ted’s offering? Advertising for his porn site?”
Brian shook his head. He wished that was what the job entailed. “He wants me to appear on his website.”
“Doing what?” Justin asked with a frown.
“Whacking off.”
Justin’s face registered shock. “He didn’t…?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Did you tell him what he could do with his fucking job?”
“Actually, I’m considering taking the job.”
“You aren’t!” Justin said in disbelief.
“It’s five hundred bucks for fifteen minutes.”
“I don’t care if it’s five hundred thousand for five minutes. Don’t do it!”
“When did you become such a prude?”
“I’m no prude, Brian. You know that.” Justin lowered his voice. He could see some nearby ears straining to hear what the Stud of Liberty Avenue and his boyfriend were discussing. “But think about the ramifications. If, no, when, you get back into advertising, what will happen when a client has seen you on the internet?”
“I’ll get a bigger commission,” Brian said trying to joke.
“You’ll get shown the door.”
Brian frowned. Justin was right. Even if Brian was dealing with a gay client, if the guy had seen him on Jerk at Work, would he be likely to hire him to create his ad campaign? “Maybe you’re right,” Brian admitted.
“You know I’m right.”
“He’s right,” Debbie contributed on her way by.
“As much as I’d like to see your show, the kid’s right,” a guy in the next booth threw in.
“Thanks,” Brian said sarcastically. He didn’t appreciate other fags sticking their nose into his business.
“Just telling it like I see it,” the man added.
“Thanks for your help,” Justin told him. “Brian, you want to be in advertising, not the porn industry.”
“Yeah,” Brian admitted. “I’ll tell Ted no.”
“Good.”
“Are you any good at advertising?” the guy at the next booth asked.
“He’s the best,” Justin contributed.
“I have a local dry cleaning establishment,” the man said. “I could use some good PR.”
“I could do that,” Brian quickly agreed.
“Come see me at my shop tomorrow,” the man said standing up and handing Brian his card.
“Thanks,” Brian said. The man nodded and left. Fabulous Dry Cleaning,” Brian read off the card.
“Very fabulous,” Justin said with a smile. “I think you’re about to start your own advertising company.”
“Looks that way,” Brian smiled at him.
“It was meant to be. Why else would someone who wants advertising for his business be sitting in the next booth?”
“He’s got you there, kiddo,” Debbie said as she filled Brian’s coffee cup once again.
“Does everybody have to know my business?”
“Well, you are one of the most fascinating fags on Liberty Avenue.”
“Thanks, I think,” Brian replied.
“Order some dinner,” Debbie commanded. “It’s on me.”
“I can pay for my own meal.” Brian bristled.
“I know you can,” Debbie agreed. “But since we don’t serve champagne, consider this my toast to the new firm of… What are you going to call your ad agency?”
“Kinnetik,” Justin said. “I’ve been thinking about this for days.”
“Did you and Ted plot this?” Brian asked suspiciously.
“Moi?” Brian glared at him. “We just wanted you to get back on track.”
“Did you arrange for Mr. Dry Cleaning to be sitting next to us?”
“Well, I did hear him say he was looking to do some advertising when I was picking up my mother’s dry cleaning.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah, actually he has four dry cleaning businesses. He’s hoping to have several more.”
“With my help.”
Justin grinned. “Exactly.”
“Remind me to thank Ted for his generous offer,” Brian said.
“Which you’re not taking.”
“Which I’m not taking.”
“Good.”
Brian frowned. “Michael and Emmett weren’t part of this plot too, were they?”
“No, of course not.”
“I’d have paid to see you jerk off,” a young man said as he walked by. “But you made the right decision.”
“Christ, is everybody in on this?”
“Just your friends … and acquaintances … and maybe a few strangers.”
“I need to hone my detective skills before I get back into advertising.”
“Naw,” Justin said, “I’ll look after that for you.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you will.” Brian couldn’t help but smile as his hand found Justin’s on the table top.
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