Rating: PG

Blair smiled. It seemed everyone was buying him a drink and he was getting nicely buzzed. "Thanks, Simone. You know it's great of you guys to invite me out for a drink, but it's not my birthday for a while yet."

"Yeah, we know. But with the term finishing, we thought we'd get it in before we all go our separate ways for the holidays. The room is ours for the evening, so cheers!"

Blair raised his glass to his friends. He was enjoying himself, but he wished Jim could have joined them. Still, his partner had offered to take him out for a meal on the actual day. Blair was thinking of a nice Italian place he'd seen advertised. It'd be good to have some down time with his best friend, even if said friend was totally oblivious of the fact that Blair wanted so much more. Across the room, two of his female friends were talking and glancing his way. He wished for the thousandth time he had his sentinel's hearing. Blair watched as a young man joined them.

"Hi, ladies. Do you think Mr. Sandburg knows you've got something arranged?"

"Hell, no. You didn't say anything, did you, Joe?"

"No!" The young man smirked. "It's just that, the 'professor' is going to be sooo embarrassed."

The two girls rolled their eyes. "Yeah, right! Thanks for the interest, Joe." They turned away from him and concentrated on their drinks. Joe finally got the message and walked off.

Alone again, one turned to the other. "Thank God he's gone. He's such a dork!"

"You don't think..." began the other, "... I mean, Joe could be right. I'd hate to embarrass Blair."

"No, Blair's bi and he's discreet... he'll be okay." She frowned. "I hope!"

"So, this strip-a-gram... do you think he'll look like the picture in the brochure?"

"The 'Masked Justice'? All big and buff.... Will you stop drooling!" She hit her friend on the arm.

"Hey, I'm not the only one! Blair seems to go for the tall, muscular type, too."

"Like his roommate!"

"Stop that. He's a cop. You don't want Blair to get into trouble, do you? Maybe lose his home?"

"Of course not." She raised her glass to her lips and then hesitated. "They did say that this guy takes it all off and he does include the birthday victim in his act. You sure this won't freak Blair out?"

Their conversation was halted as the birthday boy wandered over to see just what they were whispering about.

Jim paused as he left the loft. This was so stupid. He needed to have his brain examined. How he could have let Mike talk him into taking on his role even for just one night? Mike might have been an old buddy, but this was stretching friendship to the limit. Just because they had a similar build and Mike's wife had chosen tonight to go into labor, here was Jim carrying a stupid uniform with a mask in his pocket, about to get naked and perform for some guy's birthday! God, how stupid can you get?

He rubbed the back of his neck. He remembered the real buzz he got out of performing in front of a live audience, back in the days before he joined the police force. That was how he discovered that he was good at it, and that he was bi. But... he was now a detective and had to keep up appearances.

All Mike had told Jim when he called in a panic was that the birthday boy was either gay or bi, and a student at Rainier. Jim just hoped this guy wasn't one of Blair's students. If his straight and long-lusted-after roommate ever found out... not to mention if this ever got back to his colleagues at work... Jim's life would not be worth living. Thank God there was a mask involved!

Blair knew something was 'up', he just didn't know what. The two girls whispering, the looks that were passed between several of those present, had his 'spider sense' tingling. He smiled, feeling nicely mellow. Whatever they had planned, he could deal with it. He hoped!

When Jim arrived at the venue, he was escorted to a back room to finish getting ready. He thought he'd heard something familiar, but lost it in the noise and smells of the club. Mike had cleared his act with the proprietor and his clients. There should be no problem with any of it. Finally ready, mask in place and senses dialed down, Jim waited. There was a knock at the door. "You ready?" the proprietor's voice asked.

"Yeah." Jim called out. "As I'll ever be," he added quietly.

The theme music from the TV show, 'Cops', began to play over the speakers...

Bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do?

That was Jim's cue. He checked the baton and handcuffs hanging from his belt and stepped out the side door into the main room.

And froze when he saw who the birthday boy was.

The cheers and whistles of the young people around Blair brought him back. His partner laughed, and /(thank all the saints)/ there was no hint of recognition in the young man's eyes, though there was something, a look of appreciation perhaps, as 'Masked Justice' switched the music to a dance version of 'Hero' and started his routine.

Blair's eyes opened wide. God, would you take a look at that! That build, those muscles...

"He's called 'Masked Justice'," whispered one of the girls over his shoulder. "All he keeps on are his mask and his boots!" She giggled in his ear.

As the upbeat music played, slowly, teasingly, Jim began to disrobe as he swayed, gently gyrating his hips, all the while focusing on Blair and his reactions. Off came the black Gore-Tex jacket, eased away from his body like a second skin -- then thrown over his shoulder for a moment before he placed it over a chair, making sure to bend over and push his ass towards his audience, giving a little wiggle as he did. He stood up straight again and turned around. His blue shirt was slowly, agonizingly, unbuttoned, then, with a flourish, pulled out from the tight, form-hugging black trousers. Jim flexed his muscles, brought his arms up over his head and stretched.

The detective was learning something new about his partner with every patch of skin that was revealed. Blair laughed, clapped in time with the music, but his eyes never really left the man in front of him. Jim remembered seeing how 'focused' Blair had been at that fancy strip club they had to go to when trying to find Amber, but this was different, Blair was totally fixed on Jim's performance and, if the tenting of his tight jeans was any indication, totally turned on.

'Masked Justice' reached for his baton, and pulled it through his hand, stroking it suggestively as he did. He rubbed it over his own bulging erection, and heard a sharp intake of air coming from the table where Blair sat.

Jim turned around and bent over, his legs spread apart. He caressed his own backside, the nightstick rubbing over the seam of his trousers. He straightened again, letting his baton drop to the floor, turned back to face his audience, and ran his hands over his erect nipples before taking the shirt edges in both hands and lowering them down his shoulders, again turning so the crowd could see his back muscles flex. He finally pulled the shirt off and allowed it to drop to the floor. Then he reached for the baby oil.

Jim was enjoying himself. His audience sounded really appreciative, both the females and the males, but all the while he was using his senses on Blair. The soft gasps, the intake of breath, the sense of male pheromones coming from the man... they all helped Jim put on the show of his life.

He took the cap off with his teeth, spat it away, and, angling his head back to highlight the column of his neck, poured some of the mildly scented oil down his chest then rubbed it gently over his hairless torso.

Blair shifted in his chair. He didn't think he'd ever been so turned on before -- well, not since the last time he'd seen Jim come out of the shower, all wet and... hot, to answer the phone. But this guy was good. His skin glistened, his muscles flexed. This is what Jim could be like, if Jim ever did this... this kind of thing. And Blair seemed to be the center of the stripper's attention. Well, I would be, wouldn't I? He's paid to pick me out, but still.... Blair's mouth was dry and he reached for his beer.

Jim was in the final stretch now. He sashayed over to a group of whooping girls, still within Blair's sight, and got them to rub the oil into his pecs, just a little. Then he moved back to central stage. He carefully undid his jeans, playing with the handcuffs as he did, teasingly stroking his legs and arching his back. He poured some more oil to trickle down past his navel.

He fell to his knees, thrusting his hips forward. His hands traveled the length of his body, just avoiding his groin. He caressed his legs, and then he did a full arch, with his feet flat and his shoulders down on the floor, that had Blair's eyes popping.

Jim reached around and tugged at his jeans. They came away from his legs in two pieces, thanks to the Velcro fastenings. Swiftly rolling over, Jim stretched out on his stomach on the floor. He lifted his body up as though to do pushups and began to thrust down and forward. The sweat mingled with the oil on his body and Jim reveled in the sensation. He closed his eyes and imagined a long-haired Blair, with his furry chest, lying under him, just begging Jim to thrust harder, faster. Then he heard Blair groan out loud. With the sound, Jim came back to reality. He wasn't turning Blair on, 'Masked Justice' was. That thought saddened and helped him cool down a little. It brought him back from the edge. Just as well, he couldn't come in front of this audience. The management and Mike would not be impressed.

Gods and little fishes, Blair thought, much more of this and I'm going to cream my pants! I can't believe how much like Jim this guy looks.

The masked man stood and offered a young man sitting near Blair's table the oil. Blair watched as this male TA looked up owlishly at the stripper's face as 'Masked Justice' said something, and then he began to rub oil over the stripper's bare legs. Blair shook himself as a wave of jealousy swept over him. He shouldn't feel like this for another man, not when he cared so much for Jim. But this guy's build was so much like Jim's and it was just fun, a fantasy, just a bit of harmless lust....

Mike had always spared the last part of the act for the birthday 'victim', so Jim closed in on his unknowing partner.

He gave Blair the oil, turned round and bent over, to offer his buns to be coated. Blair could hardly stop his hands from shaking... and then he didn't want to take them away. That smooth skin, the firm ass cheeks, and the way the thong sat so snugly in the middle.... He would have been quite happy rubbing oil into the stripper's ass for a loooong time.

Finally Jim turned, put his foot on Blair's knee, and quietly invited him to untie the string of 'Justice's' jockstrap, to an uproar from the people around him.

Blair's head snapped up at the sound of Jim's voice and as their eyes met, the bigger man thought he'd blown it. But Blair blinked and then reached for the side of the thin, blue material that barely covered the man's testicles. Once undone, the small cloth fell away, leaving Jim naked in all his erect glory, save for his mask, cap and boots.

Jim stood back and took his partner's hand. He pulled Blair up and then whispered huskily, "Kneel down. Move your face to one side and let me do all the work. It's just for the show."

Blair's eyes were slightly dazed and heavy. He looked so damn sexy; Jim didn't know if he could continue this. But it was too late, Blair was already down on his knees in front of the detective. Quickly, Jim reached for his towel off the bar and covered both Blair's head and Jim's groin, holding the towel with one hand in the middle. He began to mimic the movement of thrusting, holding Blair's head gently in place with his free hand.

Blair was lost in the smell and heat of this guy who looked and sounded so much like his partner. He must be soooo out of his head, but this stripper's voice, his build, his blue eyes, even his smell -- God, for one moment he could imagine it was Jim, that it was Jim's cock standing just in front of his mouth, oozing a pearl of clear liquid. Without another conscious thought, he leaned in just a little -- his tongue came out and tasted that drop, as he whispered so softly, "Oh God, wish you were Jim."

And Jim nearly lost it right there and then. Everything pooled into his groin at the touch of that tongue and the sound of his name. He dialed down fast and then pulled back a little, carefully lifting the towel and then helping Blair to his feet. He smiled and thanked the man, then with a flourish, Jim took his cap from his head and threw it into the audience before exiting, stage right, to loud applause, which drowned out the last bars of his music.

Blair sobered up the moment he tasted the slightly salty cum. His whole body flushed and he was sure he was going to get decked. He almost flinched when the towel was removed and 'Masked Justice' put out a hand to help him up.

The girls laughed and cheered. His back was patted, but Blair felt like seven kinds of a pervert.

How Jim got to the back room without falling over, he never could say. Once there, he got the towel and beat off, one, two strokes and he came, with Blair's name on his lips. He slumped on the couch and took a deep, shuddering breath. Blair wanted him? Blair, that incredible, annoying bundle of energy, that lover of women and apparently of men, wanted, lusted, after one James Ellison? The man Jim wanted to make love with for, oh, just about forever, with a passion that was driving him slowly insane, actually desired him? No, this was too good to be true. Blair had to be... must be drunk.

Jim got up carefully and cleaned himself up at the sink behind the screen and then started to get dressed.

Blair was worried. He'd tasted the precome on that stripper. He'd actually reached out with the tip of his tongue and licked the tip of this guy's cock. Man, talk about invading the man's space! He had to apologize, somehow. Even if it meant having the crap knocked out of him. My God, you could get yourself arrested for assault, or sexual harassment! What were you thinking! He excused himself from his party and made his way to the back room of the club, all the while trying to think of the best way of explaining why he had done what he'd done, and trying not to panic.

He hesitated at the door before knocking.

Inside, Jim could hear the thump, thump of his partner's heart. I'm not going to say anything about what happened, he said to himself, Blair was... is drunk. It was just 'something' that happens when someone gets carried away. That's all it was, just the drink, and the atmosphere. By the second knock, Jim was finishing putting on his shoes. He sighed. No use putting this off any longer. "Come in." He stood behind the dressing screen and waited, still putting off the moment when he had to face his partner.

"Um, I'm sorry to bother you," Blair began, "I just wanted to.... Oh man, I am so sorry. I really don't know what came over me out there. I've never... well, not with someone like that. I, um, don't know how to properly apologize."

Jim straightened and stepped out. "Well, you can start by buying me dinner." He intended to make a joke of it, but knew, from the stunned look on Blair's face, that the joke had fallen flat.

Blair's jaw dropped. It took almost a full minute before his mouth connected with his brain and... "JIM! God, it was you!" His partner's words hadn't registered and Blair's heart plummeted to his feet. He made to turn and run, not sure he'd have the time to explain the whole 'under the towel' thing, before Jim killed him.

But the bigger man was quicker. He reached over to shut the door just as Blair reached it.

"I think we owe each other an explanation, Sandburg. Don't you?" He leaned in, one arm over Blair's shoulder holding the door closed and waited. "Chief?" Finally Blair nodded and, reasonably sure that his partner wouldn't bolt, Jim stepped back.

"I'll start." Jim rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. "I guess the long and short of it is, I was doing an old friend a favor by stepping in. I did this 'strip-a-gram' thing a long time ago. Apparently I got pretty good at it."

"I'll say!" Blair's soft exclamation made Jim smile.

"Anyway, when I joined the police force, well, it didn't seem the kind of thing an officer of the law does, you know, on the side. I'd forgotten the buzz of performing in front of an appreciative audience." He took a sideways look at the younger man. Blair had a slight flush over his face.

"Yeah, about all that 'appreciation'... I should apologize. I mean, I should never have licked your... um... like that."

"Did you, Chief?"

Blair just looked puzzled.

Jim stood very still. "Did you like that. Me, the taste of me?"

"If I said yes, would you kill me?"

"If you said yes, I'd probably kiss you."

"In that case... yes. Yes, Jim, I like the taste of you, the sound of you, the smell of ymmmph..."

He got no further as Jim's mouth covered his and both men had better things to do than talk.

Blair finally pulled back and placed his hands on Jim's chest to steady himself and his partner. "Wow!"

"Blair," Jim rested his forehead against his partner's. "Is this just 'like'.... Or is it something else?"

Blair gently stroked Jim's face. "It's definitely 'something else' for me, Jim. Would I be right in thinking it's something else for you too?"

Jim nodded.

Blair smiled. "I've got to get back to the party, but I really want to pick this up at home."

"Me too, Blair. So...?"

"So, you head back, and wait for me in your bed."

"Correction, Chief, our bed. That is, if you want it to be?"

Blair smile grew even bigger. "'Our bed'. I like the sound of that. I'll make some excuse and be with you as quick as I can. I'd really like to taste more of you, all of you, and, sooner or later, have you fuck me 'til I scream. If that's okay with you?"

Jim couldn't have wiped the grin off his face if he wanted to. "More than okay, if at some stage you'll return the favor?"

"I'd be delighted." Blair leered, his eyes twinkling. "Any chance of my own private lap dance?"

Jim laughed. "Anytime, Chief, but first you have to escape your own birthday party."

"Oh yeah, right." He grinned. "I'll tell them that my partner just called about a police emergency. Something about a pervert running around exposing himself and sexually assaulting innocent passersby." He winked at Jim. "See you soon, Mr. 'Masked Justice'." And he tore himself away from the body of his soon-to-be-lover and went back to make his excuses to his friends.

Jim smiled. Sometimes life threw some unexpected, and yet delightful surprises, at you -- and he wasn't going to let this one get away.

He grabbed his bag and left for the loft. He and Blair would have to get Mike's new baby a really nice present.