James & the Peeping Tom Pt. 02

For the next several months, I hoped that my peeping tom would reappear, but realization sunk in that he was gone for good. My thoughts pivoted to how I might find a replacement voyeur. I had done the mental math: there were over 1,000 units in my apartment complex; if one assumed that 5% of the population is gay, and half of those are male, then the laws of probability would suggest, even at single occupancy in the units, there must be at least 25 gay men in the complex. But how would I go about finding them? And moreover, how would I find out if they might be interested in spying on me? I couldn't simply post an ad on the bulletin board outside the gym.

One weekend afternoon later that summer, I noticed a U-Haul in the back parking lot. It initially caught my attention because trucks technically were not allowed in the parking lot due to a weight restriction (the parking lot was actually the ceiling of an underground parking garage). But what retained my attention was that the U-Haul was being unloaded by two men. Various speculations ran through my head: Which of them was moving in? Was one a friend helping the other move? Was it possible that both of them were moving in together?

I kept a safe distance back from the sliding glass door to do my own form of 'spying' as the two men unloaded the U-Haul. I couldn't blame them for violating the 'no trucks' rule, as the back entrance allowed them to avoid having to go up steps. They seemed to have a lot of nice, and rather heavy, furniture. As they would come into the building, I scurried to my front door and would look out my peephole. I was able to determine that they were not moving into a unit on my floor, but must have rented a unit on either the second or third floor.

As I observed them unloading the van, I made note of details. Both were likely in their early to mid 30's. The taller one appeared to be Black or possibly biracial; he seemed to be rather fit. The other man was a bit pudgy and appeared to be Latino. Were they friends/roommates? Were they possibly boyfriends (or married)? Throughout the day, I noticed only one bedframe and one mattress be carried into the apartment. Perhaps only one of them was moving in, and the other was simply a friend helping him move? However, my suspicions, and excitement, grew that they might both be gay.

That day, I deliberately held back from putting on any 'window displays'. I didn't want to scare the new neighbors, as I still was not entirely certain what their situation was.

After move in day, I did not notice them again for at least a week or two. Perhaps he/they came and went at different times than my daily routine. Perhaps he/they parked out front and did not routinely use the back parking lot and entrance. But one Saturday morning, I noticed a red Honda Civic pull into the corner of the parking lot, and from the vehicle emerged the two men I had noticed earlier that month. They popped the trunk of their car and started to unload bags of groceries. I hurriedly walked to the sliding glass door and positioned myself about 1 to 2 feet away from it. I knew that it was more difficult to see into my apartment during the day (than at night), but if I was standing that close to the window, I felt relatively assured they would be able to see me... if they looked towards my porch.

So, I stood there, completely naked, pretending to be absentmindedly chatting on the phone and staring into space, looking down towards the bus stop deliberately, rather than looking out towards the parking lot. If they wanted to look at me, I wanted to give them the opportunity to look without them fearing eye contact or being caught looking. In a couple minutes, I noticed the taller one had come outside again. Apparently the amount of groceries purchased only required one of them to make a second trip. Was my mind playing tricks on me, or did he walk incredibly slowly on his way back into the building?

It was probably another week before I saw them again. Admittedly, I was getting frustrated. My prior peeping tom had been so reliable, stopping by for a show every evening after I got home from work. With these new upstairs neighbors, the opportunity seemed far less frequent and considerably more random. But, I did catch on to one aspect of their routine. They seemed to go grocery shopping every Saturday morning, and they would unload their car from the back parking lot. Now that I knew their car, I would occasionally notice it parked out front, and it seemed that the front door was their primary entrance/egress unless they were burdened by groceries or large packages.

Admittedly, I did not have a very diverse or nuanced package of shows. I repeated the "stand naked in the doorway and chat absentmindedly on the phone" and the "just came out of the shower and taking an extra long time to dry my hair while the remainder of my tanned wet body is on full frontal display" scenarios. I then added a "walk around completely naked while vacuuming" to my repertoire, hoping that the white headlight on the vacuum might catch their attention if they hadn't already noticed me.

The next Saturday, I planned ahead. I was yearning to know whether my upstairs neighbors were aware of my nudist lifestyle. I placed my webcam on the ground in the corner of the doorframe. It was small enough that I think it was inconspicuous. I impatiently waited for the red Honda Civic to arrive in the back parking lot. When it did, I stood near the sliding glass window with my Wii remote in my hand, playing an energetic game of Wii tennis, allowing my rapid arm motion... and my bouncing cock... to draw in their attention.

The men each made two trips this time, although they were not heavily saddled with grocery bags on either trip. Once they were inside, I could barely contain my anticipation. I went to my computer and viewed the history from the webcam. To my immense satisfaction, both of their heads had been fixated towards my sliding glass door for their entire walk down the sidewalk. I was so excited to have confirmed that I once again had voyeurs to complement my exhibitionism.

A few days later, I came home from playing (real) tennis with a friend and I walked in the back door, and was a bit startled to see my upstairs neighbor at the community washing machine. In the moment, I was too surprised, or perhaps shy, to speak. But, I got into my apartment, ripped off my shirt, and grabbed the only 'gay' shirt I had - a Bud Light Boston Pride freebie. Then I grabbed the half-full bag of trash from my kitchen and walked out my apartment and back down the hall, as the rubbish room was immediately adjacent to the laundry room.

My neighbor was still there, folding laundry that he was pulling out of the dryer. Whether it was the fact that he had seen me minutes ago wearing a white t-shirt and now he saw me wearing a black t-shirt, or perhaps it was the rainbow logo on the left chest of the t-shirt, it became evident that my plan had succeeded and I had caught my neighbor's eye. He was the first to speak. "Hi, I'm David. I had wondered when I noticed you... I mean saw you... whether you were gay".

I replied, "I wondered the same thing when I first saw the two of you."

"Oh, you have seen my partner and me before," he asked.

"Well, I noticed you guys moving in a couple months ago", I said.

"Have you met my partner Carlos yet," he asked.

"No, I've just seen you both through the window, but never had a chance to talk to either of you," I replied.

"We have... umm.... seen you through the window too," he said.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry.... I hope you didn't mind," I genuinely demurred. "I hope you don't find it weird or threatening. I just get... umm... a bit of a rush from showing off a little."

"No, no. Don't mind at all. We were trying to figure out if it was accidental or deliberate," David said. "Man, Carlos would have killed me if he found out that I had spoken to you and tipped you off."

"What do you mean," I asked.

"Oh, like if you hadn't realized people could see you, and I accidentally tipped you off, and then the shows stopped... Carlos would have been really mad at me," David replied.

"You don't have to worry about that. You're welcome to look any time you want," I said.

"Oh shit. I didn't realize it's 4 o'clock already. I'm sorry. We have friends coming over for dinner. I have to go. Hey, give me your cell number, and we can keep in touch," David somewhat abruptly cut our initial conversation short.

I started to tell David my number, but we both quickly realized that neither one of us had our phones on us, nor did we have anything to write with. "I'll go back to my apartment and write my number on a post-it, and leave it on my door. You can come down and grab it when you have a chance," I said.

"Yes, thanks. So sorry to have to dash," David replied as he grabbed his laundry basket stacked high with folded shirts, pants, and towels.

Later that evening, I received a text message, "Hello, it's David from 153-202".

I replied, "It was nice to finally meet you today".

Then I received another message. "I hope this isn't inappropriate. We're picking up a couple friends from Logan (airport) and bringing them here for a late dinner before they head on up to Maine." And then another message chirps on my phone. "We'll be getting back to the apartment around 8pm. Any chance you could put on a show for them? Would be great if you could make it look accidental."

My heart started pounding and my mind started racing. "Of course. Can you let me know you're getting near?" I typed back.

I didn't get another text message from David until around 7:30pm. "Picking Peter and Michael up now. Should be home around 8:00pm. Plan still on?"

I replied, "Yes, that works for me."

I turned on my kitchen light and my living room light. For the next 20 minutes, I stood just beyond the doorway, leaning up against the wall, so that I could peer out into the back parking lot without being (too) visible to the people in the apartment building opposite me. Around 8:00pm, I saw some headlights come into the lot and turn towards the corner near me. I moved "into position" at the doorway. But, the car continued down the aisle and did not stop. "Ooops," I thought to myself.

About 8:05pm, another set of headlights entered the parking lot and then traveled down to the end of the lot. This time, the car pulled into a parking space in the corner and stopped, and then turned off its lights. I stepped away from the wall, so that I was now squarely in the middle of the double-hung sliding glass door. Being that it was nighttime and my interior lights were on, I realized that (without my face pressed up against the glass) I could no longer see outside. Instead, I could only see a reflection of the inside of my apartment, as well as myself.

It may not have been the greatest plan, but it's all that I came up with, given that David had only given me a couple hours notice. Centered in front of the floor to ceiling glass panes of the sliding door, I started to do jumping jacks. I knew that with all my lights on, I would certainly be visible to David and his friends as they got out of the car and walked down the sidewalk. I was hoping to gain a peek at them, to at least know who my audience was, but was foiled by the fact that I could only see my reflection. But something about seeing my own reflection, and thereby seeing what they could see, really got my adrenaline flowing. In my past 'displays', I had always looked out into space and deliberately not really focused on any one thing. Now, I was watching myself.

As I jumped and spread my legs and raised my arms, my body formed a human "X". I liked how my armpits would appear and disappear as I jumped. It's probably silly, but for some reason I always felt more exposed when my armpits were visible. Of course, every other part of my body was equally or more so exposed as I jumped. I watched as my own penis would bounce from a normal recline position up to slapping against my stomach. I did 50 jumping jacks. It seemed like an eternity. I didn't know if they were still outside. But, I had physically exhausted myself. I stopped and walked to the kitchen to get a drink. From there, I would no longer be in sight from the sidewalk if they were still outside. If they were still outside, my actions were a subtle indication that the show was over... for now.

I went to my sofa and watched TV for a while. I would periodically grab by phone and check for new messages. I was disappointed to not have received any messages from David.

Around 10:30pm, my phone chirped. "Are you still awake?"

I replied, "Yes."

"Peter and Michael loved your gymnastics. For a while, I let them believe that they had really fortuitous timing to catch one of our neighbors naked. But eventually I felt compelled to tell them it was staged."

"Oh, did they like the view," I asked.

"It kinda surprised me. I think they liked it even more once they realized it had been deliberate."

"*blush*," I typed back.

"Hey, I know it would be late, but Carlos and I will be taking them to the T (subway) station around midnight. Any chance they could get an encore show when we leave?"

I replied, "Gosh, that would be late. I may be asleep, but I'll make sure that I am visible".

For the next hour or so, I tried to come up with an 'act'. I settled on a passive show. I would be asleep. But, I deliberately laid down on the loveseat that faced out to the sliding glass door. Laying on my back on the loveseat, I knew that everything on my front side would be fully visible to their gaze.

Around 11:30pm, I texted David, "Going to bed now. But leaving the lights on. Feel free to stop by my back porch if they want a closer view."

I got up and went to the sliding glass door. I engaged the toe lock to secure the door. But, I also pulled back strongly on the door. This created the slightest air gap between the door and the frame. I knew this would allow sound to pass through.

A little before midnight, I heard the sound of several men coming down the stairs and then walking down the hallway past my apartment. And shortly after that, I heard voices coming from my porch.

"Wow, he really does like to be on display," said one voice.

"I love the dusting of blond hair on his legs," said another voice.

"He has really great feet," said the first voice.

"Why the hell are you looking at his feet," said the other voice.

"Well, he's definitely got a pretty cock too," said the first voice.

"I like his bush. Looks natural. Too many young guys shave it nowadays," said the other voice.

I was enjoying eavesdropping on the running commentary about my body parts, even if it was objectifying me a little bit. But, suddenly, I heard David's voice for the first time, and in a bit of an alarming tone, "Hey, what are you doing?"

My eyes were still shut. I hadn't moved since they had arrived on my porch. I had a moment of confusion. For a second or two, I thought David was speaking to me. But, then I realized he... none of them... realized I could hear them. In fact, they likely thought I was really asleep.

"Well, you get to see him every day if you want. We only come through once a year. So, it's only fair," one of David's friends said.

"But, I didn't ask him about that," David said.

"Please... I mean... he's putting himself on display. I don't think he'd have an issue with it. Plus, he doesn't have to know," said one of the friends.

"I don't know about this," said David.

"Don't be such a sour puss. Just a couple," said the friend.

And then, even though my eyes were closed, I sensed a flash of light.

"Oh shit, I forgot to turn off the flash," said the friend.