Play Hard

Erotic gay fiction about a college water polo team.

Play Hard

I’ve written a fair bit of erotic gay fiction over the years, and one of the most popular collections is Play Hard — the story of a college water polo team.

One of my favourite parts about water polo training is the showers after the session.

While the team that I used to play with was a team of gay men, we were usually too tired or hungry after training for there to be much action going on in the showers. However, those training sessions have been one of the major inspirations for this anthology of short stories - chronicling the encounters between the young players, their coaches, and some of the guys that they meet along the way.

Illustration by Tom Cray, commissioned for the cover of Play Hard.

Episode 1

Star player Phil gets selected to join the national squad for a training camp:

Frazer could see the uncertainty and the fear begin to take hold of Phil, worrying whether he was ready, wondering whether he was good enough to be in the same pool as the national squad.
“Come here…” said Frazer, enveloping the kid in a big bear hug. Frazer rarely showed affection like this, but Phil felt safe in the arms of that big burly man. Frazer could feel every inch of Phil’s body pressed against him, his wet hair against his cheek, he could smell the chlorine on his skin. “Okay, buddy?” he asked quietly, tapping Phil gently on the ass, feeling the taught lycra material of the kid's swim-briefs. “You’d better go hit the showers — go tell the boys the news.”

Episode 2

Dean, the captain of the team, tries not to wake his room-mate:

“Training?” asked Sammy sleepily, opening his eyes as Dean bustled around the room, trying to be as quiet as possible.
“Yeah — sorry, dude. I didn’t mean to wake you…” apologised Dean.
“That’s cool — I should be getting up anyway…” smiled Sammy, “I’ve got some study to do before class this morning.”
“I’ve never known anyone study as much as you!” laughed Dean.
“Well, if you’re comparing me to your water polo teammates then you’re setting a fairly low benchmark…” teased Sammy.

Episode 3

New kid Mikey joins the team:

Dean studied Mikey — he was only small but he was the fastest swimmer that Dean had seen in a long time, and his skills with the ball were phenomenal.
“Don’t you ever take those off?” asked Dean, looking pointedly at Mikey’s swim-briefs. Mikey could feel himself blushing.
“I’m a bit shy…” said Mikey, blushing.
“Don’t be stupid…” laughed Dean. "Look around you — we’re all shapes and sizes here.”

Episode 4

The team travels to Dallas for an away-match:

Dean couldn’t really remember much about the next few hours. There was a lot of beers, and at some point someone started ordering shots of tequila, it could have been him, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he had woken up in a police cell. Lying next to him on the floor was Casey, the captain of the Dallas team.

Episode 5

The team take victory in a local tournament:

In preparation, the Coach pulled on a fresh pair of swim-briefs under his shorts and a tank top. A few minutes later the doorbell rang. SpeedoLvr was even better in person than he had been in the photo. They didn’t bother speaking but immediately crunched into each other - mashing their mouths together, their tongues wrestling as they ground their bodies , feeling the muscular hardness of each other.

Episode 6

The team travels to Toronto for a match against University of Ontario:

“You look good!” complimented Eddie, “Been going to the gym much?”
“Just when I can…” smiled Jim, pleased that his friend had noticed the effort that he had been putting in recently.
“I was being ironic…” laughed Eddie. “You're clearly spending every spare second you have lifting weights.”
“Well, I’m not as young as I used to be…” smiled Jim. “You’ve got to work hard to keep up with these young kids.”
“Jesus, Jim - you're 43, not 103!” laughed Eddie. “I bet you’ve got boys queuing up around the block looking to get their hands on a muscle-bear daddy like you?”
“I do alright…” winked Jim.

Episode 7

The team are going for gold at the national championships:

“Mikey — you come and sit next to me…” instructed the captain Dean, patting the seat beside him down towards the back of the bus. Mikey did as he was told and the rest of the players piled onto the bus. “So, what happened with your roommate? When did all of this kick off?”
“It was only a couple of days ago…” began Mikey. “I’d just come out of the shower and I had a towel wrapped around me. I was complaining that I wanted to find a boyfriend and he was teasing me that I had no chance because all I ever talk about is water polo.”
“He does have a point…” chipped in Dean.
“Anyway…” continued Mikey. “He started asking me questions - sexual questions.”

Episode 8

David’s cousin Scott comes to visit to see what life is like on campus:

“So, is your cousin as cute as you?” asked Mikey, chewing on David’s ear.
“I haven’t seen him for a while..." shrugged David. "I’m sure he’s changed a bit in the last few years. Anyway, he’s straight, so don’t go getting any ideas.”
“You were straight until you met me…” teased Mikey.
“That's true…” acknowledged David. “You are kind of hard to resist.”

Episode 9

Dean and Phil reconnect during a training camp in Seattle:

“Deano!” shouted Phillip, throwing the door open. The two friends instantly embraced, their big muscular bodies crunching as they threw their arms around each other. “How are you buddy? Was the flight okay?”
“It’s so good to see you!” laughed Dean. “I’m so happy that you’ve arranged for us to room together!”
“Are you kidding?” laughed Phillip. “I want to spend as much time with you as possible this weekend. I’ve missed you so much!”
“I’ve missed you too — you stupid idiot!” grinned Dean, giving Phillip an extra hard bear-hug squeeze before finally letting him go.

Get to grips with all of the action from the water polo team with Play Hard.

The After Dark edition

If you want to fuel your fantasies with some sexed-up images of men in and out of their swim-briefs, check out the After Dark edition.

After Dark: Water Polo
Fuel for your fap fantasies.

Follow Gareth Johnson on Twitter