Across the Courtyard

The two blocks of flats faced each other across a narrow courtyard. Mara had lived on the third floor for eight months before she started noticing the man opposite properly. He kept late hours. Most nights the kitchen light in his flat came on around eleven and stayed on past one. She began leaving her own lights off and standing at the dark window with a mug she rarely finished. He cooked badly. He watered a plant on the sill that looked half dead. One night he walked through in a towel that slipped when he reached for something high. She looked away, then looked back. He did not know she was there.

On the fourth night she saw more. He was on the sofa with a laptop. The angle let her see the glow on his face and the steady motion of his hand in his lap. She understood when his head tipped back and his hips lifted. She stayed where she was. Her own hand had already slid under the waistband of her shorts. She rubbed herself and came quietly while she watched him finish. After that she waited for the light every night.

He started leaving the curtains open wider. One evening he stood closer to the glass, fully naked, and stroked his cock while he looked out across the courtyard. She could not tell if he was looking toward her window. She came twice that night, eyes fixed on him. The next day she bought a cheap pair of binoculars and used them once from the dark. The detail was almost too much. She put them away and went back to standing barefoot with one hand between her legs.

On Friday he held a piece of paper up to the glass. The writing was large. ARE YOU WATCHING? She froze, then found a marker and wrote YES on the back of an envelope. She held it up. He smiled. A minute later he was naked again, closer to the glass, cock in his hand. He stroked himself slowly and kept his eyes on her side of the courtyard. She matched his pace. When he came she saw the mess on the inside of his window. She came at the same moment. The next evening there was a new sign. COME OVER. THIRD FLOOR. LEFT DOOR. IT IS OPEN.

She put on a long coat and nothing underneath and crossed the courtyard. His door was unlocked. He was waiting on the sofa, still naked. She locked the door behind her, dropped the coat, and knelt between his knees without a word. She had already watched him for weeks. Now she took him into her mouth. She sucked him slow at first, then deeper, until he came across her tongue in thick pulses. She swallowed. Then she climbed into his lap and rode him while he kept his eyes on her face. She came twice. He came inside her. Afterward they stood at his window together, naked, and looked across at her dark flat. He asked if she wanted to keep watching sometimes. She said yes, but only if he knew she was there and put on a show. He agreed. She went home with his come still inside her and texted him from her own window twenty minutes later: lights off. Your turn. He turned his own lights off and stood at the window with his cock in his hand. She watched from her side and touched herself until she came. The next night she crossed again. This time he bent her over the arm of the sofa and fucked her while she described what she had seen him do all those weeks. He came inside her. She stayed the night. In the morning they stood naked at his window together and waved once at her empty flat across the courtyard. The following week she started leaving her curtains open on purpose. He watched her undress and touch herself while he stroked himself at his own window. On the Friday she crossed again carrying nothing but the coat. He fucked her against the glass so she could see her own flat behind his shoulder. She came with her palms on the window. He came inside her. They left the lights on afterward so anyone looking would see them still naked and close. The next afternoon she stood at her own window fully naked and touched herself until she came while he watched from across the courtyard. He came against the glass on his side. She texted him the photo she had taken of her own hand between her legs and the words: your turn tomorrow. He was already hard when he read it. The next day she crossed the courtyard in the coat again. He met her at the door, pushed her against the wall inside, and fucked her standing up while she kept one hand on the window frame so she could still see her own flat. She came with his cock deep and her eyes on the courtyard. He came inside her. They stayed at the window afterward, naked, until the light changed. She told him the binoculars were staying in the drawer. He said he preferred the real thing anyway.