Frat Boy and Toppy (11 page)

Once Kyle snapped his fingers in Brad’s face, looking annoyed. “Dude, you mad about me seeing Ashley or not?”

Not really. “I don’t care.”

“Good. Uh, I kinda think she’s over you, man.”

Brad shrugged. Kyle didn’t even look at him weird.

When Brad finally saw Sebastian again on Thursday afternoon, he choked. He’d been thinking about Sebastian all week, thinking what he wanted to do with him (naked), how he wanted to tell him he’d like to see him again. A date, maybe? Should he ask him out? Were gay dates the same as straight dates? Maybe on gay dates you got to see better movies. With, like, action and shit.

Oh, fuck. Sebastian would want to see an art film or something. He might turn Brad on something fierce with the intellect shtick and those glasses, but that didn’t extend to seeing movies in black and white where the entire thing was just two people talking to each other.

No movies, then.

Of course, maybe with Sebastian he could try that thing he’d always wanted to try. Where you cut a hole in the bottom of the popcorn bucket and stuck your dick in it, then waited for your date’s fingers to find it.

Nah. That probably didn’t show a lot of class.

What Brad
hadn’t
been thinking about was how Sebastian hadn’t made any move to see him again, or even shown interest in it. He’d just let Brad walk out his front door and that was it. Brad wasn’t in the student directory, so Sebastian couldn’t call, but he knew where Brad lived. He knew what class Brad would be in on Tuesday morning.

When Sebastian walked into History 203 a half hour before it ended on Thursday and looked directly at Brad, Brad’s stomach nearly gave up its breakfast. Sebastian had a pretty serious look on his face, and not the look he usually had, where it seemed like he was kinda amused with the world in general.

Shit. What’d that mean? And damn it, now he had something caught in his throat. It felt like a giant hairball. He looked down, away from Sebastian. He was afraid to look at him. It wasn’t like he was any good at reading people’s emotions, but he didn’t want to take the chance that this would be one time he managed it.

Every time he forgot and looked over at Sebastian, it seemed like Sebastian was watching him. Ashley, who was sitting between him and Kyle for some unknown reason, startled him by hissing in his ear. “Did you sleep with him?”

Brad choked and coughed. He threw a wild look past Ashley to Kyle. Ashley rolled her eyes. “Like he’s gonna care,” she whispered. “So, did you do him?”

Because Brad wasn’t with it, he answered. “He sorta did me.”

Ashley looked impressed. Brad snuck another look at Sebastian. He still looked serious. Brad jerked his eyes to the table in front of him instead.

“So you’re gay?” Ashley breathed.

“Oh yeah. I’m gay.”

Sebastian thought maybe the sex was just like a temporary high. The intensity with Brad was maybe like getting drunk—great at the time, but the hangover made it not worth it.

When he tried to explain that to Sophie Wednesday night, she told him he was a hopeless case.

“Case of what?” Sebastian asked.

Sophie didn’t answer. Instead, she tried to find out more about Brad.

“He put a lot of trust in me, yeah? He chose me, for some reason.” Sebastian got up from the table where he’d been studying and wandered into the living room.

“Maybe he likes you.”

He had a feeling they weren’t talking about Brad liking his skills in bed. “Where did I go wrong? Everything’s a relationship with you, yeah? I don’t think so. He didn’t say anything about that.” He flopped on the couch and slouched into the cushions.

She snorted. “Yeah. Because guys are always talking about their feelings first, then the sex. So, are you going to let him choose you again?”

“Mmm, yeah. It’s not like I’m getting nothing out of it. He’s hot. I’m attracted to him. I want to mentor him.” Wanted to mentor him all over.

“Uh-huh. His gay sex mentor?”

Sebastian smiled to himself and put his feet up on the coffee table. Paul hated when he did that. “Yeah. Like, in ancient Greece, a guy in his twenties would mentor a teenaged boy. The older guy was the
erastes
and the younger guy was his
eromenos
. I’m Brad’s
erastes
.”

She snorted. “Did you have one of these sexual mentors to introduce you to the gay lifestyle?”

“I was a special case.”

“Uh-huh. Of course you were. Did any of your friends have one of these ‘mentors’?” She’d learned that verbal quotes thing from him. He was a good mentor.

“Well, yeah. Most guys I know started out with a boyfriend, and screwed around with him until they got their sea legs.”

“Ah-ha! So, you’re going to be Brad’s boyfriend!”

Sebastian laughed at her until he fell over on the couch, then once he had the breath, he mocked her for the rest of the conversation.

He finally got it straight in his own head, even if he couldn’t seem to make Sophie understand. He needed to make sure that Brad was okay with what happened. Offer more if Brad was interested in exploring it, because Sebastian was. Brad needed to know he was desirable, right? He might be sort of fragile now. A good
erastes
wooed his
eromenos
.

The situation with Brad was a delicate thing, a guy discovering his gay tendencies when he lived the last of the staunchly heterosexual lifestyles. Sebastian felt a “wait and see” approach might be best before he began the wooing in earnest. His poor, naïve (well, that was arguable)
eromenos
might be bashful. Unsure.

So Sebastian gave him time to adjust. Stretch his mind around what had happened. He’d been hoping Brad would pop up somewhere, well-adjusted. Drop by his office or his apartment, ready to continue his mentoring sessions.

Which didn’t happen. Every night when he closed his eyes, he could see Brad lying under him, and by Thursday morning he needed to find out what Brad was thinking. He definitely wanted Brad again, even without the mentoring.

To his surprise, his stomach was a little achy before he walked into Ari’s class. That was different. Of course, he’d never been a mentor before.

Brad wouldn’t look at him. He looked scared and uncomfortable and possibly mortified. Sebastian closed his eyes, sitting back behind the desk. Guilt washed over him while he waited for class to end so he could take in next week’s papers and supervise handing back this week’s.

He’d fucked Frat Boy and now Frat Boy was freaking out. Yeah, Brad had said he wanted it and acted like he wanted it, but Sebastian had enough experience that he should have known something was off. He should have spent some time talking to Brad rather than letting the dick-tator run the show.

He’d really, really wanted Brad. Had fantasized idly more than once about what he might look like without any clothes on.

Brad was beautiful naked.

Sebastian could appreciate all types of men. He loved soft skin as well as textured, and muscles were nice but so was leanness. As a connoisseur of men, bears and beer guts had their place as readily as soft, nubile twinks.

Brad was smooth, almost hairless, and he had beautiful muscles. Not insanely huge ones, but solid and defined. And Sebastian really needed to stop thinking about what Brad had looked like that night, sitting on the couch, pulling his T-shirt over his head, then looking at Sebastian in that scared, vulnerable, hopeful way. Sebastian was beginning to suspect Brad might have ruined him for anything but jocks.

Sebastian opened his eyes and Brad was watching him again. This time Brad’s ears went red and his eyes widened before he jerked them away.

Oh, hell
. He was going to have to make sure he hadn’t scarred Frat Boy for life.

It took for-freaking-ever for Ari to wind up, and when class was finally over and people were filing past Sebastian’s desk to turn in and/or pick up papers, he was relieved to see Brad in the throng. He kept an eye on him surreptitiously.

Right before Brad and his friend Kyle made it to the desk, Brad said something quietly in Kyle’s ear and, when Kyle nodded, turned and walked away.

Sebastian didn’t even think about it. He grabbed Kyle and planted him behind the desk. “Make sure no one takes a paper that isn’t theirs, put the new ones in a stack and take them to the History Department receptionist,” he hissed into Kyle’s ear, then grabbed his backpack and took off after Brad.

He caught him outside Miller Hall. It was misting and gray, but he could make out Brad pretty easily even though it was one of those Pacific Northwest days when you weren’t sure there actually was a sun. Recognized the set of his shoulders. He didn’t call out to him, because he had a feeling that would freak Brad out. Instead, he just sped up until he was walking next to him.

Brad took a small misstep. Sebastian slowed down a little. He glanced at Brad, who was looking at the ground, still walking. “Come to my office with me so we can talk.” He could actually hear Brad swallow as they walked along, but he gave a jerky nod. Sebastian exhaled with relief.

He managed to keep his mouth shut until they were almost to his office. “Just because you had sex with a guy doesn’t mean you’re gay,” he murmured softly.

Brad stopped dead. He stared straight ahead, jaw clenched. “I
am
gay,” he said quietly but distinctly through his teeth.

He sounded pretty convincing. “Okay, sorry,” Sebastian said. They stood there for a minute, Sebastian looking at the side of Brad’s face while Brad stared down the deserted hall. “Brad, look at me.”

He swallowed, but he turned his head enough to see Sebastian. He met Sebastian’s eyes briefly, then his gaze flickered away.

“I’m sorry if I pushed you last weekend or anything, yeah?”

Brad looked at him in confusion, meeting his eyes again. “Pushed me?”

Well, this was uncomfortable. “I’m sorry if I talked you into more than you were ready for.”

Now Brad stared at him like he was certifiable. “I asked you to fuck me.” His voice was just a little loud, and he flinched and glanced around nervously before turning back to Sebastian. “I thought
I
talked
you
into it.” Judging by the color in his face and the way his eyes dropped, that was just a little more than Brad meant to say.

Sebastian suddenly felt like himself again. “So, you were thinking I felt, what? Used?” He let himself smile slightly at Brad.

Brad’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t look up. “Yeah.”

Sebastian took a small step closer to Brad. “I didn’t feel used. And you didn’t feel used?”

Brad’s eyes flickered up again. It was amazing how Brad was actually a few inches taller but Sebastian still felt like Brad was looking up at him. “No. I didn’t feel used. I wanted it.”

Sebastian let his voice drop until he was nearly whispering. “You think you might want it again? With me?”

Brad’s eyes widened. He flushed, but nodded. It occurred to Sebastian that the flush might not be embarrassment; maybe it was arousal. “You still coming with me to my office?”

“Yeah.” Brad’s pupils were dilated, and his voice husky. Sebastian smiled at him and turned to lead the way.

The short hallway to the 232 offices was about fifteen feet from where they stood. When Sebastian turned into it, he heard voices coming from his office.
Fuck
. Probably Paul and Michelle. He stopped walking, and Brad crashed into him. Just that little contact made his whole body buzz, and he reached for the door handle of the supply closet they were standing beside. He wrenched it open and dragged Brad inside with a hand wrapped into the front of his shirt.

Inside, with the door closed, it was completely dark with just a strip of dim light leaking in around the door. Sebastian debated turning on the light, caught up in the mechanics of getting them off and getting them out, but Brad reached for him, grabbing his attention and yanking on his coat. Like a kid who who’d found some rare, delicious treat in the checkout line at the store and would lie on the floor kicking and screaming to get it.

Sebastian was happy to be Brad’s candy. Maybe it was the way he yanked the hair on the back of Brad’s head, but Brad opened right up for him as soon as their lips met.