***

Jonathan perused the case studies spread in front of him while consulting extra data on his laptop. Maddox sat across from him, looking just as distracting as always, which practically meant good enough to kiss and devour slowly one inch of his over six feet in height at a time. To focus on hard cold numbers was the best therapy. He had decided to text Maddox so quickly since he clearly needed some exposure to the subject of his maddening attraction just so that he could deal with it better and faster.

So far, it didn’t work that great, but he was putting in the best of his efforts. Each time Maddox’s eyes lingered on him, he could sense a slight tremble in his fingers, like right now. To steady them for the moment, he searched for his glasses. He wore them only while studying for long hours, and since there was a bit of ground to cover to decide on the best course of their project, he could use them.

Also, they could serve as armor between him and the perfect male beauty across from him—a flimsy piece of armor, but still.

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” Maddox said.

Was it just his imagination, or had those words been said in a ragged whisper? The problem with Maddox was that he exuded sex. He could probably make sneezing sexy or something crazy like that.

Jonathan shook his head. How many times did he need to masturbate to get over this senseless crush? Obviously, as rational as he wished to be, his body seemed to have taken a life of its own, doing whatever it pleased.

“Yes, I wear glasses. And there are many things you don’t know about me since we’ve barely met.”

“Right,” Maddox admitted. “Hey, where did you go to school before coming here?”

Jonathan threw the other a look that he hoped was chilling enough to prevent any further conversation. “We’re here to talk about the project, not me. Here, take a look at these.” He turned his laptop toward his project partner.

Maddox frowned for a moment, but then his attention turned to the screen. He began talking, offering his insight, and Jonathan fell quiet. Clearly, the Mad Dawg of Sunny Hill was more than met the eye. Everything he said made perfect sense, but Jonathan had to pretend to look at the books opened on their table to avoid getting blindsided again.

Watching Maddox from so up close was bad, truly bad for his nerves. How was he going to survive his junior year?

“Well, we set up the ground for it, so I think we’ll do well,” he concluded one hour later, as Maddox stood up and hiked his bag over his shoulder.

Jonathan winced internally at those rolled-up sleeves. The only saving grace was that Maddox really had amazing arms. But it would be bad taste to comment anything on that, given that they were hardly acquaintances.

“Yeah. Good work, man.” Maddox smiled and gave him a thumbs up. “Don’t you have to get to work? I could drive you there, wherever it is.”

“No need. I work here, at the library.” Jonathan consulted his wristwatch. “I start in about ten minutes. Don’t worry about these,” he pointed at all the material on the table. “I’ll return them. And thank you for your offer.”

“Yeah, sure.” Maddox dragged his feet a little like he didn’t want to leave just yet.

Jonathan stared at him for a moment. “Well, it’s been a pleasure,” he said perfunctorily. “See you in Statistics, right? Hey, can I ask you a question?”

The gray eyes lit up with new interest. “Sure.”

“There is this weird rumor that you asked that you’d be paired with me for this,” Jonathan said, proud of his unwavering voice.

A lopsided grin was the immediate reply. “So what if I did?”

Jonathan opened his mouth and closed it. He should have asked ‘why’, but his courage had apparently taken him only this far.

Maddox moved away, the same mysterious and unnerving smile on his face. He threw Jonathan a few looks over his shoulder on his way out.

And Jonathan stood there, absolutely nonplussed. First of all, this exposure therapy had proven useless so far. His attraction toward the resident bad boy was just as strong as before, if not made worse. Throughout the last hour, he had been able to observe numerous other details about Maddox, such as how he had the curliest and darkest eyelashes he had ever seen in his life or how his hands must be so calloused from lifting weights or something like that – which probably came in handy given his strange choice of extra-curricular activities - , or how the corners of his mouth curled and triggered the cutest dimples in existence whenever he smiled, something he often did.

Those weren’t the only details he had noticed, of course, but he needed to stop for the sake of his sanity. The second reason for his current state of perplexity was how smart Maddox truly was. Why would a guy like that get into illegal fights, something that had clearly earned him that idiotic nickname? He obviously had the smarts to be a top student.

He started to gather all the books, more and more aggravated by his lack of common sense when it came to hot young men like Maddox. No, this wouldn’t be a case of history repeating, he told himself. One time was an accident. Two times, well, that would be a habit.

A really bad habit.

***

Maddox dropped on the sofa and groaned in absolute disappointment with himself. Well, that had gone completely wrong. He had barely managed to keep his head in the game, as Jonathan had calmly and relentlessly thrown heaps of information at him.

Rusty came into the room. “Back so soon from your date?”

Unlike Kane and Dex, who liked to tease him, Rusty actually meant the question as he meant everything else he ever said.

“I wasn’t on a date,” Maddox said. “Did those two clowns really assume that?”

Rusty shrugged and sat by his side. “They seem sure you have a crush or something. They’re taking bets.”

“On who I’m crushing on?”

“They use the scientific method. The first bet is on what year she is in.”

“Ah, I see.” Maddox wasn’t surprised. It was the unwritten rule that whoever had a crush had to be teased by the others. Kane, the asshole, had it good since he already had a steady girlfriend. The others were free game. “Hey, listen, have you ever imagined how it would be to come on someone’s glasses?”

Rusty considered the question with a thoughtful frown on his face. “Sunglasses or prescription?”

“Prescription,” Maddox replied.

“Do they have light sensitive lenses or clear?”

He failed to see how that was important, but he was the one who needed to find out an answer to a pressing question. “Clear, I suppose.”

With rimless design and a platinum finish frame, but he didn’t add that.

“Are they on the person wearing them or would you like to come on them if they were like on a table or something?” Rusty continued his inquiry.

“Seriously? Why are you asking so many questions?”

“When it comes to kinks, you gotta be specific,” Rusty explained. “Otherwise, you might end up ordering the wrong thing from the sex shop, and then having to find an explanation when your parents stumble over a pair of twelve-inch heels at the back of your closet.”

That sounded like something that could happen to Rusty. He had a thing for costume play, and not once his very transitory girlfriends had been seen leaving his bedroom in the strangest getups possible.

“How did that come about?” he asked.

Rusty shrugged. “They weren’t her size. Even legends have their bad days.”

Maddox couldn’t agree more, given his current situation and much distracting thoughts involving a particular new transfer to their college.

“So?” Rusty asked, still waiting for an answer.

“Okay, on the person wearing them,” Maddox replied. And that person was wearing them in style like he was born to star in ads for the latest fashion.

“Well, no.”

“What?”

“You asked me if I ever imagined that, so I’m giving you the answer,” Rusty replied promptly.

Maddox patted his friend on the back. “Thanks, buddy, you’ve been of great help.”

“Anytime, man.”

Yeah, what he liked about Rusty was how the guy never pestered him like the other two fools. Even right now, when Maddox practically served him a thousand reasons to tease him relentlessly, Rusty didn’t take the bait and behaved like a bona fide friend.

However, that didn’t solve his problem. “I’m heading for a shower. Wanna go out for drinks later?”

“Sure,” Rusty said with a shrug.

“Really? After calling dibs on half the campus, you still don’t have a date?”

“I need to make a comparison chart first and choose accordingly.”

That sounded like Rusty, too.

Maddox was fast to climb the stairs, shed all his clothes, and head for the shower. He let the water pour over his head and body, hoping for a little bit of reprieve after all the sensory assault from earlier. Yeah, he totally wanted to come all over those glasses, now that he had seen them. And yes, he wanted them to be attached to the person, while the guy knelt in front of him and blinked lazily and waited for him to shoot.

Maddox grabbed his cock and pulled back the skin. For a couple of moments, he stared at his former best friend as he held it by the root and watched the head pulse and getting ready for action.

“Here we go again,” he said with a sigh and began.

***

Could one be philosophical about things such as baffling attraction? Jonathan laid in bed, his eyes on the ceiling, hands behind his back. After another mind-blowing and exhausting session of masturbation, he was supposed to be perfectly capable of going to sleep, but none of that happened. As soon as he closed his eyes, that mischievous smile and gorgeous gray eyes jumped on him as they could barely wait for him to drop his guard.

“He’s straight,” he said. Maybe if he heard the words out loud, they would make sense, and he would finally be able to get over it.

He wasn’t only straight. According to the gossip mill, he was a ladies’ man, and no one had ever heard of him doing something close to experimenting with a trip on the wild side. He clearly had no qualms with gay people, as Jonathan had learned from Ray, and he was just the type of guy comfortable in his own skin and sexuality.

What he needed to do was to think of someone else. He could think about Connor, although the guy didn’t seem interested in him at all. But Connor was gay, out and proud, and, at least in theory, a viable option.

Jonathan brushed his hand by his cock tentatively. How would it feel to kiss Connor? He had kind of thin lips, unlike Maddox, who had truly sensuous lips, especially when he licked a lollipop, although basically, he had ever seen him do that once, that first time –

His cock stirred. Jonathan slapped it in frustration. He couldn’t just keep doing that. It was bad for him, just like sugar was bad for one’s weight, and fried foods for one’s arteries, and smoking for one’s lungs…

Yeah, he tried to convince himself. Dreaming like that about Maddox was unhealthy. This weekend, he would take on Ray’s idea of attending some party. Preferably one with no specifics on whether the people happening by were invited or not. He didn’t dare to think that the all-campus ban on his person was lifted permanently, as well as far and wide.

***

“So, we’re on for the party at Larson this Saturday, right?” Dex asked them all.

“Sure thing,” Maddox replied with fake enthusiasm.

Except for sleeping, and sometimes not even that, he had thought of anything and anyone else but Jonathan very little. How come he could call himself a straight guy anymore with all those gay fantasies hijacking his thoughts? So far, he had imagined the guy sucking his cock at least three times and then coming over various parts of his body several times more. He had drawn the line when trying to picture that perky ass without clothes and his dick gliding between the tight cheeks while he pressed them together to increase the imaginary friction.

Good thing no one suspected what kept happening inside his head. This party, the first this semester, was going to help. He hadn’t seen Jonathan at all, except from a distance. Unlike before, the guy had waved at him in recognition, but he hadn’t gotten out of his way to come and greet him properly or talk to him.

Which was completely fine with Maddox. They were, after all, nothing but acquaintances, so what did they have to talk about, anyway? It kind of pissed him off that now that no one thought the two of them were at war anymore, Jonathan seemed to strike conversations all over the place, with a high number of people. Wasn’t it better when he was a social pariah and no one wanted to talk to him?

Better for who? Well, Maddox didn’t take well to judgmental little voices telling him to pay attention to what was right or wrong.

He would find a girl at this party, someone easy and up for fun, and he would get his rocks off so good that he would forget all about Jonathan Hamilton, his gorgeous face, his sexy body, and everything else.

Like that small precious smile.

Or pretty eyes.

Or his prickly personality.

Oh, yeah, he was that level of fucked up. Even that turned him on.

TBC