***

Eventually, he had managed to find his own room, only that sleep was elusive now he had just had a weird gay dream. He had seen that boy in glasses for like, what? Half a minute? So why was he walking into his dream like there were no better places for him to be?

Rusty looked around his room. Damn, he was getting bored already. Maybe he could convince those nerds downstairs to do something fun already. Everyone was behaving like the end of the world was near. It was just senior year, end of college, yada-yada.

Wait, Maddox had just entered the picture, and Jonathan must have come with him, too. The least Rusty could do was to continue his research on whatever those two shared. They had gotten engaged at the end of summer break, and that party had been uber lit. Rusty was sure he would remember it forever, despite being the tamest thing he’d ever attended in his life.

So, being engaged meant that they would also get married, and in the world of the living, normal beings, and all that, it was the most serious shit ever. Not even Kane had fast-tracked like that with Louise.

Therefore, the questions still remained. Sure, Jonathan Hamilton was sexiness incarnate despite fighting it with every fiber of his aristocratic self. Of course, Maddox was the man, cool and handsome, and everything, but why, oh, why, couldn’t they live without each other? What was that all about?

Not that he was jealous or anything. Not in that sense of the word. No, Rusty just couldn’t understand it, even if he had heard – and even provoked – Jonathan into saying the words out loud. He could get liking someone. Yeah, that was fine. Rusty himself liked his friends enough, maybe even to the point of giving them all a hand if they found themselves in casts with both arms broken or something.

Hmm, more research was needed. With a little bit of luck, he would find Jonathan all over Maddox when he went downstairs. But first, he needed to check for Dex and Kane. Already, without him provoking them in any way, they had started piling on him, telling him that this year was no joke, and he should study, and all those things that could make him want to kill himself from boredom, Deadpool-style – like in the sense that he couldn’t really die, just take a break from their incessant droning.

Making sure to tiptoe to the top of the stairs so that he could examine the troops from a superior vantage point, he walked over to the rail. Clearly enough, the large living room was populated, and voices could be heard.

“I don’t mind tutoring Rusty.”

That was Jonathan. Wow, Dex and Kane had moved like really fast.

“Babe,” Maddox intervened, “Rusty would have you wrapped around his little finger in no time.”

“It’s worth a try,” Jonathan insisted. “You are all saying that you’ve tried in the past. We are not giving up on him, are we?”

“That’s true,” Dex admitted.

Now that gave Rusty a bit of a sense of triumph. What did Kane have to say about it, though?

“He’s pigheaded and annoying.” Kane would never disappoint him. Rusty felt a grin threatening to go around his head. “If he doesn’t want to do something, he just doesn’t do it.”

“There must be a way,” Jonathan said. “At least for a few of his classes where he might be struggling.”

It was a bit touching that Jonathan didn’t want to give up.

“Should we find a cat boy and ask him to tutor Rusty?” That was still Jonathan.

Rusty thought that he liked the guy more and more. Just in a bro way. What happened in dreams stayed in dreams. There should be a saying for that.

“That’s a difficult call, don’t you think?” Dex asked, always the unbeliever. “I doubt cosplayers are necessarily excellent tutors. And that any of them who are attend Sunny Hill. The probability of finding someone like that is pretty dismal.”

“Maybe we could convince the tutor to dress as a cat boy?” Jonathan offered.

“Rusty would smell foul play right away,” Kane said, sounding pretty much convinced.

He totally would. Yeah, Kane knew him well. But he was starting to take a little pity on the guys’ predicament. He understood they wanted to do him a boatload of good or something, but he just didn’t like studying boring stuff.

Hmm, he needed to think of a solution before they started banging their heads against the walls. So, he nonchalantly began walking down the stairs, making everyone turn their heads to stare at him.

“Yeah, before anyone asks, I heard you,” he said.

“Look, Rusty--” Jonathan began.

Rusty put one hand up. “All right, all right, you’re good people. I get it. I’m just not the kind that can be tutored.”

He expected some denial, but Dex, Maddox, and Kane all looked at him like they totally agreed with him.

“What if,” Jonathan continued, not knowing Rusty as well as the rest, or just being stubborn, “we find someone who can tutor you?”

Rusty considered the question. “Like a contest? A contest for all the tutors on campus?”

Jonathan smiled. Ha, let him believe that he had something there. “I’ll personally offer to triple the fee if anyone gets past the first lesson with you. What do you say?”

“I’m in,” Rusty said brightly. The prospect of driving a few people mad who dared to go up against him sounded pretty swell. It would only be one session with the bravest on campus. It would be fun. “Wait, what if no one manages to do that? What do I get?”

“Nothing,” Jonathan said naturally. “Isn’t it the fact that you want to win enough motivation?”

“True,” Rusty admitted. “Still, Hamilton, you could have thrown me a bone, you know.”

“I’ll make sure to make some treats for you shaped like that,” Jonathan promised.

Rusty shuddered for a moment. He didn’t even have to close his eyes to imagine cool and collected Jonathan enticing him with dog treats while Rusty knelt at his feet. Jeesh, this fucking imagination could be a nightmare at times.

“Did you just think of something dirty involving my boyfriend?” Maddox asked.

Rusty bristled. “Totally not,” he denied. Maddox squinted and stared at him. “No, I didn’t,” he insisted. “Bring on your best. I have some tutors to put in their places.” He cracked his knuckles for show. They had no idea what they were going to be putting those people through.

TBC