***

Rusty stared at Matthew with unhidden satisfaction. When he put his mind to it, he could learn anything. He could tell his tutor was impressed.

“I will say this,” Matthew said while closing his textbook. “I don’t believe you need my tutoring. You seem to catch new concepts fast on your own, and you have a good memory. You also have--”

As much as Rusty enjoyed compliments, he needed to stop his new favorite victim before he made a run for it. “I have great need for someone to keep me accountable. And it has to be someone obnoxious like you.” Matthew was pedantic, a stickler for details, and a slave driver. But Rusty never lavished people with compliments like that.

He could swear that he saw Matthew’s bottom lip quiver for a moment. “Do you think I’m obnoxious?” Nah, his tone was just as bossy as it had been throughout their tutoring session.

“Kind of,” Rusty said lightly. “Just what I need. You know, to keep me in line.”

“Very well. Once a week, then, and do your homework.” Matthew stood up and hiked his bag over his shoulder.

“Wait. Let me pay,” Rusty said.

“I thought Jonathan--”

“No way I’m letting him pay for my lessons,” Rusty said promptly. He had made plenty with his summer gig, so there was no issue with that. Plus, Matthew deserved the payment, down to the last dime. “Triple, right?”

“Yes. But that was Jonathan’s promise.”

A damn stickler to details. What would it take to mess up a guy like that? Rusty wondered. A worthy pursuit, indeed.

***

“So?” Maddox asked.

Rusty grinned as he took in all his friends, who had stayed in their rooms throughout his tutoring adventure. Now, they were all downstairs, looking at him, then at Matthew, then back at him. Jonathan was the first to act. He offered Matthew his hand. “I suppose that congratulations are in order. Please let me know how you want to be paid.”

Matthew shook Jonathan’s hand. “Rusty has paid me already.”

“He did?” Dex asked. “You must be one hell of a tutor.”

“It wouldn’t have been a problem, Rusty,” Jonathan insisted. “I suggested it.”

“No way,” Rusty said and threw one arm over Matthew’s shoulders, making him stagger under his weight. “He’s my tutor.”

Kane laughed. “Look at Rusty, all possessive.”

“Hey, hey,” Rusty warned, “Don’t embarrass my tutor.” He liked the sound of that in his mouth. “He already has to worry about half the chicks in this place.”

“What?” Matthew asked.

“What?” Maddox did the same, almost simultaneously.

“Yeah,” Rusty said with confidence. “This dude, right here, is a total lady killer. Now I know why some chicks don’t dig me at all. They have it bad for this guy’s abs.”

Kane examined him with narrowing eyes. “Are you trying to scare him off, Rusty? Matthew, please, don’t let this clown get to you.”

“I’m not scaring him,” Rusty protested and turned his head to look at his tutor. “I’m telling it like it is.”

Matthew was keeping his head turned, so Rusty couldn’t see his eyes. Damn, was he so uncomfortable with some guy touching him, even if only casually? Maybe he had a thing against germs and stuff. That explained having a cleaning kit at the ready, in his bag. Rusty was pretty certain his germs were of the friendliest kind, but he wasn’t into forcing himself on people. So, he pulled away, and just then, it might have been his imagination, but Matthew brushed his arm against his back, as if he was about to wrap it around Rusty’s waist. It all lasted less than two seconds, so he couldn’t exactly tell what the guy’s intention had been.

“I should go,” Matthew said. “Good luck on your studies, guys. And Rusty, work hard.” His voice was clipped and strange.

Rusty didn’t make any attempt to keep him. He just watched Matthew as the rest of the guys were complimenting him for a job well done. Where was the cool façade? Who was this shy hamster and where had he come from?

“Wait,” he said and took off his t-shirt. He threw it at Matthew who caught it deftly. If the guy was against germs, he’d drop it like it burned him. “Take that trophy with you. I don’t need it anymore.”

Matthew was holding onto his t-shirt with a shocked look on his face. “Trophy?”

Rusty shrugged and hooked his thumbs into his jeans. “A tutoring trophy. You can tell anyone you defeated Dee Untutorable. And prove it.”

Maddox put a hand on Rusty’s shoulder. “Stop trying to scare him. Just admit that he won against you. Matthew, I’ll take that. Rusty needs to do his laundry anyway.”

“No, no, that’s fine, I like tutoring trophies,” Matthew said and stuffed the t-shirt into his bag hurriedly. Rusty observed everything with keen eyes. So, his germs were not on the blacklist. He must have worn that for at least three days. “I’ll go now. Bye,” he said quickly and walked out, leaving Rusty with a huge grin on his face.

“Hey, wasn’t that a little bit weird?” Of course, Kane had to question everything.

“What was weird?” Rusty asked, flexing his muscles in what he hoped looked like a display of aggression. The good kind, between friends.

“That he took your t-shirt,” Kane pointed out.

Dex slapped his bestie on the back. “Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. I don’t expect Rusty’s preferred tutor to be the epitome of what people call normal. I like the guy, and he got Rusty to study already. Even gave him homework. I’m not asking for more.”

“He can probably sell that for a bit of money,” Jonathan suggested. “Anyone with a mind for business would think that. And I believe Matthew has what it takes. Is there a market for Rusty paraphernalia here, on campus?”

“I have no idea,” Maddox replied. “But you have a point, babe,” he added and used the occasion to steal a kiss from Jonathan, as he did all the time.

Rusty felt deflated. He hoped Matthew didn’t sell the t-shirt. He hoped Matthew kept it.

***

Matty maintained a steady normal pace as he moved through the campus, entered his dorm, and then walked into his room. Then, and only then, he threw himself on the bed and shouted into a pillow. It was such a good thing that his roommate wasn’t there. Anyone seeing him flailing all his members and muffling his shouts like that would have thought he was insane.

Which, he most probably was. His phone rang on cue. He didn’t even have to check to see who it was. “Zoey, I did it,” he said in a heartbeat.

“O.M.F.G!” Zoey shouted loud enough to pierce his eardrum. “How did it go? What happened? How did he look? How did he smell?”

“Wow, you’re making me dizzy. Zoey, my knees are shaking. It worked. I was so cool and collected, I swear.”

“I knew you’d pull it off if you put your mind to it. Kudos, my friend.”

“But--”

“No, no, no, there are no ‘buts’ you want to tell me about.”

“I don’t know if I can keep it up,” Matthew complained. “I almost slipped. What the hell am I saying? I did slip. I took his t-shirt, Zoey. That’s weird, right? I’m weird. And I almost hugged him by accident. My arm, I swear, it just moved like it had a mind of its own!”

“Slow down and explain. Are you already at a stage where you’re undressing Rusty Parker? I don’t know you anymore! But I love it!”

“No, no, it wasn’t like that,” Matty hurried to correct her. “He took off the t-shirt himself and gave it to me. Like a trophy.”

“O.M.G., is it THE t-shirt?”

“Yes, THE t-shirt,” Matty replied and drawled the words, just like her. “I should wash it and give it back.”

“No way,” Zoey contradicted him. “That’s a piece of history, Matty. You don’t mess with history.”

“But what should I do with it?”

“Conserve it. You know. Put it in a Ziploc bag. After you smell it and rub your entire body up and down with it.”

“For real, Zoey, don’t ever let other people hear you talk like that. You might end up in prison,” Matty said. “I’ll conserve it, as you say. I won’t do the other part, though. That would be weird and creepy.”

“Yeah, yeah, weird and creepy, but you’d do it. Come on, at least give it a little sniff.”

“Bye, Zoey.”

“Hey, can we hang out later?”

“Yeah, but give me a couple of hours to put my mind in order.”

“So, he’s even sexier, one on one, right?”

Matty couldn’t put in words all that he felt about spending almost two hours across from Rusty, just the two of them in the same room. “I guess you can say that,” he said quietly.

TBC