yes hello go to the bottom for notes
"Sebastian! What're you doing tonight? You looked good out there today."
I looked over at whoever was talking to me. It was my closest friend, Zack, who had come to my rugby practice so he could make fun of me from the sidelines. "Piss off," I said, taking a swig from my water bottle.
"It's not my fault I want a piece of that," he said.
"Fuck you. I can't deal with you because you're too gay," I said as we started walking home.
"You're gayer than I am, seeing as you're the one that actually fancies dick."
I slapped the back of his head. "Asshole. Are you coming to our game?" I had been playing since I first got to uni and by now I was the best on the team. It was something I was actually good at, which was nice. My mum said my dad would've been proud of me, but he skipped town before I was born, so I wasn't too sure.
"Of course, cocksucker. Are you coming out tonight?" We got to our building and went up. We were roommates, not, you know, together. I liked Zack just fine, but I'd never date him, and he was straight.
"No, I've got fuckin' class tomorrow," I said, a little out of breath because I had to climb so many stairs after practice to get to our flat. There was no lift for some goddamn reason.
He laughed. "You and your classes. I can't believe you're still in school. No one else is."
"Yeah, well, my mum wants me to succeed or some shit. You know she'd kill me if I spent her brother's money and got no degree to show for it." I headed towards the tiny bathroom.
"Fine. But I'm gonna make you come out tomorrow night if it kills me!" he yelled after me.
"Whatever, twat!" I yelled back.
I fiddled with my pen. This class was so boring. I would have given pretty much anything not to have to take it, but it was a required credit and I'd already failed it three times. So I was taking fucking World Civ, again. It was full of freshers too, so they mostly were a boring lot. I knew I had been boring my first year at uni – no interests, not into sport, not out of the closet. Thank god I had gotten into rugby or I'd still be boring.
I glanced at the clock. Half an hour until it was over. I scanned my classmates again, hoping to spot at least someone attractive. No such luck – most of the girls were okay, but at least three quarters of the boys looked prepubescent. I wished I was at a better university with more interesting people, but I did badly in school and my mum had been a struggling single mother, so there had been no chance of that. It was lucky I had gotten some uncle to pay for uni, because I didn't think I could be one of those people who worked full time to get through school and had, like, personal struggles. That sounded like a lot of effort.
As I stared off into a corner of the huge lecture hall, some little boy made eye contact and didn't look away like most of the pussies in this class did. Instead, he winked. Was he coming on to me? That would be interesting. I didn't broadcast my sexual orientation, but people who knew me well knew I was gay. Then again, I had never seen this kid before. Maybe he made a practice of coming on to the buffest man in all his classes. I smiled a little, because I was actually probably the fittest man on campus, what with the working out and the rugby and the blond hair and blue eyes and the tan all year round despite the weather.
Whatever. He was kinda too skinny for me anyway. I pointedly ignored that corner of the hall for the rest of class.
I arrived to class late the next day – I had gone out last night and hooked up with some kid. Will had been particularly delicious, but he lived ten minutes farther away from the campus than I did, and, as usual, I really hadn't thought about it until it was too late. Will had been worth it, though. I smiled a bit as I slipped into the back of the class.
"Had a good night, then?" said the girl with the pixie cut next to me.
"Sure," I said without really paying attention. I was actually pretty determined to pay attention this semester.
But she wouldn't give up. "What is this, your third time taking this class? Forth?"
"Forth." Couldn't she see I was diligently taking notes? Jesus.
"I'm James, by the way."
I took a second look at the girl. Or the guy, whatever. It was the mysterious guy winking kid!
The kid – James – looked smug. "That got your attention I see. Heard of me?"
"What? No." This kid was weird.
"Well. Who are you?" James seemed genuinely confused and a little put off. Maybe this was some sort of prank some older kid had pulled on him? He did seem innocent enough to be pulled into something stupid, like a little kitten.
"I'm Sebastian, I mean." I smiled at James. Winningly.
"You can call me Jim," James said, fluttering his little lashes. "But we had better pay attention so you don't fail again."
So Jim was kind of weird, but he seemed alright, I thought as he went back to paying attention. Not criminally insane or anything.
I kept paying attention until Jim suddenly got up and left without even saying goodbye ten minutes before the class ended. Rude. I had totally been prepared to befriend the kid and make sure he wasn't mugged on his way to his next class or something.
Whatever. Instead I texted Will to set up a date.
okay hello again ive written this whole thing but im looking for a beta / someone who'll help me make this less shitty before i post it on ao3 okay so lemme hear any criticism! its roughly 23000 words rn