Justin fidgeted all through the class. He hardly listened to a word Brian had said. When he wasn't being distracted by the memories of what an idiot he'd been, he was being distracted by Brian's perfect lips, his dark eyes and his strong jaw line. This was so unfair. Every time Brian looked at him, he felt like he was being jolted by a bolt of electricity and a shiver would run down his spine. God, this man was gorgeous.

Suddenly, Justin was aware that everyone around him was getting their stuff . He started to pack up too, slipping his paper and pen into a bag and almost stumbling down the single step to ground level. He pushed his way through the students until he was standing behind Brian. The lecturer had his back to him, rubbing some notes off the board. Justin waited for every other person to leave the room before clearing his throat purposefully.

"Mr Taylor," Brian said slowly concentration still firmly on the whiteboard, though his cleaning had slowed in vigour, "that's a nasty cough you've got there."

"Er, yeah." Justin said.

"Tell me," he said, turning around to stare right into Justin's eyes, into his soul, "does it make you delirious?"

"Er, sorry?"

"I think it must because you were clearly delirious when I brought you to the lesson. You were spouting all kind of nonsense."

"Oh yeah, it's the, er, illness."

"Mm, I thought so," nodded Brian, looking the boy up and down. "I'm glad you're here actually Taylor, I have to give you my contact details."

"You do," Justin squeaked, before coughing and repeating, "you do?" in a much more human tone.

"Yeah. I'm your personal tutor. If you ever need any … assistance in … anything. You call me, okay?"

"Yes, sir."

"Call me Brian. Sir makes me sound so ancient."

"Right, sorry. Thanks … er, Brian."

"Right, now get out of here."

Justin nodded and practically ran to the door.

"Oh and Taylor."

He stopped."Mm?" Justin turned back.

"If call me an asshole again, I will suspend you from the course; indefinitely."

Justin's face dropped but he nodded anyway before walking away as fast as he could.

As he exited the building, his heart was pounding against his ribcage. He'd never thought college would be like this. He certainly hadn't expected to fall for and call his lecturer an asshole on the same day, in the same hour. He sighed and pushed his bag strap higher onto his shoulder before heading to the union.

--

The union seemed so daunting. Everyone seemed to know exactly what was going on, they all had their places to sit and their friends to hang around with. Justin looked around for someone who looked like they might be in first year. He'd already learnt that this first week in college seemed to give you a free pass to sit down and strike up a conversation with anyone else in their first week of college. It was about the only time in life when the 'don't talk to strangers rule' is not only broken but smashed to smithereens as strangers are the only people to talk to. Despite knowing this, he still couldn't pin-point anyone who looked as though they might be even partly willing to talk to him. None of the well-worn chairs seemed free and all of the table were being occupied by large groups of friends chatting and laughing happily.

He walked to the bar anyway and ordered a drink, just as he was handing over the money he heard his name being called. He span round and saw Daphne waving frantically at him.

"Sit here," she said, indicating a spare seat at a table she was sharing with a young boy with dark curls and a strange goatee beard. He was kind of hot, Justin decided, in a starving artist, boy next door kind of way. "This is Ethan, he's in my halls. Ethan, this is Justin. He's on my course."

"Nice to meet you," Ethan said, holding out his hand. Justin took it and they shook, though Justin couldn't help feel Ethan held his hand just a little longer than was necessary.

"I was just telling Ethan about our lecturer. He was so strict and he didn't have a sense of humour at all. What did you think Justin?"

"I thought he was hot," Justin smirked. "In fact, I didn't hear a word he said, I was too busy staring at his ass."

"See Ethan," Daphne said smugly. "I told you, you and Justin would have something in common." Then, turning back to Justin she explained, "Ethan's gay too."

"Right," Justin laughed, sipping his drink.

"I think," Ethan said slowly, "she thinks that means we should immediately go to the ballet and then get married." Justin laughed again. "Though," Ethan said thoughtfully, "if you're not busy Friday night, maybe you could come along and see my first solo show. I'm playing violin and the local theatre house and I could do with all the support I can get."

"He's just being modest. He's amazing," Daphne gushed. "You should hear him play … what's it called again?"

"Paganini's cantabile in D major. Many people say it's my forte, my speciality, if you will."

"It sounds like the angels themselves are playing."

"Well, I wouldn't wanna miss that," Justin smiled, taking another sip of his drink and staring meaningfully at Ethan. Daphne just giggled to herself. Justin knew already that he liked her and he happily sat there for the rest of the afternoon getting steadily more drunk and steadily more optimistic about his time here.

"So you wanna come out with us later?" Daphne asked as they began to walk back to their respective halls. "Ethan's dragging me to this club in town called Babylon. Have you heard of it?"Justin just blinked slowly. Everyone self-respecting gay man had heard of Babylon. It's reputation far exceeded this city and the cities around it. It was the hottest gay club in the state maybe even the whole country, probably the world. It was where every hot guy went, it was where you went to get laid and to party. Drugs, sex and dancing. Justin had only ever dreamt of going and now these two people were inviting him to tag along with them.

"Well?" Ethan asked, ducking his head into Justin's eye line.

"Sounds great."

"Great," Daphne smiled. "We'll meet you here at about ten thirty."

"Sure," Justin nodded.

The three said there goodbyes and walked their separate ways. Justin could feel his stomach churning nervously as he walked briskly back towards his flat.

He'd felt uncomfortable the second his mum had dropped him off at the flat he was forced to call home for at least a year and it hadn't got any better since. He slid his key in the lock and forced open the door. It hardly opened and he found himself squeezing through a tiny gap. When he was in the flat, he saw the problem was being caused by several bin bags which had been left in the hallway without a second thought. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nostrils as he tried to stop from over reacting. He didn't want to make enemies of his flatmates already. He walked to his room and was just opening the door when the kitchen door opened and Chris Hobbs appeared.

"Hey!" he shouted, as though he'd just spotted a long lost friend. "Me and the boys from the football team are going out this evening. Apparently there's this strip joint called The Passion Pit that everyone goes to."

"Yeah, that's not really my thing," Justin mumbled.

"Hot chicks with big tits isn't your thing? What are you, a faggot?"

"No," Justin blurted immediately. "Why would you think that?"

Hobbs just frowned and raised an eyebrow as he looked Justin up and down in confusion. "It was just a joke. So, you coming?"

"I really have a lot of work to do," Justin lied unconvincingly.

"On the first day?"

"Yeah, my lecturers an asshole."

"Yeah? Who've you got?"

"Er, Brian, Brian Kinney."

"I've heard he's a dick," Chris nodded. "Never mind though, you can come next time."

"Sure," Justin smiled.

Justin went into his room and locked the door. He was furious with himself. He'd made a promise to himself that once he was in uni he would be honest about who he was but when actually faced with a potential bully he'd found he couldn't.

He threw his folder on to his desk and collapsed on his undersized bed. Justin wasn't a particularly tall boy, in fact he'd always been a little short, but even he thought the beds were way too small. His feet would almost touch the end when he tried to sleep and his pillow always hung slightly off the side. He groaned as he pushed his face into the duvet. Uni was weird, he decided. You could go from feeling like everything was brilliant to thinking everything was shit in a matter of minutes. He'd found some friends, lived with a homophobe and fallen head over heals for his lecturer. His emotions were shot to pieces and although he'd never admit to it, he missed his mum and his little sister like crazy.

"Cheer up," laughed Daphne. "You're supposed to enjoy going out with your friends."

"Sorry," Justin forced a smile at her. "It's been a weird day, you know."

"Yeah. It's so strange moving out of state and starting this whole new life."

"There are some benefits though," Ethan drawled. Justin found that Ethan constantly sounded like he'd just woken up and his voice hadn't quite adjusted to being awake yet. It was sexy in a way and infuriating in another. It made him sound constantly stoned.

"What are these benefits?" Daphne demanded.

"Well, if you didn't like who you were it's a chance to start over."

"And if you did like who you were?" she enquired.

"Then you get to become that person all over again."

"I don't think it's as easy as that to change," Justin sighed. His feet and legs were acheing already and they weren't even close to the door. The queue just seemed to stretch on forever and ever, snaking way back along the sidewalk until you couldn't even see the club. They'd just reached the carpeted part of the queue and it was now that the trepidation about fake ID's kicked in. All three got their ID's out out and compared to see if they looked genuine.

Daphne was reassuring them yet again, when Justin looked up to see the bouncer pull a man out of the queue and send him away for wearing the wrong trousers. He looked down at his own outfit and shuddered. Would he pass the test?

He needn't have worried. It turned out, being young and blonde with a great ass could get you into any club in the world even if the bouncer could clearly see that the ID's were fake. Justin had nearly passed out with fear when the bouncer had pointed out the problems with the ID and had almost passed out with excitement when he'd told them to go in anyway.

"That was lucky," Daphne grinned, linking her arms with both boys and almost bouncing with excitement. Then they stepped into the club and all three of their jaws dropped. The club was pact to the rafters with beautiful gay men, some blonde, some brunet, some muscle-bound, some slim, some cute, some sexy, some bottoms, some tops … all gorgeous. Justin span full circle. He couldn't help but stare at every curvature and every ripple.

"This is amazing," he whispered. Neither of his friends heard over the deafening thumpa-thumpa of the club beat.

"Come on," he yelled. "Let's go find a seat." His friend's nodded and followed him over to the few booths that were near the bar. They slid into the seats. It was obvious they were all nervous. Everyone here seemed to know exactly what was going on, it was like being in a foreign country when you don't speak the language. They just sat for a while, twiddling their thumbs and giggling when they'd catch each other's eyes.

Eventually, Justin decided he needed a piss. Ethan tried to encourage him to hold it in, claiming all sorts went on in the bathrooms of these clubs but Justin just pushed him away and made his way through the throng of gyrating bodies. He got cornered a few times by various attractive men angling for a fuck but he managed to dodge his way through until he saw a doorway. He assumed it was the way to the toilets and pushed his way through the strange, chain-veiled entrance.

Ethan was right. A lot of things were going on here. In fact, he couldn't even see any toilets or even a urinal or a sink. It was just men everywhere fucking and sucking. There were some just stood at the side waiting and their eyes seemed to comb over him as he pushed past. A few made a move towards him but gave up when they saw he wasn't interested. He stepped over people avoided anything he couldn't identify and tried not to get too turned on by everything around him even though it was hard, in more ways than one. Then, he felt a hand land on his shoulder and a voice in his ear whisper,

"aren't you a little young to be in the backroom at Babylon, Taylor?"

Justin froze. He daren't turn around. He knew it must be a security guy ready to throw him out, though how would the security have known his name? Eventually, the curiosity got the better of him and he had to turn around to see who'd caught him.

He gasped. He couldn't believe it. Dark eyes, dark hair, beautiful lips; it was Brian Kinney, his lecturer. Fuck, his mind screamed over and over. What the hell was he going to do? What was he going to say? How was he going to explain this? But then he looked closer and he saw that Brian wasn't angry. He was just smirking.

"Got a drink, Taylor?"

"Er, no, sir, Mr Kinney, sir."

"It's Brian," Brian reminded him firmly adding, "and you look like you could use a stiff one. Come on."

Justin followed the man nervously, feeling a distinct feeling of déjà vu from the morning wash over him but this time he was a lot more terrified. Justin hadn't missed the flirtatious innuendo that his lecturer had offered and he couldn't help but hope that just maybe Brian wanted him just as much as he wanted Brian.

Brian took him to the bar and bought him a beer. They drank their drinks in silence before Brian leant over and shouted,

"You ever danced at Babylon before?"

Justin shook his head.

"Come on," Brian grinned, taking his hand and dragging him towards the dance floor.

Justin just bobbed awkwardly back and forth and Brian chuckled to himself before grabbing Justin's shoulders and guiding his movements as best he could.

"That's better," he whispered in his ear. "You've just gotta relax. Let the thumpa-thumpa take over."

"The what?"

"Just … listen."

Justin listened but the only thing he could hear was the music vibrating in his skull. Slowly, he began to find a rhythm. After a few more songs, dancing with Brian seemed to come to him as naturally as breathing. He moved in time with the music and complimented Brian's movements, sometimes rubbing against him seductively. Brian took a tablet out of his pocket, put in his mouth and swallowed.

"It's my medication," he explained when he saw Justin's concerned face. "Doctors orders. What some?"

"No, thanks. I'm allergic to most drugs."

"You won't be allergic to the ones that matter," Brian reassured him suddenly kissing him deeply so that Justin could taste the bitter tang of the strange tablet. The dancing heated up then. Brian grabbed Justin's hips and pulled him close so that there crotches rubbed together. Justin could hardly stand it, it was too perfect. The dancing seemed to go on forever but also no time at all and suddenly Justin's dream like state was invaded by a short man with brown bug-eyes and a deep frown.

"Mikey," Brian called, wrapping his arm around this man's neck and kissing him on the cheek. "Mikey, meet T- … T-." Brian frowned, leaning heavily against his friend and pinching his nose as he tried to remember the name of the blonde boy he'd been dancing with.

"Justin," Justin supplied.

"Yes!" Brian affirmed, "he's T-Justin."

"Yeah, nice to meet you, I'm sure." Michael scorned turning away from him rudely asking, "what's he taken?"

"Only his medication," Justin shrugged.

"His medication?!" Michael demanded, pushing his face close to Justin's as if he was something foul and revolting and then his face softened and he smirked a little. "How old are you?" he asked.

"Old enough," Justin replied cooly, trying to sound grown-up.

"I bet you're still at school."

"College," Justin corrected.

"I'm his personal tutor," Brian agreed, shifting his weight from Michael's shoulders to Justin's. "And we're about to have a very, important one-to-one session." He turned to Justin and pressed his sweaty forehead against the blonde boy's temple so his lips brushed his ear. He whispered seductively, "I'm going to educate you in ways you can't even begin to imagine."

Justin felt a tingle run down his spine and he tried to repress the shiver of need that followed.

"Brian, you can't do that it's illegal!" Michael protested.

Brian didn't move, he just angled slightly differently so he glower at Michael before asking Justin, "how old are you?"

"Er, eighteen."

"See, perfectly legal."

"But he's a student."

"Oh Michael, live a little," Brian scorned. "Come on," he continued to Justin, tugging on his arm, "I'm gonna teach you some vital skills and then I'm gonna make sure you practice them … all … night … long."

It was only when he was in the jeep heading to who knew where that Justin realised he hadn't told Ethan and Daphne he was leaving. He sent them a text saying; 'got lucky, see you tomorrow. X' and hoped they'd understand.