Dan turns to the door as it opens. “Welcome back. How’s the old ball and chain? Or the new one, I suppose.”
Nate laughs and shrugs off his coat. “Fine. I guess we’re a thing now. Got to meet some of his friends, too. And, since you didn’t ask, office hours were also uneventful.”
“Congrats, then.” Dan watches as Nate pulls off his shirt. “I take it you’re wanting my cock.”
“Something like that.” Nate pulls off the rest of his clothing and stares at Dan, his erection jutting out in front of him, and Dan recalls, with amusement, how self-conscious Nate used to be about this.
“As much as I would love to oblige right now, I do need to know... you’ve talked to your guy about this? John, or whatever it is.”
“Jake. And I told him the two of us have sex. A lot.” He walks toward Dan, who frowns and forces his gaze away from his cock, a flood of memories running through his head.
“Did you ask him if we could keep having sex?”
He’s standing so close now that Dan can practically smell his arousal. “It didn’t come up. He’s really squeamish about the whole idea of sex, right now, so I kind of just want to help get him out of his shell a bit, for now.” He shrugs. “And if he isn’t putting out, I figured I’ve got you.”
Dan shakes his head and turns back to his computer. “No. We are not having sex without his explicit knowledge and approval. Informed consent.”
He can feel Nate glaring daggers at his back “Daniel. What the hell?”
“You can’t cheat on your new boyfriend, Nathan. At least, not with me.”
“How is this cheating?”
Dan shakes his head. “Man, I knew you were a callous asshole, but I didn’t think you were that heartless.”
He turns back to Nate, who’s staring at him, looking surprisingly hurt. “I just want what’s best for him.”
“And sleeping with your roommate without his knowledge is best for him?”
“If he’s not going to put out, maybe? And I told you. He knows we’re... involved. What’s the harm in continuing?”
“You’re really that clueless, aren’t you? I know I can be a little... overwhelming sometimes, myself, but I’m not trying to go around hurting people. Especially not someone I was dating.”
“Who’s to say I’m hurting him?”
“Really? You’re giving me that, Nate? Let’s see... you tell me, last night, out of the blue, that this guy has asked you out. This guy, by the way, that you’ve seen all of what... twice?”
“Something like that.”
“And then this morning you go off to have a conversation with him about actually dating, or something. And then you come back here, all happy and glowy or whatever bullshit from your new relationship, and tell me you want sex, and tell me he’s also weird enough about sex that he seems to have dodged the entire question of sex with you. Tell me, again, what am I supposed to think?”
“That I’m trying to help him grow more comfortable with himself, and his sexuality, and that... I don’t know... maybe it’s okay to hold your boyfriend’s hand in public?”
“Right. So what about the cheating part?”
“Again. I told him I have sex with you. Often.”
“Uh huh. But don’t you think maybe there’s an assumption that maybe you’d stop having sex with me, now that you two are a thing?”
“I don’t know.”
Dan sighs and turns his chair toward Nate, now leaning against a wall. “Okay, seriously. Why are you dating this guy?”
“I think he’s cute.”
“You think everyone’s cute, Nate. You’re not going around dating everyone.”
“I... I don’t know.” He looks at Dan and shrugs. “I guess it represented a chance to... find something more than just sex, you know?”
“Not really, but do continue.”
Nate shakes his head, smiling now. “Right, like I believe that. You put on this facade of not giving a shit and not wanting intimacy, but I know you, Dan. I know you’d jump at the opportunity to actually have a boyfriend, as long as it was someone open to... well, open to a more open relationship.”
“Who’s to say your guy isn’t? Look, Nate. I really don’t care if you want me to keep doing you in the butt, as long as he’s aware of it, and okay with it. Hell, you can suck off Elli... er... someone else while I do it, as long as he’s aware of that, too. But he has to know, you know? And if he isn’t up for sex, yet, well... maybe that’s an arrangement you can live with until he is.”
“You... make a surprising amount of sense, for once.”
“And once he is, bring him here and we’ll show him a good time together.”
“...and that’s more what I expected from you.”
“Seriously, though. Why him?”
Nate stares at the wall for a bit, seemingly consider the question. “I guess he just... seemed like he needed a friend, you know? And, yeah, I kind of wanted a boyfriend... someone I could care for, I guess. He seemed... considerate.”
“I bet you just wanted someone to bottom for you.”
“Well, that’s also not false.”
“That still doesn’t explain why this guy. I mean, look at you. You could have just about any guy here. Hell, James would probably date you if you asked him out.”
Nate shrugs. “Jake was the first person to... I don’t know. Ask me out? It’s flattering, in a way that feels better than when some guy checks me out on campus, or something. And that he’d want to take that chance, with me. I guess it just felt like good timing, and everything.”
“Man, I want to see this relationship explode. Not that I hope it does, of course, but you two seem utterly incompatible already.”
“Maybe so. But I’m not going to break up with my boyfriend less than 24 hours after we first became a thing.”
“So when? A week? A month?”
“How about I talk to him, about you, and we see where it goes?”
“Where it goes is his ass.”
“Asshole.”
“If you prefer the scientific term.”
Nate shakes his head and starts gathering his clothes together. “Anyway, if you’re not putting out right now, I’m going to get some homework done.”
Dan shrugs. “Suit yourself. And let me know again when things go back to normal, one way or the other.”
“Sure.”
“And for the record, I’d prefer that sooner, rather than later. Because I really will start to miss your ass. Ass.”
Nate laughs, and Dan feels like the tension has finally been broken. “Asshole.”