Chasing Rusty Parker Ch. 08

Maddox wrapped his arms around him and hiked him off the floor, making Rusty snicker. "Feeling better?" his friend asked while putting him down.

"Your hugs always make me feel better," Rusty replied promptly. "But make sure your fiancé doesn't see us. He might get jealous."

Maddox laughed and hugged him again. "Jonathan would never get jealous. He'd hug you, too."

"Ah, well, you two should be more aware of this straight boy's sensibilities," Rusty advised, feeling his good mood returning. "I'm sure you're rubbing some gay into me or something."

"Aww, do we give you a boner?" Maddox asked, faking concern while grinning ear to ear.

"You're giving my lil' heart a boner. If you ever want to become three instead of two, adopt me."

"Rusty, that would never work. We'd end up fighting about how to raise you well."

"I know. I'm un-raisable," he pointed out.

"You were also untutorable, but here you are," Maddox said.

"Right. Look, you guys are going to party and stuff tomorrow night, right?"

"I'll be out of town with Jonathan. Dex and Kane, as far as I know, were saying something about getting properly drunk."

"Not here though, right?" Rusty asked.

"No, but why are you asking so many questions? Do you plan on throwing a party here? I think your coach is going to box your ears if he hears about it."

"No, no, I'm just having Matty over for some tutoring."

"Oh, gawd, Rusty, give the guy a break. Do you want to learn everything in the first weeks of the semester?"

"I'm tutoring him," Rusty said. "We need the house to ourselves."

"I'm still unclear what this tutoring is about." Maddox looked at him with hooded eyes. "What exactly do you plan on teaching him?"

"We might," Rusty offered, raising one finger, "run around the house dressed as fairies. You know, to unleash the gay overlord Matty has trapped inside him. And we don't need an audience."

"Strange strategy, but whatever you say. As long as you don't make Matty uncomfortable."

"No chance of that."

"Good," Maddox agreed. "Although I do fear that you might make Matty crazy before turning him into that gay god or whatever you say you want to turn him into."

"Don't underestimate the guy."

"I won't. You two seem to get along like a charm. That's awesome, Rusty. I'm happy when you make other friends."

"I always make other friends," Rusty said pointedly.

"Not the real kind. Which one is Matty?"

Maddox had a point. Rusty thought it over for a bit. "He's the real deal, you know, really caring that I learn and stuff. So, this is about me giving back, okay? Stop worrying."

"I'm not worrying. I just don't want any fairy dust up my crack after you're done with your tutoring."

"Ha, do you plan on dragging your crack over unusual surfaces in this house?" Rusty asked.

Maddox took a moment to reply. "Unusual surfaces? I'm starting to get scared."

Rusty patted him on the back. "I'm going to practice. So, when are you leaving with your better half?"

"Tomorrow morning. Why?"

"So that I know Jonathan is still cooking tonight."

"I see, you only care about that," Maddox said and faked a sour face.

"No, Ace, I'm going to miss the two of you," Rusty said and grinned.

"Ace? Where did you hear that?" Maddox asked and this time frowned.

"The walls are thin in this house. You must be doing some crazy things to your fiancé if he keeps moaning, 'yes Ace, right there, deeper, more, please' and all that."

Maddox looked confused. Rusty loved to put one over on his bestie. That hadn't been how he had learned about that nickname. He had just overheard Jonathan saying it in a tender whisper and kissing Maddox's cheek while trying to get him to stop pouting for some reason.

"I'm off to practice," he said quickly. He didn't intend to give Maddox time to think and see through his charade. Plus, he felt much better now, knowing that he would have the entire house to himself and Matty so that they could go as crazy as they wanted.

***

"Will you be okay?" Zoey didn't really sound that worried, but it was par for the course with how she usually pretended to be his mom.

"I'm just going to spend the night at Rusty's. Of course, I'll be fine," Matty said, feigning confidence to the best of his abilities.

"Remember who you are," Zoey continued. "I wish I was by your side in person to give you this pep talk, but you'll have to settle for my voice."

Matty sighed, tempted to end the convo, because of the many jitters in his stomach that Zoey was just making worse with her so-called pep talk. "Who am I? Slicky Coolplums?"

"Be aware not to let your two personalities collide or show at the same time. It would be bad."

"I don't think I'm in much danger. After all, playing the cat boy requires quite the effort. Being Matthew Han comes a lot more naturally to me," Matty explained in a light tone.

"Yes, but you don't know what might make you start mewling," Zoey pointed out. "Just keep it in mind."

"Mewling, right," Matty said and shook his head, even though Zoey wasn't present there in flesh and blood to understand just how unlikely he thought that was to happen.

"I'll keep my fingers crossed for you all night," Zoey promised. "Even if I get a cramp."

"Just don't. Why do I share so many details of my life with you again?"

"Because maybe, just maybe, in a different life, we shared a womb. My divination magic says so."

"I thought divination was about reading the future, not the past," Matty considered it reasonable to remind Zoey.

"When you're mystical like me, everything is a whole," Zoey replied. "And Matty, don't be too easy, okay? Rusty has had it easy all his life when it comes to making whoopee."

"Making whoopee? Did you just make that up?" Matty inquired.

"I wouldn't dream of it. I'm a factual person. Go ask the internet if you don't believe me."

"I'll take your word for it. But I'm not making any promises about not being easy. He only needs to look at me and I'm--You know what, I'll be fine, okay? Bye, Zoey," Matty said quickly. If he thought too much about his visit to Rusty and what it entailed, he could easily convince himself not to go at all.

"Bye, Matty. Don't worry. You always have Slicky Coolplums to fall back on if you fail."

"Sure, the greatest strategy in history. Bye for real, Zoey. If I don't stop talking to you on the phone, I might miss going to this... whatever it is altogether."

"Don't even think about it. What are you still doing talking to me? Bye," Zoey said quickly.

Matty breathed out and took one last look in the mirror. In the end, he had decided that it was better to go as his usual self, without any tight clothes ready to reveal parts that weren't supposed to be revealed so easily. Yeah, he didn't want to seem easy, he decided as he adjusted his glasses on his nose. Still, maybe he had time for another shower. He had only taken three. Warm water calmed his nerves.

***

Rusty opened the door before he had the chance to knock. He was shirtless. That was the first thing Matty noticed. The second was that Rusty held something like a magic wand in his hand, the kind kids used at parties to pretend being wizards and witches and whatnot.

"What is that?" Matty asked.

Rusty looked at the wand in his hand like he was seeing it for the first time in his life. He shrugged and threw it away over his shoulder. "I had to convince my hard-headed pals that I was real about tutoring you."

"They know?" Matty's eyes grew wide.

"What? It's a secret that you're gay and want to get laid?" Rusty asked. His question was genuine, and his eyes were just as big as Matty's. He looked one moment away from panicking.

Matty sighed. He didn't exactly have the right to judge. After all, Zoey knew everything about his crazy adventures as a cat boy, and so many other things. If he ever became famous for some obscure reason, Zoey would make bank on selling all his dirty secrets to tabloids. "Not really, no," he admitted. "But don't they think something weird about me?"

"Weird? No. Actually, they're a bit in awe."

"Really? Why?"

Rusty smiled and pulled him inside. "You succeeded and continue to do so where many others failed before. Of course, they have no idea I'm letting you."

Matty bristled a little at that. "Do you mean, the tutoring? I'll have you know, Mr. Parker, that I have yet to fail as a tutor."

Rusty's face turned sour for a moment. "Don't call me Mr. Parker. That's my dad."

"Okay," Matty said quickly. Was that a touchy subject? Of course, Rusty's parents were divorced. He looked around, hoping to find something to grab onto and eliminate the awkwardness that threatened to appear between them again. "So," he said brightly, "how are we going to do this?" To appear a lot more nonchalant than he felt, he made a move to get rid of his shoulder bag but somehow ended up punching Rusty in the stomach, since they were standing too close to each other.

Rusty grunted and grabbed Matty's bag. "Follow me," he said like the master of a mansion and gestured for his guest to fall in step with him.

This time, Matty got the opportunity to watch Rusty climb the stairs in front of him. And Zoey kept saying that he shouldn't be easy. Well, that was one tough promise to keep. Rusty's sweatpants seemed thinner than usual, and Matty had serious doubts that the guy had any underwear on.

He moved a bit too fast and crashed into Rusty's backside.

"I can see that you have the proper attitude," Rusty commented, while Matty extricated himself from hugging Rusty's ass with his face.

"Why did you stop so abruptly?" Matty asked.

"We're on the landing," Rusty said and added no other explanation.

Matty could tell his cheeks were on fire. He would be easy; everything else wouldn't.

TBC