Chasing Rusty Parker Ch. 13

Author's note: Hi guys, here I am with another chapter of Rusty's story. This time, Rusty is going to give Matty a nickname, and then we'll watch the big game.

And now, to reply to everyone. Anon asking about the isekai story, please feel free to DM me, and I'll get back to you. remy247, we will have spicy times, but some setbacks from time to time, too. Exluke1, this episode will include the game and you'll get to meet Rusty's infamous dad, too. JC, you're quite right about Rusty becoming cautious and feeling that there's something going on that's not like he usually plays things out. Princera, as I mentioned earlier, we'll have some setbacks, but then, many other steps forward, with plenty of exploration!

That said, please enjoy the new chapter!

Chapter Thirteen -- I've Been Friendzoned And I'm Okay With It

Could he lay like that and daydream about Rusty helping him out of his pesky virginity? No matter how many times he turned and turned the idea on all sides, his brain reached only one conclusion: he so, so wanted to that to happen. Seeing how his brain was the most rational part of him, there was no need to ask either his heart or his dick.

"I'm so fucked," Matty groaned and grabbed a pillow to smack himself in the face with.

Since it was game week, he didn't expect to have any kind of interaction with Rusty, and had only seen him from afar for the last couple of days. Granted, each time Rusty had waved at him like a madman and shouted his greetings, but they had stayed clear of each other, otherwise.

How did that saying go, that distance made the heart grow fonder? Fonder was a mild, unassuming term. In Matty's case, it was absolutely raging wild.

The phone ringing pulled him out of his daytime dreaming.

"Rusty?" Matty asked tentatively.

"No, I'm some dude who stole the phone from Rusty, and now I'm holding it for ransom," Rusty announced in a cavernous voice.

"Isn't it game week?"

"What's with the tone? Outside of tutoring, you're my pal."

"I didn't mean to sound like I was reproaching you or anything."

"No need to get defensive, Matty boy. I'm only pulling your leg, is all."

"Are you sure there's nothing else you'd rather pull?" Matty retorted, happy to hear Rusty, and only now realizing that it was better to remind himself that he had actually been dreaming of the guy until only moments ago.

"Your nose," Rusty said matter-of-factly. "It's kind of small."

"Is it weird?"

"Nah. It's cute."

"Thanks, then. Why did you call me?" Matty decided to steer the conversation away from stuff that would only give him more dreams than he could handle.

"What, unhappy to hear me?" Rusty drawled.

"It's game week," Matty pointed out again. "I thought you needed all of your head in the game or something."

"Hmm, it sounds to me like you want to get rid of me. Are you trying to study?"

"I finished studying for the day."

"Good boy," Rusty whispered, making it dirtier than the mere words would imply.

Matty groaned. "Am I at the receiving end of some crazy experiment?"

"No. I'm just bored. Give me an idea of what to do."

"Play with your dick."

"Already done it twice today."

"Hmm. And I thought," Matty cleared his throat, "that the Mighty Thor would keep you plenty entertained."

"Yeah, but you spoiled me for my own handjobs. It's a lot more fun when there's someone else in the room."

"Watching?" Matty asked, hoping that his attempts to catch the ball weren't half-bad.

"I'm all for action, baby," Rusty drawled.

"Eww, don't call me 'baby'. I bet that's what you call all the girls."

"True, true," Rusty admitted. "You're a dude. But you don't get to tell me what I want to call you. I know. I'll call you 'baby dude'."

"Baby dude." Matty took a moment to collect himself. "I haven't heard a stupider thing in my entire life."

"That's an accomplishment. I'll write it down."

"Why? Do you think you'll forget a stupid term like that?"

"It's not the name I'll write. I'm making a small collection. It's called Matthew Han -- all the times his cage got rattled by something I said."

"That's a pretty long title. Why would you even create such a thing?"

"Because."

Clearly, Rusty didn't want to share the reason why he was collecting memories of their interactions. Matty didn't insist. For many, Rusty appeared easygoing and fun, but he could be stubborn as a mule. Matty had learned that the hard way during their tutoring sessions.

"How's practice going?" Any reason he could think up to keep Rusty on the phone for as long as he could manage was good enough.

"It's going." There was something clipped and strange in that statement.

"Anything wrong?"

"Why would there be?"

"Because you sound a little pissed, and that's a side of you I haven't seen much."

"I'm never pissed. I'm all sunshine and rainbows."

"Try as you might, you cannot fool me. Are you forgetting that I'm your tutor?" There wasn't a card he wouldn't play to get something more out of Rusty, something real.

"That you are. By the way, how did you manage to land the job? I can't remember."

"I hit you with a ruler and dragged my balls all over your Tinder profile. Does that ring a bell?" Matty rested one hand on his lower belly and played with the string of his sweatpants.

"Ah, right. You were a kinky bastard. In a preppy way. By the way, have you been touching yourself lately while thinking of that blowjob you gave me?"

"Just when I thought we were having a decent conversation."

"You just mentioned your dick."

"I mentioned my balls."

"Details."

Matty would bet Rusty was sporting his signature smirk as they spoke. It made him feel warm and a bit dizzy that the king of Sunny Hill was on the phone with him of all people at that very moment. It also made him think that they were at least friends.

"How about you read to me from that book until I fall asleep?" Rusty suggested.

"Isn't it a bit early for you to be going to bed?" Matty asked. Even for him, who wasn't partying every single day until late at night as Rusty's reputation went, it wasn't the time for that yet.

"Maddie and Johnny boy are pestering me to get to sleep earlier. To show them, I shut myself in my room before dinner. Yeah, that'll teach them," Rusty explained with satisfaction.

"Maddie and Johnny?" Matty knew who those had to be, but he liked to hear the smallest things about Rusty straight from the horse's mouth.

"They're my parents. At least, they behave like they are. I think I ought to show them that I'm literally going through my rebellious phase right now."

"Does Maddox like being called Maddie?"

"Nope. He gives me all these looks, you know, like killer vibes, but he got used to it. As for Hamilton, he's like the mom; he just goes with everything and forgives me everything."

"That sounds kind of nice."

"Not always. They try to baby me on occasion. Is that why you're envious? Because no one is babying you?"

"I didn't say anything like that."

"I can baby you." Rusty paused for effect. "Baby dude."

Matty groaned. "Cut it out with that stupid... whatever it is."

"Come on, tell me a story so that I can fall asleep."

"You're really bent on it. Fine. But you'll cry that you're bored in less than five minutes, I bet."

"Nah, I don't think so. Go ahead," Rusty egged him on.

Matty sighed for show but opened the book. "Should I start from the beginning?"

"Yeah. I really want to know what makes those zombies so appealing to you."

"Okay. We'll have a quiz after, though. Just consider yourself warned."

***

Rusty lay on his back, hands behind his head, his phone by his side. He couldn't stop smiling while Matty's pleasant, slightly throaty voice, filled the room. It was such a nice distraction after having to keep his mind trained on nothing but serious stuff all day long. At first, when calling Matty, he had toyed with the idea of suggesting phone sex, but given up eventually. The chances were that if he started, he would have wanted more. A lot more. Maddox and Jonathan were watching him, though, and as much as he would have liked to avoid them by going out the window, he was aware of the risk of injury. The coach would have his head, and his dad, well, his dad would let him know just how disappointed he was in him. With that guy, he was always in the negative. The only thing left for him to do was to try and stay afloat, along the zero line.

Matty really had no idea how much this was helping. He probably thought that he was just indulging Rusty and his crazy demands, which, in itself, was pretty awesome. It wasn't like he wanted to go to sleep so fast, but he needed to fill the hours with anything other than letting his thoughts gravitate toward the same thing, over and over.

And, since Maddox and Jonathan had warned him about playing with Matty in a sexual way, he at least had to try and keep his word. Normally, stuff like that wouldn't even be considered a problem. Rusty didn't do attachments easily, and especially with the people he fucked. That was why things had been so chill between him and Maddox when it came to what girls they chased.

Now, Maddox had Jonathan, and Rusty, well, he was free to do whatever he wanted.

But, he reminded himself, that didn't include taking Matty's precious V-card. Ah, fuck. He was getting horny, because he couldn't think of that, without remembering what Matty's unpenetrated hole looked like. That was enough to make his cock spring up in his sweatpants. Well, he had put aside the idea of phone sex, but that didn't mean that he couldn't rub one out while thinking of the naughty stuff he had already done with Matty, without Maddox's and Jonathan's knowing.

He would just have to be very quiet about it. Matty would so think he was having it hard for zombies. And he'd have a laugh, for sure.

"They had started their attack at night," Matty read, "while I did not know what they were doing or where they had come from, there was nothing else to do but defend the place. I sent two of my own men with orders to follow them and see if they could learn anything about their purpose while I remained in charge..."

Rusty hummed in approval and began feeling the shape of the Mighty Thor through his sweatpants.

"Are you really into this?" Matty asked.

"More than you would think." Oops, now that had been a little slip of the tongue. And why on earth would he keep from fooling around with Matty, since the guy was game? Now that he knew he wasn't supposed to do that, he wanted it even more. Damn, and he thought he only liked to jump in bed with girls. He had to add a dude to that list, and the name of that dude was Matthew Han.

Eh, his dick liked what he liked, and he had never been in the business of contradicting it. Rusty had great respect for his dick.

A knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, Matty, someone's at the door. Yeah, come in," Rusty said loudly.

Jonathan peeked in and offered him a big smile, albeit a little strained. "Maddox asked me to come and get you for dinner."

Rusty examined Jonathan carefully and put his hands over his crotch. Oh, Jonathan must have thought he was hard, and he was. Maybe he was just wondering why. Well, that was a good question, and not only for Jonathan. "Okay, okay, you drive a tough bargain. I'm coming. Sorry, Matty, the zombies will have to wait until next time."

"No problem," Matty replied cheerfully. "Enjoy your dinner. And your friends, too."

"Do you want me to enjoy my friends over dinner?"

Matty groaned. "Only you would twist it like that."

"Yeah, that's me. Bye for now, baby dude."

"Bye, tiny asshole," Matty replied with a huff after a short hesitation.

Rusty laughed and jumped off the bed after ending the convo. Jonathan was staring at him, nonplussed. "What?" he asked. He looked down at his own crotch to see if he was still pitching.

"Why does Matty call you that?"

"He thinks he's funny. Spoiler alert. He's not," Rusty offered with a smirk. He hooked one arm over Jonathan's shoulders and guided him out of the room. "What's for dinner?"

"Something you'll like," Jonathan said promptly. "Just before, I thought you were listening to an audiobook, not talking to Matthew over the phone."

"He's very dutiful. He was reading to me so that I could go to sleep."

"It didn't seem to work that well," Jonathan said under his breath.

"I totally heard that," Rusty protested.

***

The noise was deafening. Pacific Grove had brought quite the cheerleading squad with them from home, so it was twice the fun. Rusty liked to believe that he performed best under pressure, but not when the name of that pressure was Roy Parker. Even without looking, he was aware of those lips set in a grim line, the permanent frown, and whatever judgmental shit lurked under that broad forehead. Everyone who knew them both said they looked alike, but Rusty had the satisfaction of having grown taller than his dad. Also, he knew for a fact that he had inherited plenty from his mom, too, and it was probably her natural beauty that had been passed down to him and made him such a success with chicks.

As a child, he had always felt proud when people said he looked like his father. Things had changed a lot. His dad had just had to leave them and do whatever he wanted.

The whistle stopped him and forced him to return the ball.

"Parker!" the coach shouted at him. "Pay attention!"

Yeah, it was fucking hard to play as he should while that man was there. He hustled back in defense. The guy from Pacific Grove he had just taken the ball from pushed against him. Rusty pushed back, making the referee blow his whistle again.

The coach ran up on the sideline. "Parker, is this how you take charge? Should I send you back to kindergarten for the basics?"

Yeah, he should have fallen back, but instead had stood there, ready for the guy to crash into him.

***

"What do you think is going on with him?" Zoey asked, as startled as the rest of the audience at what seemed like amateurish mistakes on Rusty's part.

Matty had no idea. He had already munched halfway through his lower lip while trying to figure out what was wrong with Rusty. If he thought about it, during some games in the past, Rusty had tended to make a mess out of things despite his otherwise excellent performance overall. Back then, he had wondered about the same stuff, only now he had a feeling that he was supposed to know.

"He's clearly demotivated," Zoey continued to comment, sounding as disappointed as everyone else seemed.

"He is just having a bad day," Matty hurried to defend him.

"It's totally weird. We should do something to motivate him," Zoey said. Along with the rest of Sunny Hill, she began to cheer and shout Rusty's name.

However, the blond head remained hanging in defeat, even as the crowd went wild.

"Zoey, I have to go," Matty said brusquely.

"What? Now? Come on, Rusty is depending on you."

"I have no idea if that's the truth, but I need to do something. You, just make sure to keep an eye on your phone. I'll be as fast as I can."

"What are you planning? Hey, Matty."

He ignored her as he pushed his way through the people in the stands so that he could get out of there as fast as he could. There was still plenty of time in the game left, but that didn't mean that he could afford to waste any of it.

***

Rusty looked up at the stands with clouded eyes. Fuck, every time, it had to happen like that. All his muscles were locked in place from undischarged anger, and he couldn't focus, either.

Even through the fog in his mind, he heard the change in the noises the audience was making. People were gesturing and pointing at the scoreboard. Rusty looked, too, while the referee called for the game to stop, and campus security was pushing its way through the crowd.

Rusty felt his entire face splitting into one huge smile. There, on top of the scoreboard, sitting with his legs hanging over, holding on for balance with his hands between his legs, was no other than Slicky Coolplums. He waved at him and the cat boy turned his head, his chin up, looking pretty pissed.

The security guys were shouting at the cat boy to get down, but it looked like they didn't dare to escalate the thing. Slicky Coolplums lifted himself to his feet and stared down, crossing his arms.

"Get down from there, kid!"

Rusty hugged the ball while watching the show. Were they going to catch him? Maybe he would have to break out of jail, and Rusty would help him.

Another wave passed over the audience, and now, it looked like everyone was checking their phones. From the sidelines, Maddox called out, and Rusty hurried over to him. Maddox showed him his phone.

My, my, what an interesting development has landed in our lap. We just found out the name of the stray cat boy, who has been roaming our campus at night. We're proud to be the first to announce it to you all.

Slicky Coolplums, as this is the name he goes by, however, has more than one cat trick up his sleeve. Apparently, he has the hots for no one other than our king, who, at the moment, is facing hard times on the court. We were informed that there's a message Slicky Coolplums wants us to shout out. The message is...

If you win the game, I'll let you touch my tail, king of Sunny Hill!

Rusty didn't read the rest of what Xpress wanted to say about his performance or lack thereof. He patted Maddox on the shoulder and rushed back onto the court. From the scoreboard, Slicky Coolplums dove into the stands, jumped to his feet, and, helped by all the students around, found his way out while the security guys chased after him.

Yeah, good luck catching that tail. Rusty smiled and smiled. The tension from before was gone from his muscles, turning into nothing but smooth adrenaline. The audience erupted as he shot the ball straight through the hoop.

***

"That was insane," Zoey shouted at him and hugged him so tightly he could barely breathe.

He was sweaty, freaked out after getting chased by security, and had barely gotten back in time to see Sunny Hill win gloriously against Pacific Grove. Hopefully, Rusty hadn't searched for him in the stands, because it would be hard to explain why he had missed most of the big game. He'd find something to say if that happened. Right now, he was a bit too exhausted to care. Zoey continued to shake him and praise him for being completely reckless, and he didn't care about that either, although he wouldn't have minded a bit of rest.

"It worked, it freaking worked! Matty, you're a complete genius. I knew it was a genius move for you to find your inner feline."

"Zoey, this feline is absolutely broken after pulling that stunt earlier. Thanks for getting that rumor spread so fast."

"I only had to talk to a girl from freshman year about the cat boy, and she told all her friends. I have no idea how it got in Xpress so fast, but it did. Now, I think it's high time for you to present the champion with his hard-earned reward."

"I am so not going back and changing into that suit again. I'll honor that promise later."

"But you will," Zoey insisted.

"I wouldn't disappoint the champion. By the way, did you see him? I bet he's celebrating with the team and all."

Zoey shook her head. "According to intel, he's in the parking lot, seeing someone off."

"Okay, I'll go there. The least I can do is congratulate him on the game."

***

"The problem with you is that you're inconsistent."

Those were the first words he heard from his dad the moment they saw each other. His dad was already holding his keys, ready to get into his car and out of there, back to his new family.

"And?" Rusty asked aggressively. "I won."

His dad pursed his lips and shook his head. There were more white hairs on his head now, but he didn't seem any less mean than usual. "You won by pure luck."