Conquest Ch. 02

"Hey you idiot, lab safety. Take off your gloves before you get something corrosive on your ski..."

Dylan stopped as he noticed the purple ovals running across Thomas's neck

"Whilst we're there wanna tell me who gave you those love bites?"

Thomas's witty remark froze on his tongue as he realised he'd forgotten to hide the marks on his neck

"They're fading but they're still pretty obvious."

Shuffling out of his seat Dylan propped himself next to Thomas

"So come on then, which one of those girls did you snag?"

Thomas felt a rush of heat flash across his face, he struggled to remain calm as his brain worked overtime to think of an excuse

"No idea what you're talking about mate."

Pretending to focus on their experiment Thomas walked forward and peered into the fume hood. Dylan appeared beside him doing the same

"You know love bites are pretty harmless. They're caused when blood vessels beneath the skin burst when pressure is applied, it's a hematoma where the blood seeps into the surrounding tissue."

Dylan innocently walked back to his lab book to record the observed colour change. He frowned as he mulled the situation over, Thomas never missed an opportunity to brag about his conquests after a night out, in fact he relished the chance. Taking a plastic bowl, Dylan walked over to the ice machine and scooped out large shovels of ice. He thought back to the drunken girls in the bar and wondered if Thomas was embarrassed about pulling one of them. Walking back to their station Dylan did remember them being excessively obnoxious. Thomas had turned the heat off but kept the water flowing through the reflux column to allow any remaining product to fully condense. Dylan made a shallow hole for the round bottom flask in the bowl of ice, using tongs he picked the flask up by its neck and placed it in the hole he had made.

"It was just a mistake alright, nothing more. Not up for talking about it."

Using a spatula Thomas scooped ice to the edges of the flask and patted down hard to properly compact it in place. Dylan looked at him cautiously before assessing what to say

"That's fine mate, sorry for bringing it up."

Dylan reached into the chemical store below the fume hood bringing up the solvents they needed to use. He drew a table in his lab book ready for them to use as they investigated the best combination of temperature and solvent to recrystalise their product. Dylan shifted at the unease between them and decided to bring the conversation back to him

"I'm meeting Shaun and a few of his mates at theirs tonight, wanna come? It'll be cool."

Plucking a measuring cylinder from the equipment tray Thomas uncapped a bottle of ethyl acetate

"Not really sure Dyl, I've missed a few lectures and I need to catch up."

Thomas poured 10 cm³ into the cylinder, he didn't know how much they'd need and this seemed like a good start

"Hey don't try that on me, it's like we've switched places! C'mon it's just a film, a few drinks too. Nothing too daunting."

Dylan threw his arms up in mock disgust and watched as Thomas failed to suppress a grin. He walked over and knocked his shoulders against Thomas's

"Alright, alright you've convinced me."

The demonstrator walked by and peered at Thomas's measuring cylinder, she picked up the bottle of ethyl acetate and looked at the cylinder once more. Drawing a sharp breath and she shook her head as she walked away. Thomas turned to Dylan

"Did I pour too much? Too little? What are we trying to do again..."

*****

Tyler sat on the sofa watching the evening news, he was expecting Shaun and his new found interest Dylan round anytime. Laura popped out of the kitchen and laid the table with a few snacks she'd bought earlier. Tyler pouted

"Where's the alcohol?"

Laura frowned as she walked back into the kitchen

"Alcohol, who said anything about alcohol? This is a household with standards!"

Having barely finished her sentence, Laura waltzed back out holding bottles of vodka and orange juice. Tyler rolled his eyes as she giggled at the ridiculousness of her words

"So who's this guy Shaun's so interested in?"

Sitting down next to Tyler, Laura picked up the remote control and switched channels away from evening news. Tyler looked at his phone as it buzzed

At the entrance, can you buzz me in?

Getting up to release the flat entrance doors Tyler looked at Laura

"Seeing as he's just got here why don't you ask him yourself?"

A few moments later Tyler opened the front door and gaped at Shaun. He'd made an effort, that was for sure. Shaun was dressed to kill, and his clothes complimented him in all the right places. Tyler sniffed, he even put on his best cologne. Side-stepping Tyler, Shaun walked into the flat and greeted a squealing Laura

"There you are you little rascal!"

Laura jumped up into Shaun's open arms and laughed as they embraced. Tyler couldn't help but smile at the pair, how he'd ended up getting stuck with them he'd never know but he wouldn't have it any other way. Settling back into his seat he watched as the film on the telly began to play. Laura poured them all a glass of vodka and orange juice

"Shaun, I hear we have an extra guest coming tonight. Care to spill the beans?"

The playful edge of Laura's voice was tinged with curiosity

"Oh you know, the usual. I met a guy at Perditae, Tyler was working that night so I gallantly volunteered to keep him company."

Tyler rolled his eyes as Shaun continued

"Then this literal sex god walks in and floors me and Ty over there. Body of a Greek statue and such a lovely face."

Shaun stole a glance at Tyler who looked down to the floor

"Beautiful grey eyes, gunmetal vortices."

Laura perked up at description

"You lucky bastard, why are all the hot guys gay?!"

Shaun laughed and shook his head

"Not the guy I'm after. His friend is the one I'm after, devilishly innocent looks and nature. Definitely my type, he's Dylan. His friend, Thomas, is straight."

Shaun deliberately emphasised the word "straight" and looked at Tyler as he said it, he could've sworn Tyler gulped when he said it. As the intercom began to ring Laura got up to answer it

"That'll be them both now, let's settle in for a good film night eh?"

Tyler blinked as he stared at the TV. He heard Laura buzz the guys in and then the gravity of Shaun's words hit him

"Wait them both?"

Shaun looked over nonchalantly

"Yeah he asked if his friend could join him, I told him to bring him along."

As the door opened Tyler's mouth dried. Dylan stood at the door smiling at Laura, next to him Thomas stood with a little wave. He watched as there was a glint of fear in those slate coloured eyes and a rapid scan of the room before Thomas's eyes fixed on the sofa

Shit

Thomas backed out into the hallway and called out

"Wait sorry guys I've actually got an assignment due tomorrow. It's a massive amount of CATS and I can't afford not to submit. Completely slipped my mind, Dyl I'll catch up with later!"

Thomas stumbled both over his words and his own feet as he scrambled away. Tyler's stomach twisted as he witnessed Thomas basically run from him. He needed to talk to him, to explain.

The phone!

Tyler lunged forward and grabbed Thomas's phone from beneath the coffee table, he dashed out of the door shouting as he went as way of explanation

"He forgot his phone the other night at the bar!"

Tyler heard the pounding of footsteps below him and he raced to catch up, he didn't know what he was going to say but all he knew was he needed a chance to talk to Thomas directly. Reaching the bottom of the stairs Thomas had pressed the release button on the door when Tyler came crashing down and held the door shut. Tyler pressed an arm against the door with a wild look in his eyes

"Thomas please just hear me out!"

Thomas's eyes widened as he backup against the wall, he felt as if his heart was going to lurch from his chest. Tyler started forward towards Thomas

"About the other night, we need to talk."

Thomas looked down, his tried to focus on breathing but he felt as if the all the air had been sucked from the room

"No, no we don't. There's nothing to say, I'm not even sure I remember your name right."

Tyler ignored the sting he felt from those words

"Thomas, yes we do and it's Tyler which you know full well!"

Both guys jumped as there was a loud knock on the entrance door, an old man looked at Tyler with raised eyebrows and motioned for him to take his arm off. Pressing the release button Tyler let him in and sidestepped to the far corner. Thomas tried to take the opportunity to run but Tyler grabbed his bicep. Startled by the feeling of warmth, the feeling of flesh on flesh, Thomas cried out as if he had been burned

"No, don't!"

Stumbling out of the entrance door Thomas backed away from an advancing Tyler like a wounded animal. Thomas's head spun from the brief touch from Tyler, he knew he needed to get away

"Just leave me alone, we don't have anything to talk about alright!"

Tyler's eyes narrowed and he grabbed Thomas by the shoulders

"Listen, we just need to talk about us because what happened wasn't just nothing."

Thomas fought to keep breathing, he felt the heat of Tyler's body and begun to feel woozy

"There's nothing to talk about because it shouldn't have happened. There is no us! You're crazy, you're a... you're a freak!"

Tyler stepped back, shocked at the venom in Thomas's voice. Thomas turned round and begun to jog away, he felt his throat burn and tears fill his eyes. He regretted what he said the moment it left his lips but he'd needed to get away and he didn't know how else to do it.

Walking back up to his flat Tyler felt nothing but numbness. Thoughts swarmed to the front of his mind, was Thomas really repulsed by what had happened between them? Entering a room full of concerned eyes Tyler took a deep breath and shrugged

"Didn't manage to catch him."

He walked over to Dylan and handed him the phone

"I'm gonna head to bed actually, long day ahead tomorrow."

Silence held in the room as Tyler turned without reply and headed to his bedroom, he felt the heat of his cheeks as tears brimmed at his eyes. With a final breath of composure he closed his door and collapsed onto his bed willing the darkness of sleep to take him.

*****

For the rest of the week Thomas kept his head low. Dylan wisely didn't bring up Thomas's outburst and carried on as normal. But truthfully Dylan was worried about his best mate, what had gotten into him? Working in the lab together Thomas was no longer his playful self but full of seriousness and a wore a permanent blank expression.

Thomas threw himself into his work, he caught up on lectures about partition functions, learned about the uses of protecting groups and discovered the properties of switches in semiconductors. He tried to think of nothing else but randomly throughout the day he'd think of Tyler, he'd think of his touch and how it made his heart race. He'd think about the roughness of his actions and shake his head furiously when he inevitably got hard. Thomas had no clue what was happening to him and tried to carry on as if he could ignore the instability in his life. He knew he needed to get himself together before Dylan would eventually start asking difficult questions. Sitting in a lecture about Russell-Saunders coupling Thomas nudged Dylan

"Hey there's a talk in our break next about 'Misconceptions about Opportunity' - It's part of some silly series of lectures by the careers department but this one sounds interesting. Wanna go see it?"

Dylan screwed his eyes as he concentrated on the equation on the board, was Professor Maynard writing in a different language or did he really write the letter "e" like a toddler's scribble? He mulled the suggestion over

"Yeah sure, I can never get anything done in that gap anyway. It's too short to go to the library and get started on a topic."

Dylan looked over and gave Thomas a small smile that was returned, turning his focus back onto the board. He was glad at the break in monotony and looked forward to spending some time with the actual Thomas he knew.

The professor stopped writing on his PowerPoint and scanned the room. He frowned as he counted the scarce number of students in the theatre, he taught a compulsory second year module but could count the number of people on his two hands who had turned up to the lecture. He settled on a familiar face and quizzed

"The gentleman sitting by the top row to the left, no not the blond the one next to him. Taking the element carbon how many microstates would I expect to find?"

Thomas fought the urge to roll his eyes, Maynard seemed to always pick on him after the first time he disrupted his lecture, it was as if turning up wasn't punishment enough already. Punching numbers into his calculator he called out

"I think there'd be 15."

Maynard nodded and went back to his slides. Thomas looked at Dylan and stuck his tongue out making him laugh. At the end of the lecture they headed towards the Bloomsbury building and took their seats in the hall. It was oddly quiet, Thomas looked around the room to find only a few students sitting with their notepads out. He turned to Dylan

"Guess this wasn't a popular topic."

Dylan followed Thomas's gaze and done a quick sweep of the room, he shrugged

"It is the afternoon on a Wednesday, everyone's probably doing sports."

Dylan and Thomas wrinkled their noses and said in unison

"Ugh, sports."

The speaker took the stage. Off the bat Thomas could tell she was the eccentric type, she wore a colourful dress with a cardigan thrown on top with a mish mash of geometric patterns. Her heels clicked as she walked to the centre of the stage, Thomas noticed the numerous rings adorning her fingers as she grabbed the microphone

"Looking across this room I can tell you all one thing right now. You're all scared that you're not going to get what you want and I'm here to tell you why that's not trruueee."

Singing the last word she laughed as Dylan turned his head round and raised his eyebrow at Thomas

"What on earth have you gotten us into?"

The speaker at the front rattled on

"You see, opportunity is there for the taking. You'll hear uproar after uproar, that it doesn't exist. Lies I tell you!"

Shaking her fist violently the clanging of the multitude of bangles she wore resonated through the lecture theatre

"Opportunity is easy to find but difficult to take. It can be scary, confusing even. I want you all to close your eyes and imagine with me."

The students around the room looked at each other nervously then back at the speaker. After a few moments she ripped the microphone from its stand and got off stage walking round

"I told you to close your eyes! Don't make me come check!"

Immediately every student in the room snapped their eyes shut, Thomas and Dylan struggled to contain their laughter at audacity of the woman

"Breath with me, in, out, in and out. That's right, good long and deep breaths. Really feel it in your belly. Now, when I tell you to, do so immediately. Don't hesitate, just do it!"

Thomas sat with his eyes closed focusing on his breathing, he kept his lips taut to keep a smile from erupting across his lips

"Think of something recently that you enjoyed, think of something that excited you!"

Thomas's mouth dried instantly. Images flashed in his head and he compelled them to go away

"Think of how it made you feel, embrace the sensations you're feeling!"

Gripping the sides of his arm rest Thomas struggled to win the battle in his head. He felt blood rush to his face and down to his groin and he swelled at the memory of Tyler kissing his neck

"Now think about how you got there! What opportunity did you take to make that happen?"

Thomas screwed his face and opened his eyes

"I didn't ask for it! It just happened, I don't even know how!"

A wave of shock hit Thomas as he realised he'd shouted his thoughts aloud. The students in the room had opened their eyes and were staring at him, Dylan had cocked his head as he looked at Thomas

"Eyes! Closed, what did I say?"

Thomas felt his cheeks burn as the students obeyed the order

"Sometimes things happen that we don't fully understand, but that doesn't mean that we can't enjoy them. There's an old saying about how it's not about the destination but it's the journey that matters."

The woman threw her arms up and clapped her hands together

"I call bullshit! Yes, yes it's all bullshit. Who cares? Why do you care about what other people think. Find what you enjoy and take the chance to experience it."

Thomas bit his tongue and a thousand questions swirled in his head

"Life is exceptionally short. Why should we care about whether opportunities are 'right' to take, who decides that? I say, it's you!"

With a quick succession of claps she ended her opening

"Now, open your eyes and feel refreshed. I have some slides I have to pop up but I'm not terribly good with technology so you'll have to bear with me."

Dylan got out of his seat and dragged Thomas up with him

"C'mon, we're not listening to this woman anymore. She's got a few screws loose!"

Thankful for the distraction Thomas allowed himself to be guided out of the lecture theatre. Out in the cold air he gulped in lungful's and braced himself against the railing of the building. Dylan watched as he chewed the inside of his cheek

"What happened back there?"

Thomas heard the tones of concern in Dylan's voice and avoided his gaze. He stared at a puddle in a groove in the street

"Do you think things happen for a reason? Even if we don't know what it is, that's exactly happening."

Thomas took advantage of the silence to spill his thoughts

"Have you ever experienced something that was... that was wonderful but scared you like hell. But the more you think about it the more you wonder why it scares you at all. At the end of the day life is short, we're just momentary sparks in a void of the dark."

Dylan gripped Thomas's shoulder

"Mate where is this coming from? That old bird was obviously a bit nutty!"

Thomas tried one last time

"If you had the choice, would you choose normal or... or happy?"

Dylan heard the edge in Thomas's voice. He thought hard about the question Thomas had asked and felt the burden of his answer

"Happy. You live for yourself and no one else. You get one shot at this and you damn well make sure it counts for you."

Thomas looked wide-eyed at Dylan and recognised the fierceness of his voice. Of course Dylan would choose happy, he was brave enough to be open about who he was and Thomas felt a burst of excitement in his chest.

"I'm gonna go home mate, get my head together."

Thomas grabbed Dylan's shoulder and squeezed

"I swear I'll explain this all to you soon but I need some time to myself first. I swear I'm alright, better than alright I think, but there's something I need to do."

Dylan stared at Thomas before squeezing his shoulder in return.

"Mate, I'm here for you always. Go do whatever you need to do."

With a smile Dylan turned and walked towards the library. Thomas lingered for a few moments before heading off, his stomach flipped as he walked in a different direction from home.

*****

Tyler sat at the kitchen stool as he sipped on his coffee. He'd been a mess the past few days and hadn't gone into uni at all. Laura dropped by his lectures and picked up his handouts for him, he'd told her he felt ill and she nodded without believing his lie but without questioning. Tyler stared at the obsidian surface of his mug and studied his features. He didn't understand why Thomas's words had hurt him so deeply when their meeting had been so brief. He tried to understand and grasp the anger Thomas must've felt but his vision was interlaced with moments of ecstasy he'd shared with him. Was he really such a bad person for what he'd done? Sure, Thomas had been drunk but he was certain he hadn't forced Thomas. Tyler sighed as Laura kissed his cheek and left the flat. He finished his coffee and walked to the living room turning on the TV. Selecting a random channel he sat on the sofa with glazed eyes.