[FBL] Friendship. To Benefits. To Love.

Chapter 16

When New gets home he's greeted by quite a view. Off and Gun are making out heavily on the couch and they don't even notice when New comes in.

New clears his throat once, but they don't react. Second time it's much louder and not subtle at all and they finally break it up.

Off looks a little bit ashamed and there's a light blush on his cheeks, but Gun is grinning so hard that New thinks that his face might break in half.

"I don't want to know anything, I'm just glad it's all fine." New raises his hands to make a point. Off laughs, but kisses Gun on the lips and quickly gets up.

"'S okay, New. I should've gone home half an hour ago, but..." He looks at Gun and blushes. "I got busy."

"Mhm, I believe you." New smirks at him.

He gives New a hug and winks at Gun. "See ya, babes. I have a test tomorrow, gotta study for the damn thing." He sighs heavily and gets out.

As soon as he closes the door, Gun jumps in New's arms throwing his legs around New's hips.

"New! He came here and he said he was sorry and we kissed and kissed and kissed and I just couldn't be mad at him anymore. He told me he missed me and you know how much I missed him."

New goes and sits on the couch, Gun still clinging to him like a koala bear. "I'm glad it's all fine." New smiles at him earnestly. "But I need you to be safe, Gun. You two have to talk about what happened."

"We will, I promise." Gun kisses his cheek and gets off him. "You worry too much, New." He winks and goes to his room.

New doesn't think that he's overreacting. He loves Off, but Gun and he have been through everything together and he knows how Gun gets when he's hurt. No one wants to see that, to be honest.

On the next day, Tay's in a good mood.

They had a guys' night at his place last night. They drank a lot, though and Earth basically fainted on his pool table. Tay's a bit hungover, but nothing a cup of strong coffee won't fix.

He takes his stuff and leaves in the city, while he takes off to his classes. It's boring, sitting and listening to the stuff the professors teach, especially if you're hungover like Tay is, but he has to be here, so he endures.

On the way outside he's going through his backpack to find his car keys, but he stops suddenly, when he sees New sitting on the same bench like the other day.

He doesn't even know what's happening, but in the next moment he finds himself walking towards New. He's only one feet away when he asks: "I hope you're in a better mood than the other day." He slides down to take a seat next to New.

New is surprised for a moment, but his expression changes into something mysterious when he sees that it's Tay who came up to him. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"Good." Tay says smiling, but he's not looking at New. "You were freaking out, I'm not sure I've ever seen someone in that kind of state of shock."

"I'm sorry. It was just too much to handle at the moment." New says earnestly and pauses for a second. "Thank you, for what you did. You really didn't have to, but I'm grateful that you did."

Tay looks up at him and keeps his gaze steady for a good while, but in the end, he only nods. Then his face switches into something else and he smirks. "I had a feeling it would pay off."

New groans. "Hello, Tay. I was wondering when the usual you would show up." Tay laughs and New thinks it's the most beautiful sound he's heard from Tay, so he grins at him.

"Have I been missed, also?" Tay teases.

New says: "No." But he turns away and doesn't look at Tay, so Tay thinks the blush on New's cheeks tells otherwise.

He won't insist though. "Are you well enough to go to a party?"

New thinks he didn't hear well what Tay just said. "What?"

"There's a party tomorrow night. That girl Kemi, who's in your class actually, is throwing it."

New considers how to respond to this for a second. "Yeah, I've been invited."

This is the moment that Tay's been waiting.

"You're going with your boyfriend?" He blurts out before he can chicken out. New turns to look at him with his eyebrows raised, but then he frowns.

"Boyfriend? I'm not sure I'm following you with this."

Shit. Tay will have to explain himself now and he doesn't know what to say and not make a fool out of himself. "Um." He sighs. "That guy that was hugging you yesterday in the entrance. You two look very close, so I assumed..."

"You assumed wrong, Tay." New interrupts him. "Joss... He's just a friend. There's nothing between us." New gets up to gather his stuff and Tay does the same.

"I'm sure he doesn't think so." Tay gets out. They turn away from the bench to go head to the university.

"It doesn't matter what he thinks." New says angrily and he doesn't know why.

"Whatever. I need to go to class." He says as he turns to Tay.

"Yeah, okay. I need to get home. Off needs me to be there as soon as possible, apparently." He says, frowning at his phone where's 4 messages from Off telling him to hurry up.

"Off's at yours?" New frowns.

"Yeah, he thinks I'm in some deep trouble these days and wants to know why." He smiles. "I love that bastard, but he's intolerable sometime." New loves the look of fondness on Tay and the way his eyes crinkle when he smiles.

"Yeah, I feel your pain. I have a Gun back in the condo." New points out.

Tay smiles again and turns to leave. "I gotta go, New. I'll see you around." He pauses and turns around to face him as he's about to get in the car. "Don't make it your habit, turning boys in your classes in a drooling mess when they're around you and let them think there's gonna be something, when it's not gonna happen. Could hit you hard in the head, that." Tay smirks.

New blushes and looks at Tay. "How about boys from other classes?" He asks, suddenly brave.

Tay's eyes blaze with fire when he says softly. "Just one." With that he gets in his car and leaves.

New shakes his head and feels the blush creeping up his cheeks. He gets inside quickly.