Twenty Over Thirty || manxman

XI - Past Times & Present Ties

One Year & Eight Months Ago

"I'd love to get to know you," were the words that initially trapped Kurt in his own unwarranted hell. They were said by a man named Mick Seabrook, and while Kurt knew even back then that he shouldn't have sought after this man for one reason alone, it wouldn't have been his first time getting in bed with a man much older than him. Eighteen years old at the moment, his first experience with an older man had taken place when he was fifteen, and then again at sixteen, so he was no stranger to letting himself fall into the clutches of a man that wanted him purely to quench their own sexual fever.

It's not like he cared back then, though. Kurt wasn't much for thinking ahead before putting himself out there, for caring at all about what happened to himself. So, in the beginning, he figured there was only one person to blame for everything else that emerged after those words were spoken to him.

Mick Seabrook had been his Literature Professor during his first year of uni. He was a charming man who'd just turned forty-one, putting them twenty-three years apart in age difference. Mick was so fit and handsome, downright sexy and in such great shape for a Professor, a real David Beckham doppelganger in the flesh.

"Alright," Kurt said, it was after a lecture and the vast classroom was empty. "But if we do this, you have to promise to go easy on my papers. I don't mind getting low letter grades, but at least don't fail me."

A smile that melted Kurt's barrier adorned Mick's face and the date was set. Given he had been staying in the dormitory of Castleton that semester, Kurt went back to his room knowing he'd receive a message later on when he was supposed to be picked up. He roomed with a guy he didn't speak to much, always forgot his name and didn't much care about him to begin with. His name was Ron or something like that. So for a good amount of time, Kurt stayed up in his room getting other school work done.

A few minutes before Mick would text him, he received a phone call from his brother Danny. At first he wasn't going to answer it, let it go to voicemail instead, but to save from having to delete several voice messages, he answered anyways. "Hello?"

"Hey, Kurt," Danny sounded more chipper than usual, "What are you up to? The girls and I are about to pass by Castleton, and Anna wanted to know if you'd come to a movie with us. Louisa would like that, too."

Kurt looked at the time at the top shelf of his headboard, "Nah, bruv, that's alright. I've got so much work to do and I'm in need of sleep anyways. You have fun with your family. I'm good."

"You sure? We'll go to your favorite restaurant afterwards."

"Like I said," Kurt looked at his phone when there was a beep, indicating that he'd received a text, "I'm good, bruv. Thanks, though. Tell Anna and Lou I'm sorry."

"Alright, then."

Without a goodbye, Kurt ended the call and read over the text sent from Mick. He was outside waiting in his car. Grabbing his wallet from the desk holding his books and laptop, Kurt tucked it in his pocket and stepped into his shoes.

"You going out tonight?" his roommate asked, a skinny blond kid with glasses and a love for silence. He was sitting over on his bed with a book in his lap, a journal of notes next to him while he jotted information down. "Didn't you just tell your brother you were doing work?"

"It's called 'lying', Rob. Don't act like you've never done it before."

"My name is Richard."

"Whatever," Kurt looked his hair over in a long mirror hung beside his closet. "Lying to my brother is kind of my specialty, anyway."