Sweet As The Punch

Summary: Pretending to be gay in order to get a girl's attention? Adam thought he'd try it out, but the results are a tad different from what he expected.

Author's Notes: So I haven't abused my beta for over a year now, thought I'd do something to fix that XD. My original inspiration was "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry", to which was added a Simpsons line: "I'm not gay, but I'll learn." I wanted something where the originally fake relationship between the two men would eventually bloom into something deeper... without the drama. Something more light-hearted.


Sweet as the Punch
Introduction


Too many people. Always too many people.

Such was lunch hour at the university. Students were everywhere, running here and there to get out of their courses and into restaurants or the brightly-colored cafeteria. Chinese food days were always appreciated by student and staff alike.

Away from it all, still in one of the corridors leading to the cafeteria, Adam was waiting outside a classroom. He wasn't sure how long he'd have to wait, but he'd wait all day if he had to. He had to talk to this girl... even though he barely knew her and she barely knew him either. Their only thing they had in common, so far, was the department they were in, but she had started a year ago while he had only started this year.

But Adam had never been known to be too shy and after two weeks in the university – two weeks where he had noticed her – he had decided to talk to the young woman. All he knew about her was that her name was Raelene, she was half-Black half-Caucasian, was in the same department and knew people in the student union. But he wanted to know more about her. Of course he couldn't go up to her and ask her out immediately... although she might be used to it.

He looked through the small window on the door and saw her. He would have drooled over her if he hadn't thought his current location – a scholar establishment. He had to behave. First of all, a girl like that was surely not an easy catch and looking at her gestures, he had long known she had quite the fiery personality. Deep inside it drove him nuts. He liked girls with attitude.

The few people who were in the classroom left nearly twenty minutes after. All this time, Adam watched at her... except when he had to reply to a text message sent by his friend Jakob, who was waiting at the cafeteria. Poor Jakob, if only he had known... he'd have gone and grabbed him by the collar, forcing him into the cafeteria and shoving the plate down his throat, in order not to be late at their next class.

And... she simply passed by him. He tried to wave – maybe the stupid grin on his face scared her away – and to talk to her, but nothing even came out of his mouth. His shoulders dropped as he took the cellphone in his pocket, quickly typing a short SMS. "brt @ cat". Be right there at cafeteria.

The line at the hot food counter had decreased significantly, as most of the students had a class at 1PM; and it was nearly 12:45 by the time he entered it. That left him 15 minutes to explain his problem to Jakob before the man left for his next class. Adam himself was free until 4PM and he lived too far to go back home. He'd simply run some errands in the library and would come back to the cafeteria to get some work done.

The amount of work he had was small, but for a first year class he thought it was rather large. For a moment he thought about what Jakob would have to do and he shuddered at the mental view of the man, lost under a pile of books, gasping for air.

A dark-skinned man rose from a table at the far back – Jakob. He was with friends, which made Adam strangely uncomfortable. Jakob had been his best friend since preschool, but he didn't know the others at all and it made things a bit difficult.

"Dude where the fuck have you been?" Jakob said at the sight of his friend finally getting to the table. "Thought your class finished at noon, although with Murakami-sensei it never finishes at the right time... she held you guys back for more explanations?"

The six other people chuckled. They had been through it... and were still in the same position, as the teacher in question taught in three different levels; six different classes.

"No kidding. We're just starting and take a look at the amount of crap I have to do." Adam dropped three excersise manuals, the excersie textbooks that came with them, five sheets – directives and assignments, and a summary of the lessons - two different dictionnaries and the next lesson's preparative sheets. "Don't tell me... yours is worse."

More chuckles from the group. A man with long blonde hair tilted his head slightly, a smile on his lips. "I dunno, I don't find it so bad... why does everyone complain about it?"

"Yeah but Mitch you're a god at languages so shut up" another one chimed in, punching "Mitch" in the shoulder. "I thought the first classes were horrible, really. Well with her... 'cause with Kanaya-sensei, really, the classes were jokes."

"No no. The only "joke" in there were the videos they've shown," the only girl said, grinning. She looked plain, but her voice was very pleasing to the ear. "They're awful. The actors have zero talent, they don't know how to convey emotions at all, but they're so bad that's funny in fact. Eh guys?"

Another round of chuckles before two of them had to get up – the blonde guy and the girl, who kept talking. "Well, we gotta go guys, Literature class is in the 3744 wing and we're still here. Meet at the student union room after? We could head for supper or something after your classes."

Everyone but one guy nodded. "Nah, I gotta go home after. It's my dad's birthday so I won't be able to stay. Friday's fine for me though." Gregory was living on the North shore, over an hour away from Montreal. Adam had several friends in the area and he knew how much of a pain in the ass it was.

"Awww okay. Well, bye guys!" the girl said as she took her plate. She was followed by Mitch who waved.

Jakob looked at his watch and threw his backpack over his shoulder. "Yeah I got a class too... I better-"

"No. No no no. Don't go man I gotta talk to you" Adam piped in. "Can't really wait..."

There was a sigh and the dark-skinned man plopped back down on his chair. "What's up?"

The other looked around, making sure he wasn't overheard too much. "Ok well... you know Raelene right?" He waited for acknowledgement in order to keep on explaining. It was a stupid question really, since Jakob had classes with her. "I tried talking to her but... didn't work. It's like I don't exist."

"You're not flashy enough, that's the problem. Well part of the problem... follow me after this and watch how she acts. I'm not telling you anything 'bout it now 'cause your reaction is gonna be far too funny."

"Don't tell me she's lesbian or something... right?"

Jakob laughed out loud at the thought. "Oh boy, far from being lesbian dude. She likes guys, trust me on this one. But you really gotta see it to get what I mean... well I could tell you but your reaction is gonna be priceless, you're gonna be puzzled and you're gonna want to talk to me about it, so it'll be another excuse for me to meet up with you."

"Either you think you too much or you have far too much spare time to think about that kinda plan."

"A little of both. Anyways, eat up and we have time to catch her before the class starts."

Adam had the habit of eating fast, so the time wasn't much of a problem. He chomped on the food as fast as he could and within five minutes his plate was clean. Both men got up and made their way to Jakob's classroom, looking left and right for the woman. As the dark-skinned man spotted her, he turned to his pal and elbowed him. "Over there" he pointed to his left.

He felt like melting – there she was. So pretty... and she seemed so intelligent. And nice. Given her ancestry, thus physiologic attributes, it was obvious she used a hair straightener, but it highlighted her beautiful face.

She spotted two guys who were talking to each other and waved at them, smiling brightly. She knew them, there was no doubt. He could hear her. "Oh hi! Everytime I see you guys I go "they're so hot, they fit so well together." I can't help it! So what's the lecture about today? I didn't read what I was supposed to, I know I should have..."

He completely lost it. Adam was hypnotized and barely aware that Jakob was waving at him. How he loved her voice... a siren

His reverie was interrupted when the people surrouding the two guys left. They were holding hands.

Gays.

She likes gays.