The Hidden Kingdom

After his mom left, he had a solitary dinner in the dining hall. The mystery meat and boiled veggies were terrible but the three different kinds of potato were very comforting. When he got back, his roommate was there, singing along with some very loud rock \'n roll in a language Jonas couldn\'t place. His back was turned and he was bending and stretching as he unpacked his clothes, filling his dresser and taking up more than his half of the closet. He was tall, lean and swarthy, which was just what Jonas liked. That was probably a bad thing. Crushing on his roommate was probably a bad thing. Hopefully, he didn\'t have a nice face or, even better, didn\'t have a nice personality. Jonas cleared his throat and he turned around, startled by Jonas\' presence. He quickly leaned over to the CD player on the desk and clicked the music off.

\"Pardon, I did not see you. I\'m Damon Barca.\" He held out his hand. Shit, he was even better to look at from the front- dark eyes, warm smile and gleaming, white teeth. Jonas thought he was just breathtaking.

\"Uh, Jonas Dailey - Joey. My friends call me Joey,\" he answered, not certain why he was granting this stranger the use of his nickname. Jonas reached out and shook his new roommate\'s hand. It was smooth and strong.

\"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Joey,\" Damon replied and gently extracted his hand from Jonas\' lingering grip to resume unpacking his trunk. His accent was thick enough to force Jonas to listen hard as he spoke, which made Jonas aware of just what a deep voice Damon had. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up to hear his nickname in that sweet bass.

Jonas gave himself a shake and opened the first of his four suitcases. Socks went in the top drawer. \"You could put the music back on, if you want.\"

\"Thank you,\" Damon answered and reached over to turn the music on again at a decreased volume.

\"What is it anyway? Sounds Greek.\" Shorts went into the drawer beside the socks.

\"Cathalpine.\"

\"I\'ve never heard of it before.\" First aid kit went in beside the shorts.

\"That is no surprise. Cathalpia is very small.\"

\"Cathalpia, where\'s that?\" Shampoo, soap and shaving kit went beside the first aid kit.

\"Europe.\"

\"Oh.\" The condoms his mother bought for him (still in the pharmacy bag) went under the shaving kit.

They worked in silence for a few minutes, Jonas sneaking glances at his roommate every so often. He knew he shouldn\'t, but the guy kept bending over.

\"So,\" Jonas said, trying to restart the conversation, \"Why Kansas? Don\'t they have universities in Carthal- Cathapia?\" He opened another suitcase- this one held pants.

\"Cathalpia,\" Damon corrected, \"No, as I said, it is very small. We have trade schools and the like, but no university.\"

\"Yes, but why not Paris or London? More prestige and closer, too. Kansas is pretty far to go.\" Blue jeans went in the bottom drawer.

\"I am the second son. My brother is at Cambridge and my father thought it would be better if I learned of America. In truth, he wished me to go to Texas A&M, but Texas . . . Texas seemed too far for me.\" He made an odd stopping gesture, as if Texas was another planet. Jonas figured that, if you were coming from a tiny country in Europe, it probably was.

\"Yes, some of us Americans don\'t understand Texas either,\" he admitted and started to put his dress slacks on a hanger. The book from Suzzy, that he\'d forgotten was packed between the pant\'s layers to shield it from his mother\'s view, fell to the floor with a thud. Damon bent down to get it before Jonas could get it himself, though he made a valiant effort (which made him look like an idiot with how ungraceful it was). Damon stood, turning it over in his hands and obviously seeing the title.

\"I can go to the dean of housing in the morning,\" Jonas offered, anticipating having to talk his way out of some sort of assault. He just hoped it was only a verbal assault.

\"That won\'t be needed,\" Damon said as he handed to book to him. \"I\'m so comforted.\" He rubbed his hands over his face and emerged from behind them smiling. \"I don\'t know how to exist in the cupboard.\"

\"Cu-cupboard?\"

\"Closet? In secret.\"

\"You\'re gay?\"

\"Yes.\"

\"You wanna date?\" Jonas blurted out. \"Hey, wow! My mother was right. I do blurt when I\'m nervous.\" Then, seeing the bemused look on Damon\'s face, he amended, \"Maybe that\'s more information than you want. I\'m pretty close to sane when I\'m not nervous. Really. But, I\'d understand if the last minute or two has scared you off.\" Jonas offered his hand. \"How about we just try for friends?\"

\"You are aware that you just asked to date me, apologized for asking to date me and then retracted your offer all in one breath, yes?\" Damon asked, smiling.

\"Oh, did you actually want to be part of this conversation?\"

\"Only to say yes,\" Damon replied, grasped the proffered hand and pulled Jonas closer.

\"Yes?\" Jonas laid his free hand on Damon\'s now nearby shoulder.

\"Your trepidation is endearing.\" Damon slipped his around Jonas\' waist.

\"It is?\" They leaned in, just a little.

\"And I\'m quite partial to shy boys with American accents,\" Damon murmured, leaned further and kissed him.

Jonas had kissed girls. It was a requisite part of staying in the closet in high school. Those kisses had never shot straight to his dick like this one did. It was odd, how big Damon\'s mouth was and there was no greasy, oversweet lipstick but there was stubble. Jonas decided he really liked stubble. Plus, even the girls who\'d made the first move, and that was like all of them, even those girls, didn\'t kiss like it was a sport. Girls kissed him like they were slow dancing, Damon was kissing him like they were on opposing football teams and sacking the quarterback was his main objective. He really wanted Damon to sack him.

Damon\'s hands slid down to squeeze Jonas\' ass and pull them flush, body against body. Jonas could feel his roommate\'s erection though the layers of cloth between them, feel how much Damon wanted him. The idea of it made Jonas buck against him, looking for more, more contact, more friction, just more. Damon pushed Jonas backwards until his legs hit something and he toppled. His brief moment of panic dissipated when Jonas recognized the soft give of a mattress under him. He directed his attention back to Damon, who\'d followed him down onto the bed and was now busily sucking on his neck and worrying the second button from the top on Jonas\' shirt with his fingers.

Jonas wrapped his arms and legs around Damon, wrapped himself around the hard, warm body above him, fitting them together. Damon returned to his mouth. Jonas opened to him, trying to give as good as he was getting and their hips fell into a quick, hard rhythm. The scrape of fabric against him, against his dick, was maddening to Jonas. He\'d never felt anything so good, never needed to come so much. Damon traced a path over his face with his mouth, leaving ragged kisses over his cheek, eyebrow, forehead, behind his ear and down to his neck. The too hard bite on the pulse point below his chin pushed him past reason and Jonas gave three more hurried thrusts and came, sweet, white light flashing behind his eyelids. Damon drove against him a few times more and then was done as well.

They lay together, sweaty and breathless and smiling stupidly at each other for a few minutes before there was a knock on their door followed by someone ordering them to a floor meeting in five minutes. For some reason, that made them both laugh which made catching their breaths that much harder.