Sweet As The Punch

Author's Notes: I'm so sorry for the lack of updates x_x. I've hit more IRL things and I thought I had deleted a major part of the chapter, which turned out to be safe... in the PREVIOUS chapter. I still had deleted a small part of this one, but it wasn't as bad as I expected XD. Then I've had a writer's block, which just about cleared; actually my next chapter's in a beta and should be posted in the next week, as I have restricted net access until next week ^^;;.

Sweet As The Punch
Chapter 7

"So, how's your plan working out, Adam?

"It's cool, really. I've seen Raelene yesterday, I'm supposed to go over there again today and tomorrow as well." "It's working way too well, in fact. I spend all my time with Mitch, it really looks like he's my boyfriend."

Adam and Jakob were sitting on the stairs in front of the university. Adam was waiting on Raelene, who had a class, while Jakob was recently out of his own class. He thought he'd catch up with his best friend.

"But... I'm starting to feel bad for Mitch. I took him to the restaurant last night to make up for it though. Then we went back to his place and I slept there." Adam lowered his voice and furrowed his eyebrows, not wanting many people to hear what happened next. "We slept in the same bed dude... we watched TV together, I had him in my arms all evening... when I woke up my arm was all sore 'cause he slept on it. Then I offered him to snuggle again. Am I going too far?"

Jakob sighed. "You're letting him think he can be your boyfriend, man. You'll need to set limits else he's going to fall for you. You don't need to act like you're with him when you're not in public."

"I know! But... I kinda feel bad because I'm using him. I owe him this," Adam admitted. "And he said he wouldn't take it seriously."

"He's not dumb, but he wants a boyfriend. As much as he's a good actor in general, he's not faking this, and he's going to be hearbroken when you and Raelene are gonna hook up," Jakob warned him. "If he was straight it'd be a lot more easier, since the feelings involved wouldn't be so strong... but he's not straight. You're not attracted to him, but he's attracted to you."

Adam sighed as well and closed his eyes. How was he going to get out of this mess?

Jakob spoke again. "Don't worry about feeling bad because you don't wanna get involved with him, that's what both of you need so no one gets hurt in all of this. I think you still have time... maybe he'll end up distant but soon after he's not gonna mind. So please... fix this up before there's too much shit."

It was going to be really hard – not for Mitch to understand it all, but for Adam to talk to him. He thought that he the damage had been done already. But until he'd get a hold of Mitch tonight, he couldn't tell him.

"Go spend the afternoon with Raelene and I'll see what I can do to keep Mitch occupied. I'll drag him to the EBGames. Then tonight you can talk to him," Jakob offered. It was a nice proposal, and would give him time to figure a way to tell Mitch about it.

The bald man got up and moved a step up, turning around. Jakob had a nice ass too... "It's a nice day though. And hey... students, dude. Think the class is over."

Adam's attitude changed suddenly. Instead of being worried he was now smiling brightly, and it wents up a notch as he saw Raelene and Mitch. He waved at both and ran up to Mitch in order to hug him tight. "Hey hotstuff. Mind if I borrow the gal beside you? I'm gonna go study with her again, and you can meet me home?" he asked, kissing the other man quickly.

Mitch grinned and squeezed Adam in his arms. "Yeah sure. Careful though, she bites."

Raelene turned to Mitch and showed her teeth, growled, and bit in the air before waving at them. "Alright, let's get some more work done. Bye guys!"

~ ~ ~ ~

Mitch and Jakob stood on the stairs when Raelene dragged Adam away. The blonde man took off his glasses and put another pair – shaded ones – before turning to Jakob. "So... we're up to what now?" he asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Want to go to the EBGames at McGill? Could pick up a new game... unless you feel like studying." Mitch furrowed his brows and looked at his friend in disbelief. "EBGames it is! Feel like playing something different anyways."

"Good for me, but I wanna eat before. I'm fucking hungry and I feel like Subway or something" Mitch added as he walked down the stairs, stopping at the end to look at Jakob. "C'mon, before there's too many people in there."

Jakob obeyed and chuckled as he followed Mitch, walking at the same pace – fast. Given the restaurant itself was very small and generally crowded, he wanted to get there before the noon rush and take a seat during the rush, in order to avoid the equally crowded bus.

As they lined up at the counter, Mitch and Jakob realized they had done the right thing; they were ahead of ten people or so – and they could see more people gathering as they glanced at the window. A grin crept on Mitch's face as he let his friend order first in order to have some time to look for hot men. His blue eyes landed on a tall, slim, almost feminine figure with long black hair. He could see the man's tanned skin clashing with the beige shorts and red and white shirt... definitively Asian.

"Hey I know that guy" Mitch pointed out to Jakob, whispering. "It's that guy... in Japanese with us... dude... the Asian guy... what's his name again?"

"Aroon" Jakob replied mechanically – he had repeated the name so many times. "You're barking up the wrong tree if you think you can get close to him."

Mitch groaned. The more he pretended to be Adam's boyfriend, the more he wanted to find a real boyfriend, and not just a pretend one. He had tired of the bar scene soon after his eighteenth bithrday; overly feminine pretty boys with a lisp were too rampant for his own tastes, and he had no interest in bears... finding a middle was too much to ask, apparently.

Until he fell on Adam, who wasn't even gay. Mitch felt like bashing his head on the counter for falling for the one guy he couldn't get, even though he was with him so to speak. It just taunted him, and his general reply to taunting was going straight for it.

"So why couldn't I be with Aroon?" he then asked, still whispering.

Jakob turned around and rolled his eyes. Aroon was avoiding the blonde-haired man like the plague and Mitch hadn't even seen it? "Don't tell me you're that oblivious to your surroundings?"

With a puzzled face, Mitch looked outside again. "I guess. I don't even know him or anything, I mean I've seen him around in Adam's class but frankly, I always thought he was the distant type. Never seen him talk to other people except Raelene... outside class. And I know what I'm talking about, I go in every class weekly, since I'm in the student association..."

"I'm sorry to break this to you Mitchie-poo," Jakob said, ready to duck when the punch would come flying towards him... but it didn't even happen. Mitch hated being called Mitchie-poo. "But he's an asshole. He's distant to everyone because you are close to everyone."

With a quirked brow, Mitch turned to Jakob again. "What the fuck does that mean... he doesn't know me and I don't know him, why in hell should he be aggressive with me?"

Jakob sighed. Mitch was oblivious. "He knows your gay, dumbass. And he's homophobe. 1+1 equals...?"

"Two, I know, I'm not that bad really. And... Oh." Mitch sunk his head into his shoulders, disappointed. "Well that explains it. The theory stands... if he's perfect he's married or gay, and he's not perfect. Therefore he's straight. Damnit."

The black man rolled his eyes again. "Are you implying that you're perfect?"

Mitch grinned and fluttered his eyelids. "Of course I am! I'm gay!" he stated loudly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. When he felt a man staring at him, he spun around and spoke up. "Yeah, I'm gay! But the only way I'd kiss you would be on the face... with my fist..."

Jakob brought his hand to his forehead in disbelief, closing his eyes. "And you call yourself perfect..."

~ ~ ~ ~

The ugly brown couch almost fell apart when Mitch let himself fall on it – Jakob had taken the computer chair. "Yeah, we definitely need a new couch" Jakob said, seeing the way his friend treated it. "We'll call you if we wanna destroy it." Definintively, his brother Dennis has no taste. Really.

Mitch chuckled and lied down on it, his feet dangling from the edge. "Oh it'll be my pleasure."

"You have any idea on what's gonna happen with Adam? He's getting closer to Raelene... how're you taking it?"

"Can I be honest?" Mitch asked with an insecure tone – Jakob probably already guessed it. "I'm falling for him damnit!"

Jakob shook his head. He had seen it coming, and mentally regretted his move about introducing them to each other for this purpose. "Adam isn't gay... I think he's still head over heels with Raelene. But he did warn you about it."

"I know! I can't really help it... I don't meet guys like him everyday. He treats me better than my own ex did, and I've only dated Adam for two weeks." Mitch paused and let himself slide some more on the couch. "He hangs out with me, comes over, stays overnight, hugs me, kisses me, drives me around... he's my fucking boyfriend but he isn't and it's getting weird." Poor Mitch was going to get his heart shattered into millions of pieces when Adam and Raelene would finally be together.

"He told you not to take this too seriously," Jakob reminded him – he didn't want to sound harsh, but firm. "And you're doing it anyways."

Mitch sighed. "Well if he wasn't so... close to me all the time, maybe I wouldn't see it this way. I don't really know what to do either. It's not like I can find a new boyfriend all of a sudden, especially if I have my hopes up about finding someone like him again."

"Someone like... Adam? He's not even-"

Mitch's voice rose in annoyance. Jakob kept giving him the same answer. "I know he's not gay damnit! That's the whole thing! He acts like he's not but he acts like he is at the same time, how the hell am I not supposed to fall in love with him when he's sending me mixed messages about that? I'm confused man..." he finally admitted. "I don't know where this is heading to. Wait, I know. He's going to get Raelene and I'm gonna feel like shit because one again the gay one gets shafted – and not in the good way – while the straight guy gets the girl and everything is nice for them."

"It might not end up this way..." Jakob reassured. "Maybe you'll find another guy to be with in the meantime, why don't you go out some more?"

"... 'Cause I feel like I'd cheat on him."

Jakob shrugged and lifted his hands in the air. "There we go. Now you're acting up as if you were his boyfriend for real. And you're not. Try to get over him, find another man as he gets closer to Raelene... there's not a lot of solutions for that, buddy. Act like him."

"Act like him. Easier said than done. There's not a lot of gay men around and trying to find one is hard enough, see you finding one that's good for you..." Mitch sighed again, truely annoyed. His past experiences with love weren't the best ever, and they were coming back to him.

"When in hell did you get so damn negative about that? There's not a single guy out there, within Montreal's entire gay population, that wouldn't be nice for you?"

The blonde man pushed himself off the couch in order to sit on it. "Adam set high standards dude... pretty fucking high... finding someone like him is gonna be hell."

"What happened to the "gay men are perfect" theory?"

Mitch furrowed his brows. "You didn't think I was serious, were you?"

"Neither am I now. There's bound to be a guy somewhere, maybe you don't even know he exists..."

"I'm not going to hunt every guy in town to check if he's gay or not, then check if they're Mr. Right." It sounded impossible to find a good guy. "Maybe I'm just too demanding."

Jakob got up and walked to the fridge, taking two water bottles out and tossing one to his friend. "I'd say clear that up with Adam, then see where it's going... but don't get your hopes up."

~ ~ ~ ~

Adam and Raelene had opted for the Starbucks, instead of going back home. With thoughts of his relationship with Mitch, even though it was supposed to be totally fake, he couldn't help but think that he was cheating on the other man. It was an awful feeling. At the café, at least, he could feel less intimate.

"How are you and Mitch doing?"

"Pretty good. I'm going to call him later on and tell him to come over, sometimes I feel like I don't spend much time with him."

"I don't think he'll think you're a bad boyfriend Adam... he knows you're busy with schoolwork. And Mitch is active anyways, he's a big boy, he doesn't need you around all the time."

Raelene had a point; Mitch was much less demanding than his previous girlfriends. Adam shifted a bit on his chair to get more comfortable, and took a sip of the dark beverage. "True. But I like spending time with him." That's one thing he'd have to admit – Mitch was a good friend.

"Call him, tell him you'll meet him up tonight for a surprise, if you know what I mean." The woman winked and smiled; she could picture both men having sex and in all honesty, it turned her on.

"I might do that!" Adam told her, grabbing the cellphone out of his bag. He knew nothing was going to happen sexually with Mitch, but hey. It was nice talking to him. He dialed the number and was ready to count the times until Mitch would pick up – it could be long. Mitch loved loud music. Adam wasn't surprised when the voice box told him to leave a message... which he did. "Hey honey, it's Adam. I'm heading back home at about four, if you wanna meet up, I've got a surprise for you... love you!"

Raelene, excited, giggled like a teenage girl and tapped her foot on the floor. "That's so cute! I wish I'd be there to see that."

"Hey hey hey, I like my privacy, thank you very much. ... I can sneak you in my drawer or something, where you can watch without him knowing."

"Don't tempt me, asshole!" she warned him. "I'll show up at your bedroom door while you'll be doing him so..."

Adam's cheeks turned red as he chortled shyly. They'd be hugging at most, but not having sex. He couldn't exactly picture himself going at it with Mitch... but the way he looked at it, he couldn't picture it with Raelene either. This thought struck him and he shook his head, forcing himself to change his mind. To Adam, it was quite freaky... all this time he wanted to end up with her but he couldn't even see himself having sex with her. "She's a friend now, nothing else!".

"You're not listening are you?"

"I'll be honest, nope, sorry. Kinda got carried away remembering some stuff we did together..."

"Understandable. So I'm gonna repeat – you want something to eat 'cause I'm getting up to buy a piece of cake...?"

Adam lifted his eyes to the ceiling, then shook his head. He wasn't hungry. "No thanks."

~ ~ ~ ~

Adam's cellphone didn't ring before five o'clock – he was still at the café, chattering with Raelene on diverse issues. He wasn't surprised when he heard Mitch's voice on the other end.

"Hey hun, busy?" Mitch asked. His voice sounded distant; Adam thought he was probably having a bad reception.

"Not really, I'm at the Starbucks on Côte-des-Neiges, tried to call you earlier but fell on your voice box."

He could picture the blonde man shrugging and blushing a bit. "Sorry for that. It was off in the class, forgot to turn it on after, then I hung out with Jacob. I'm on the bus right now."

Adam smiled and shifted on his chair. "Don't worry. Wanna drop by home later tonight?" he inquired. He wasn't faking it because Raelene was right in front of him. He felt like spending time with Mitch.

"Oh so that's the surprise. Hell yeah. I'm gonna go train before though, haven't gone in there in two weeks. Sounds good if I meet you at seven or eight?"

"Good with me. I'll see you then hun." Adam blew a kiss at the phone, which made the girl giggle. "Don't spent too much energy, if you know what I mean.