Chapter 1

Parties, who in their right mind decided that they were a necessary part of human social interactions? That’s just me griping to myself about being forced to come to my friend’s house party, it’d have been much better if I was at home playing games with my friends. By the way, I’m the guy leaning against the wall furthest from whatever my friend assumes is a collection of good music and bored as hell. It’s my mate’s house warming party, his first ever house since he stopped living with his parents. That’s an achievement in these modern times where most kids out of college would rather stay at home rather than pay rent themselves.

Speaking of my friend here he comes now, holding a drink and probably about to chew me out for not being sociable.

“Hey! Why you sitting here all by yourself when there’s all these beautiful flowers waiting to be sniffed and licked.”

“Let’s start with the fact that you forced to come out here when I’ve got a mountain of work. And also I don’t know about your fetishes but I don’t just go around licking and sniffing girls, I ain’t a damn dog.”

“Ahhh, don’t be so prickly I only wanted to let you experience normal humans for a while not the deranged psychos you meet every day on the internet and don’t go using work as an excuse because I know you’ve got the day off tomorrow.”

“Tch”

“See, I knew you were lying about being busy. Now take a sip of this and go chat up some lonely cubicle spider like yourself.” Now he’s trying to get me drunk by pressing his drink into my mouth, what am I a baby bird?

“Stop that, I don’t want a hangover on my day off and don’t call cubicle workers spiders, they’re an essential part of the corporate workforce.”

“Okay Mr. lonely forever but try to talk to people I promise that fifty no thirty percent of them aren’t the monsters you think them to be.” He says while staggering over to a group of people who cheer and clap him in the back.

Thirty percent huh? Don’t give me such a low number and think that you’re raising my spirits. That means I have to talk to at least fifteen people just to find one or two decent ones, what a pain. Where should I start? Groups are an absolute danger zone when alone, too much of a chance that I’ll interfere with their conversation and look like a weirdo. Stragglers wandering around randomly are a good start point, they practically live to talk to people. There’s one right there, he’s a bit short though that might just be average height, and pretty skinny but I don’t judge body feature’s since I’m a few chip bags short of majorly fucking my BMI.

“Hey there,” the standard non-committal greeting

“Hello,” he’s being careful too.

“How’s your night going?”

“Decent, it’s a pretty good party.”

“Yeah not too crowded but not deserted either,” does this count as socializing, can I move on to the next person?

“Are you a friend of Alex’s?” he throws an expected question.

“Yeah, I’ve known him since orientation day in college.”

“Whoa, that’s a long time to know someone. I work in the same department as him.”

“Oh that’s pretty interesting, how’s he like at work?” I ask while catching a glimpse of my self-appointed match maker in the distance.

“Pretty much the same as here, nice and sociable.” The kid says while looking off into the distance.

“He’s been annoyingly nice like that from the first day I met him,” that’s the truth, wish he’d find a much better person than me to call a friend.

“So he’s that type of person huh?” the kid, I should really learn his name, remarks while taking a sip of the juice he’s holding, at least there’s one sensible person here.

“Yeah and I’m sorry to ask this so late but what’s your name?”

“Nicholas but everyone just calls me Nicky.” He answers brightly, it’s kind of cute.

“Nicky it is then, I’m Matt.” I’m extending my arm to his and he doesn’t leave me hanging, his arm is nice and soft not sweaty at all and not covered in callouses like some meatheads I know.

I feel like that’s enough talking to little Nicky here, he’s cute but I really want to get through the rest of this party and meet my quota for human interaction.

Looks like Nicky wants to tell me something, his face is flushing madly and his eyes keep darting around the room looking at everything but my eyes maybe he’s looking for an excuse to ditch me and find someone else.

“Hey where’d you get that drink I’m feeling a little parched,” I ask trying to help him find a reason to ditch me without looking like an asshole.

“It’s over- you know it might be better if I just showed you.” Nicky says and starts turning around to guide me.

“You really don’t need to help me,” I say and reach out to grab his shoulder but he just turns towards me and shoots me a very bright smile. “I know, I want to.” He says as he completes turning and starts walking ahead of me.

Hey now, you can’t just say something like that and smile so brightly you’re leaving yourself way too open for attack. I give up trying to figure this kid out and just follow him and then suddenly I notice he’s got a pretty nice profile from the rear at least, a nice curve towards the hips and slender legs, definitely skips leg day though.

Nicky takes me up to a bowl of fruit punch on a low table close to the wall and without even telling him begins to ladle some of the vibrant red liquid into a tumbler for me, he’s such a nice kid maybe I should spend the rest of the night with him since it’d be easier than trying to talk to more people. Alright I’ve made up my mind, I’ll shadow him since he’s being so nice it totally isn’t because I’m too lazy to socialize.

“Here you go,” he says handing me the tumbler which I graciously accept from him and did he just intentionally rub his fingers against mine, no it must be my imagination.

“Thanks,” I say taking a small gulp I wasn’t lying about my thirst and immediately screw my face up slightly.

“What is it?” he asks in a slightly panicked voice.

“Nothing too serious,” I start to say to calm him down, “I think someone added extra seasoning to this punch, of the fermented potatoes variety if you know what I mean.” I finish and notice him smile slightly, thank you for humoring me with that.

“I didn’t notice it when I drank it earlier.” He says staring at his own drink and giving it a small sniff, “do you wanna try another bowl?” he asks me like the nice little angel he is.

“Nah its fine I don’t mind a little alcohol in my punch, it kind of reminds me of high school and college,” I take a smaller sip as I say this, wow whoever spiked the punch really didn’t hold back on the vodka it feels like they emptied the bottle.

“Wanna keep me company Nicky,” I ask the kid who’s been stealing looks at me every time I take a sip.

“Yeah,” he answers immediately and the way his eyes light up would have made me swoon a few years ago but now it barely registers with me.

We both walk past the small groups of people talking and laughing all over the house when I spy a bench at the end of Alex’s garden through the sliding doors in his kitchen, “wanna go to that shady bench far away from everyone and be anti-social with me.” I ask that in a completely sarcastic manner but the look on Nicky’s face tells me that I’ve just suggested a marvelous idea and so we both make our way to the garden but as I let Nicky cross the double doors ahead of me I see Alex coming towards me.

“Yoh you’re not thinking of jumping over the fence and run away,”

“Am not a damn monkey you clown; I was gonna enjoy the fine evening air with one of your coworkers,” I say after he suggests something outrageous and I point out Nicky who’s already in the garden and is now looking back at us.

“Hmm, I think that’s Nicky I didn’t think he’d come,” he says after looking past me into the garden, “look at you, making friends and socializing is fun isn’t it.” He says with a stupid smug look on his face.

“He’s literally the only other person I’ve talked to today and what’s with the insinuation that I can’t socialize like a normal functioning human being, I made friends with you.” I say after feeling slighted by him slightly.

“Heyy don’t take me so seriously I’m just trying to help here. Also I’m the one who made friends with you.” He says while slapping me in the back, stop that it hurts, but then he gets a look on his face like he’s remembering something, “be careful with the kid alright.”

“You afraid I’ll ruin your working relationship with him,” I tease but his face looks slightly serious.

“I don’t know man, folks around the office act strange when he’s around nothing bad from what I’ve heard but he’s strange.”

“Strange? Pfff people have been calling me strange since I was twelve,” I scoff at his suggestion

“Well I’m just saying to be careful not to bite off more than you can chew and you’re not as weird as you used to be.” He adds trying to calm me down even though I’m perfectly calm.

“Fine I’ll make sure the guy who’s half my size doesn’t make me his sex slave now go enjoy your party,” I say while pushing at his back to get him moving.

He relents and starts walking away so I cross the threshold into his back garden and walk towards Nicky who’s already sitting down on the bench.

Alex’s POV I’m watching my friend walk towards the cute looking kid sitting on the bench, I have no idea what he’s planning to do but I know he’s just looking for an excuse to skip talking to people. I don’t hate him for not wanting to interact with my other guests I’ve known the guy too long for that to phase me.

By chance I lock eyes with the kid, Nicky I think, and I feel a shiver race up my spine, the feeling lasts a half second but it sticks with me and when I glance at him again I see his face is beaming and my friend is settling down beside him. I want to ignore the look I saw in his eyes as an illusion but at the same time something tells me to be very cautious of him. The two of them seem to be having some kind of conversation and from their body language they look like they’re both really into it.

‘Should I go over there with some kind of excuse and separate the two of them?’ is the thought that goes through my mind when one of my guests calls me over from inside the living room and I leave the room.

‘I’ll just trust him to take care of it,’ is what I use to console myself but the look Nicky gave me is still fresh in my head, he looked like he wanted to kill.

Matt’s POV I change my mind about parties they’re pretty cool although I am just saying that because I found someone who isn’t boring or annoying to me. This kid doesn’t seem like more than eye candy on the surface but a few minutes of conversation later and its clear he’s got a lot more going on with him.

“So what’s a young dude like you doing at an engineering firm,” I ask after a few more minutes of conversation with him.

“I’d like to say it’s because I love engineering and making the world a better place but the truth is that I had bills to pay and our boss likes to shower us in money.”

“That explains how my dumb friend was able to buy a house with practically zero mortgage, damn I should have majored in engineering,” I really should have but I had a falling out with physics early.

“I’m sure you would have been an amazing engineer.” He comforts me while leaning against my shoulder.

“Tell me Nicky, do you have anyone to spend your stacks of cash with?” I ask pushing on his shoulder with my own and sipping on the spiked punch.

“What made you ask that question,” he asks taking me up on my little challenge.

“Just curious, there’s plenty of single ladies here for you to use as stress relief,” I counter back.

“I like that you refer to women as stress relief so nonchalantly,’’ he chuckles while replying.

“Hey I’m no misogynist and I do believe in being open about what I think about people, makes shit less complicated when I’m not constantly pretending to be interested.”

“So what do you think of me?” he challenges looking me straight in the eyes.

“You look like fun to me and I’d like to know more about you,” I answer sincerely staring right back and after a few seconds he blushes and looks away. Yeah I just went ahead and stated my intentions to this kid, I think the alcohol may have something to do with my situation but I’m not really sure because this kid is messing with my head.

Should I go through with this it might end up really ugly if I mess it up, ahh hell what’s life without taking risks that might just end with death and sexual enslavement. With my mind made up I extend my right arm and wrap it around Nicky’s shoulders pulling him in close and surprising him. Hey, don’t look at me like that you’ll make me do something weird to you.

“So is this as far as your willing to take things tonight?” more challenges from Nicky as he wraps his own arm around my waist.

Deciding to put the kid in his place as well as play a dirty little trick on this cheeky little bastard I take a sip of my drink and then without wasting a second pull his head close to mine and mash our lips together while sending a gulp of the punch down into his mouth and making sure he swallows. He pulls back from the kiss and makes a pained face probably from the vodka and hopefully not from the kiss and then looks at me with a very flushed face.

“Got anything more to say,” I challenge the now blushing Nicky before pulling him in close again and give him a small peck on his lips and pulling back but without any more forcing on my part his lips draw close to mine and he returns the kiss timidly at first but when I press further I feel his confidence grow and his kiss gets fiercer. Satisfied with this development I let myself melt into it and twist my head to the side to get a better angle and after swiping my tongue across his lips I feel his mouth open up and slide it inside waging a small battle where he submits to me and moans into my mouth while squeezing me tighter.

We keep up this kiss for what seems like an eternity when I suddenly hear the glass sliding door form the kitchen open up and break the kiss though Nicky is reluctant to let it go. We both glance at the door to see who interrupted us and spot a very inebriated looking individual leaning against the wall with his eyes shut and his face turned towards the sky.

“Must’ve come to get some air,” I murmur without thinking much of it.

“I hope he falls over and dies,” Nicky says and that’s when I notice to distinct emotions on his face lust, which is clear from just observing his face and rage which is reflected in his eyes. Hey now. I hate being cock-blocked too but there’s no need to get so worked up over it.