Good Guys Don't Date Bad Boys

Author's note: Time for replying to some comments!

@Anon - yeap, it will be a slow burn, peppered with spicy scenes!

@BlowPopJ - thank you for being here, always!

@reederfeeder - this story is also about the power of words and clickbait - yes, it was a small incident and it was quickly blown out of proportion. Also, I'm thinking of Sunny Hill as smaller than the numbers you talked about.

@Hutchison12 - Jonathan's past won't be revealed until later, sorry about that.

@carmelcookee - great to hear :)

@Anon - yes, Jonathan will have the chance to admire Maddox in all his naked glory!

@bienclar - I do not actually write the new chapters between posting them, so ch. 2 was already written when ch. 1 was up. Duly noted on the proofreading and I'm enlisting a friend's help, but the corrections might not appear for a few chapters, as everyone has busy times. I'm not sure what you mean about BMOC, but Maddox is handsome enough and easygoing and pleasant as a person, to make him popular. And he's not just handsome, he is striking.

@Anon - thank you for enjoying my writing!

I hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

*

Chapter Three -- Here We Go Again

The small cooktop could barely serve the purpose, but Jonathan decided to try his hand at cooking anyway. After all, boiling some pasta and preparing some sauce that didn't come in a tube or plastic package along with the entire list of preservatives ever created by mankind wasn't that hard as he had discovered ever since he had left home.

"That smells nice," Ray said as he stuck his head in.

"If you're hungry, I'll have everything ready in about five minutes," Jonathan said.

"Awesome." Ray sat at the small table that could accommodate two people at the best of its capabilities. "So, JJ, you have nothing to fess up?"

"Fess up?" Jonathan turned toward his roommate. Ray was eyeing him while fiddling his thumbs, the perfect impersonation of a parent waiting for a naughty child to spill the beans about breaking his grandmother's one-century old porcelain vase. "Like what?"

"Really?" Ray seemed surprised. "Do I have to find out from Xpress that you got paired with Maddox freaking Kingsley for your Statistics project?"

Jonathan groaned. "That little publication is starting to scare me. Why is such a thing important? Does it list who everyone else is partnering with?"

"Just the important people," Ray said with a shrug. "When were you going to tell me?"

"Ray, Maddox is just a student like everyone else. And we happen to share a class, hence the possibility of us ending up as project partners, with a probability of --"

Ray put his hand up. "I'm going to stop you right there before you launch into some math dissertation that will make me doze off. So, did you talk to him?"

"Briefly," Jonathan said and pretended that the sauce needed some vigorous stirring.

"Well, did he say anything about why he chose you?"

Jonathan turned toward Ray again. "What do you mean? The professor chose all the pairings."

Ray smiled slyly. "Not according to Xpress. Apparently, a certain student had a little chat with your prof right before the lecture, insisting that he must be paired up with the new guy."

"Stop reading that thing, Ray, I mean it. I doubt that happened." Jonathan placed two plates on the table. When he went for the forks, his right hand did a weird thing, and the utensils ended on the floor with a loud clatter.

"Something happened with you two, and you're not telling," Ray accused him openly, but in the same playful manner of his.

"What could possibly happen? We barely met. All right, since you insist so much. I talked to him, I apologize for mistaking him for a drug dealer, and we hugged."

He hadn't intended to let that little tidbit drop, but he couldn't take it back now.

"O.M.G, JJ, that's awesome! So you're friends with him now?"

"I wouldn't say that. But we're no longer on the brink of nuclear war," Jonathan replied.

That if he didn't count what took place south of his belt whenever he happened to be within ten feet of Maddox Kingsley.

"Oh, oh, oh," Ray continued to express his excitement, slapping his cheeks and grinning broadly, "that means that we're going to get invited to all the parties. Hooray to us and goodbye, social exclusion!"

"I had no idea you disliked it that much," Jonathan teased him. "I'd say being invisible to the social body is not entirely a bad thing."

"Yeah, easy to say when you're a six point four hunk dressed in tailored clothes and looking like a classic movie star," Ray said without breathing for a moment.

"Aw, you really mean that?" Jonathan joked and let his eyelashes flutter in a coy gesture.

"You know I'm right. I suppose you could do with a little less attention, well, provided that you don't declare war on the BMOC on your first day of school, but I take whatever I can, thank you very much. Hey, I hope you're not going to ditch me now that you're popular?"

Jonathan laughed and tousled Ray's hair. "Like I'd do that. You're my bestie, right?"

Well, he didn't have to believe everything Ray was reading online on that tabloid, but it did make him wonder. Had Maddox done that? And if 'yes', why?

***

"What are you up to?" Dex asked and pushed him with his elbow as Maddox fiddled with his phone.

"Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me. You've been doing nothing but look at your phone for the last half hour since I got home. You haven't said a word."

"Totally true," Kane piped in. "And you didn't even eat your tacos," he added, pointing at the untouched meal in front of him.

"Yeah, can I have those?" Rusty reached for the plate, and Maddox slapped his hand away promptly.

"No, you can't. And I was just checking... the weather," he said defensively.

"The weather," Dex said slowly.

Maddox stared at his friends, one by one. There were certain exchanges between Kane and Dex he didn't like. Rusty didn't appear affected, but when was he ever?

"All right," Kane said, narrowing his eyes. "Who is she?"

"There is no 'she'," Maddox replied.

"Yeah, sure." Kane continued to examine him with shrewd eyes. "She must be giving you the cold shoulder if you're so distracted."

"Hey, nobody gives the cold shoulder to my bro," Rusty jumped to his defense right away.

"Yeah, thank you, Rusty. Here, have a taco." He threw a small wrap at his friend, who caught it deftly. "I'm not distracted, but very much focused," Maddox added and waved his phone.

Dex was quick to snatch it from his hand. "Let's find out what you're so focused on."

The ping of an incoming message, supposedly the one he had been waiting for all day long, spurred him into instant action. He lunged at Dex so fast that not even his athletic friend had a chance to prevent him from snatching his phone back. In the blink of an eye, he noticed the sender, so he cradled his phone to his chest like it was a matter of national security and darted out of the room.

"Hey, what the hell, man? Who's your sweetheart?" Dex called after him.

"Let him be. He'll fess up sooner or later," Kane said loud enough for him to hear it even as he rushed up the stairs to his bedroom.

He made sure to lock the door and pressed his back against it. Then, after one deep breath, he checked the message.

When is a good time for you to meet up and talk about the project?

Maddox smiled. For the entire day, he had waited for Jonathan to contact him. In the short message, he could practically hear the correct pronunciation of each word, the rich vowels, the ups and downs of that low pleasant voice. He couldn't be the one to make the first move, especially after locking himself in the bathroom and doing the unthinkable while thinking of the guy. He was locking himself in the bedroom, which surely looked mighty suspicious to his friends downstairs, but right now, he couldn't give a damn about that.

What he did give a damn was for Jonathan to be the first to contact him. Wait, why was he so excited? Maddox shook his head. Well, whatever happened earlier had to be a fluke. Now that he had jerked off and his balls were dried out, for the time being, he could see the guy without having any unusual fantasies. And since he was a man of action, he had to check that theory sooner rather than later. Meeting up with Jonathan and spending time with the guy would make things perfectly clear, meaning that he was a straight guy who had just had a gay fantasy by accident.

Are you free right now? Let's meet at the library.

He hit 'send' and waited. Who knew seconds could feel so long. Why was Jonathan typing so slowly?

I'll be there in ten. But I must warn you that I won't be able to spend more than an hour on this today.

Maddox pondered and rubbed his chin in thought.

Got a date or something?

Who could snatch Jonathan so quickly? Yeah, they were no longer at war, as everyone must have heard by now, but really, who could be so fast to snatch the guy?

No, I'm working.

Phew, not a date. Wait a minute, working?

You're working?

Why did the guy have to work? He was there on an academic scholarship and looked like some couple of one-percenters' offspring.

Yes.

Maddox waited for a follow-up on that, but it looked like nothing happened.

Why? He sent the message quickly.

For the same reason everybody does. Money.

Maddox scratched his head.

You seem surprised, or is it just my impression? A second text from Jonathan followed.

Yeah. I mean, you reek of old money.

All right, maybe he had worded that kind of weirdly, but it was precisely what he was thinking, and he usually said whatever crossed his mind.

I see. Are you at the library yet? I'm on my way, and I don't have that much time to spare.

Maddox straightened up and then took a quick look at his clothes. They'd do. It wasn't like he was going on a date or something. And phone text Jonathan seemed pricklier than in real life. He sighed in content. Yeah, today must have been a fluke. This guy who didn't care to chat outside whatever they needed to talk about was kind of obnoxious. Maddox grabbed his laptop bag and walked out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Kane questioned him as soon as he was in his friends' line of sight.

"To the library," Maddox quipped. "Working on a project."

There was another meaningful exchange between Kane and Dex.

"Tell her we'd like to meet her," Dex teased him with a crooked grin.

"Geesh, guys, just drop it. There's no girl involved. I'm really going to the library."

He didn't wait for more teasing to happen and walked out the door. Well, after checking that his temporary attraction slash insanity involving Jonathan Hamilton was nothing but a fluke, he would get himself a girl. To be back into action was everything he needed, after all.

***

Jonathan perused the case studies spread in front of him while consulting extra data on his laptop. Maddox sat across from him, looking just as distracting as always, which practically meant good enough to kiss and devour slowly one inch of his over six feet in height at a time. To focus on hard cold numbers was the best therapy. He had decided to text Maddox so quickly since he clearly needed some exposure to the subject of his maddening attraction just so that he could deal with it better and faster.

So far, it didn't work that great, but he was putting in the best of his efforts. Each time Maddox's eyes lingered on him, he could sense a slight tremble in his fingers, like right now. To steady them for the moment, he searched for his glasses. He wore them only while studying for long hours, and since there was a bit of ground to cover to decide on the best course of their project, he could use them.

Also, they could serve as armor between him and the perfect male beauty across from him--a flimsy piece of armor, but still.

"I didn't know you wore glasses," Maddox said.

Was it just his imagination, or had those words been said in a ragged whisper? The problem with Maddox was that he exuded sex. He could probably make sneezing sexy or something crazy like that.

Jonathan shook his head. How many times did he need to masturbate to get over this senseless crush? Obviously, as rational as he wished to be, his body seemed to have taken a life of its own, doing whatever it pleased.

"Yes, I wear glasses. And there are many things you don't know about me since we've barely met."

"Right," Maddox admitted. "Hey, where did you go to school before coming here?"

Jonathan threw the other a look that he hoped was chilling enough to prevent any further conversation. "We're here to talk about the project, not me. Here, take a look at these." He turned his laptop toward his project partner.

Maddox frowned for a moment, but then his attention turned to the screen. He began talking, offering his insight, and Jonathan fell quiet. Clearly, the Mad Dawg of Sunny Hill was more than met the eye. Everything he said made perfect sense, but Jonathan had to pretend to look at the books opened on their table to avoid getting blindsided again.

Watching Maddox from so up close was bad, truly bad for his nerves. How was he going to survive his junior year?

"Well, we set up the ground for it, so I think we'll do well," he concluded one hour later, as Maddox stood up and hiked his bag over his shoulder.

Jonathan winced internally at those rolled-up sleeves. The only saving grace was that Maddox really had amazing arms. But it would be bad taste to comment anything on that, given that they were hardly acquaintances.

"Yeah. Good work, man." Maddox smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "Don't you have to get to work? I could drive you there, wherever it is."

"No need. I work here, at the library." Jonathan consulted his wristwatch. "I start in about ten minutes. Don't worry about these," he pointed at all the material on the table. "I'll return them. And thank you for your offer."

"Yeah, sure." Maddox dragged his feet a little like he didn't want to leave just yet.

Jonathan stared at him for a moment. "Well, it's been a pleasure," he said perfunctorily. "See you in Statistics, right? Hey, can I ask you a question?"

The gray eyes lit up with new interest. "Sure."

"There is this weird rumor that you asked that you'd be paired with me for this," Jonathan said, proud of his unwavering voice.

A lopsided grin was the immediate reply. "So what if I did?"

Jonathan opened his mouth and closed it. He should have asked 'why', but his courage had apparently taken him only this far.

Maddox moved away, the same mysterious and unnerving smile on his face. He threw Jonathan a few looks over his shoulder on his way out.

And Jonathan stood there, absolutely nonplussed. First of all, this exposure therapy had proven useless so far. His attraction toward the resident bad boy was just as strong as before, if not made worse. Throughout the last hour, he had been able to observe numerous other details about Maddox, such as how he had the curliest and darkest eyelashes he had ever seen in his life or how his hands must be so calloused from lifting weights or something like that -- which probably came in handy given his strange choice of extra-curricular activities -, or how the corners of his mouth curled and triggered the cutest dimples in existence whenever he smiled, something he often did.

Those weren't the only details he had noticed, of course, but he needed to stop for the sake of his sanity. The second reason for his current state of perplexity was how smart Maddox truly was. Why would a guy like that get into illegal fights, something that had clearly earned him that idiotic nickname? He obviously had the smarts to be a top student.

He started to gather all the books, more and more aggravated by his lack of common sense when it came to hot young men like Maddox. No, this wouldn't be a case of history repeating, he told himself. One time was an accident. Two times, well, that would be a habit.

A really bad habit.

***

Maddox dropped on the sofa and groaned in absolute disappointment with himself. Well, that had gone completely wrong. He had barely managed to keep his head in the game, as Jonathan had calmly and relentlessly thrown heaps of information at him.

Rusty came into the room. "Back so soon from your date?"

Unlike Kane and Dex, who liked to tease him, Rusty actually meant the question as he meant everything else he ever said.

"I wasn't on a date," Maddox said. "Did those two clowns really assume that?"

Rusty shrugged and sat by his side. "They seem sure you have a crush or something. They're taking bets."

"On who I'm crushing on?"

"They use the scientific method. The first bet is on what year she is in."

"Ah, I see." Maddox wasn't surprised. It was the unwritten rule that whoever had a crush had to be teased by the others. Kane, the asshole, had it good since he already had a steady girlfriend. The others were free game. "Hey, listen, have you ever imagined how it would be to come on someone's glasses?"

Rusty considered the question with a thoughtful frown on his face. "Sunglasses or prescription?"

"Prescription," Maddox replied.

"Do they have light sensitive lenses or clear?"

He failed to see how that was important, but he was the one who needed to find out an answer to a pressing question. "Clear, I suppose."

With rimless design and a platinum finish frame, but he didn't add that.

"Are they on the person wearing them or would you like to come on them if they were like on a table or something?" Rusty continued his inquiry.

"Seriously? Why are you asking so many questions?"

"When it comes to kinks, you gotta be specific," Rusty explained. "Otherwise, you might end up ordering the wrong thing from the sex shop, and then having to find an explanation when your parents stumble over a pair of twelve-inch heels at the back of your closet."

That sounded like something that could happen to Rusty. He had a thing for costume play, and not once his very transitory girlfriends had been seen leaving his bedroom in the strangest getups possible.

"How did that come about?" he asked.

Rusty shrugged. "They weren't her size. Even legends have their bad days."

Maddox couldn't agree more, given his current situation and much distracting thoughts involving a particular new transfer to their college.

"So?" Rusty asked, still waiting for an answer.

"Okay, on the person wearing them," Maddox replied. And that person was wearing them in style like he was born to star in ads for the latest fashion.

"Well, no."

"What?"

"You asked me if I ever imagined that, so I'm giving you the answer," Rusty replied promptly.

Maddox patted his friend on the back. "Thanks, buddy, you've been of great help."

"Anytime, man."

Yeah, what he liked about Rusty was how the guy never pestered him like the other two fools. Even right now, when Maddox practically served him a thousand reasons to tease him relentlessly, Rusty didn't take the bait and behaved like a bona fide friend.

However, that didn't solve his problem. "I'm heading for a shower. Wanna go out for drinks later?"

"Sure," Rusty said with a shrug.

"Really? After calling dibs on half the campus, you still don't have a date?"

"I need to make a comparison chart first and choose accordingly."

That sounded like Rusty, too.

Maddox was fast to climb the stairs, shed all his clothes, and head for the shower. He let the water pour over his head and body, hoping for a little bit of reprieve after all the sensory assault from earlier. Yeah, he totally wanted to come all over those glasses, now that he had seen them. And yes, he wanted them to be attached to the person, while the guy knelt in front of him and blinked lazily and waited for him to shoot.

Maddox grabbed his cock and pulled back the skin. For a couple of moments, he stared at his former best friend as he held it by the root and watched the head pulse and getting ready for action.