Chris knew it could have been worse. His roommate could have been messier, louder, more rude. The kinds of things his friends all complained about. Instead, he complained about Tyler. Tyler, who walked around in his underwear with the window wide open so everyone could see. Tyler, who stared at him while he got dressed and made comments. Who kicked Chris out every week to have sex with a new guy or girl from one of his classes.
His roommate just had to be Tyler, who jerked himself off every night while they were both in the dorm. It started pretty early, just after orientation week. The instant the lights went out, there was a certain shifting of sheets and the swallowing of urgent breath. Sometimes Chris would roll over, crack open an eye to watch Tyler's face lit up by the porn on his phone screen. Sometimes he'd even reach cautiously under his own sheets, gripping his cock beneath his underwear and giving it a tentative stroke, but he could never really commit. He was always too cautious.
Most of the time he just laid there in silence, desperately hard. He watched Tyler let out a few beautiful little gasps, cumming onto himself and wiping it casually onto his sheets. Adding one more stain to the sea of them. Though he pretended to be asleep, Chris always saw Tyler falling asleep in his own filth like nothing had happened before Chris could even convince his body to rest.
He tried talking to his friends about it.
"Ew, and you haven't told him to stop?" Kayla said when he told her. One of Chris's closest acquaintances, Kayla had maneuvered her way out of two roommates since starting at the school.
"No. I don't know," Chris shifted in his dining hall seat. He couldn't stop glancing up at Tyler, who sat across the dining hall laughing with a group of friends. He hated the shock of pleasure that ripped through his body when Tyler laughed. "It just feels weird," he continued, "I wouldn't know how to bring it up."
"Well, if you can't bring it up to him you can always bring it up to housing." Chris nodded along with what Kayla was saying, but didn't really listen. Instead, he watched Tyler's ass as he stood up from his table. He imagined grabbing it, pressed crotch to crotch with Tyler, both pulling each other closer, faster. Chris caught his breath in his throat when Tyler turned and met his eyes with a cocky smirk. He felt like he had been caught doing something horrible, and tried to play it off like he had meant to be looking at something else.
"Oh my god," Kayla broke Chris out of his fantasies, "Is he over there? You really have a little sexy roommate thing going on, huh?" Kayla laughed.
"Shut up. It's embarrassing." Chris was mortified by the whole situation, and spent the rest of his dinner with a running stream of embarrassing thoughts about Tyler in the back of his mind.
When Chris walked back to his dorm building that evening he glanced up and, sure enough, there was Tyler. Fully illuminated in the open window, his cock and balls visibly cradled in his grey cotton briefs. Tyler glanced out the window too, and waved down at Chris with a grin. Chris was mesmerized by his body as Tyler approached the window. Chris watched him press a hand against a mirror. Slowly, Tyler pushed the band of his underwear down, showing his hip bones, then his pubic hair, then just the edge of his cock before Chris's head snapped forward. Did he really? Chris couldn't look. He just couldn't. With his eyes turned down, Chris walked quickly into the building and hoped no one else had seen Tyler's display. Or, even worse, he had connected himself to the event. Chris shook off his embarrassment and twisted the doorknob to enter his room.
"You didn't like my little show?" Tyler said with a snort, pulling on a pair of overly-tight jeans.
"Not really," Chris responded, though the flutter in his abdomen said otherwise. He threw his bag beside his bed and glanced over a few times at Tyler, who was currently cycling through a series of different tank tops revealing his narrow, muscled shoulders.
"Are you going to Deckard?" Of course Tyler was going to some party. Which meant Chris would probably be kicked out again so his roommate could have a random drunk hookup.
"No. Don't you have an 8am tomorrow?"
"Yeah, but Rebecca's friends are hosting thirsty Thursday so I can get jungle juice for free. Plus, I think James is gonna be there." Chris remembered James. He was probably the closest thing their small school had to an athlete, with a broad body and the competitive temperament to match. Chris could have sworn he was straight, until he noticed him pressing Tyler up against a wall and shoving his tongue down his throat.
"How do I look?" Tyler asked, after Chris had spent a good moment pretending to work on a philosophy essay. Chris stared at his roommate, who struck several elaborate and overly-sensual poses. He couldn't stifle a small laugh at Tyler's behavior, but appreciated the chance to take in his body. Those long legs, with pants that hugged his muscular thighs. The collarbone, tan skin, and sharp bones of the face. Chris figured his roommate was probably philipino or something, but had never asked. It felt rude to ask. It felt rude to say any number of the things he wanted to say to Tyler, so Chris swallowed his pride and said simply,
"Good." Tyler held his gaze with a silent intensity, then broke into a smile and responded
