Chapter Three

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On their way back to the apartment, Lawson invited Nate back to his dorm. His afternoon class had been canceled, and the next class either of them would need to go to was Chemistry, so his amount of free time for the day had increased dramatically.

To Lawson's surprise, Nathan cracked a smile at the offer, before saying, "that's a lot of time for us to spend together, don't you think?"

Lawson laughed, because it was a lot of time for them to spend together, but he'd rather put up with it than have Nathan be lonely. This seemed to be understood and appreciated by his friend because he thanked Lawson, but then rejected the offer, claiming he was going to take a nap until they had class, and he would rather do so without Wesley ogling him the entire time. This was probably an accurate summary of what would commence if Nate returned with Lawson, so he understood perfectly, and dropped Nate off at the door to his apartment without another word about it.

For some reason, Wesley found Nanthan to be just as attractive as himself- this was not even close to being true, in Lawson's opinion- and he enjoyed making Nate as uncomfortable as possible whenever he came around to their room, which, because of this, wasn't often. Lawson actually found the whole situation incredibly funny, though he'd never admit that to either Wesely or Nathan, for two very different reasons.

As he contemplated this, Lawson found a parking spot relatively close to his building, reducing his walk from the typical twenty minutes it usually took to a few short minutes. Many of the students attending the college were like him, from the area, so during the week the parking lots were often filled with the cars of computers, and they didn't clear until the library closed at one in the morning.

The extra time could be nice if Lawson actually took advantage of it instead of sitting on his phone all afternoon. He did have a new assignment for his short stories class, even though it had been canceled- he had received it via email while on the court with Nathan- and it was one of those things that if he didn't do immediately, he wasn't likely to do it at all.

He entered his room, and immediately it was clear to him that Wesley wasn't expecting him. Hastily, Lawson apologized, throwing his hands up to cover his face just in case. After an incident that involved Wesley, no clothing, a cell phone, his boyfriend, and bad timing from Lawson, they had agreed to always let one another know when they were going to be returning to the room at any time they were supposed to be in class.

There were a moment of pause, and then Wesley laughed loudly. "I'm clothed, you idiot," Wesley assured, and Lawson dropped his hands from his face, finally allowing himself to look at the room. Wesley was laying across his bed on his stomach, his laptop open on the pillows. Delaney's face was on the screen. "Guess my cloths are staying on, babe". Even though Lawson couldn't see Wesley's face, he knew his roomate had winked.

"I'd hope so, Lawson looked horrified with the idea of you naked," Del responded, voice even. From what Lawson could see of the computer screen, Delaney's attention was elsewhere, most likely on some kind of school work. If that was the case, it was impressive. Lawson knew first hand how difficult it was to get work done with Wesley constantly talking at you.

"I can go-" Lawson began to offer.

Delaney's voice interrupted him from the computer. "He was joking. His clothes weren't actually about to come off. You're fine". Wesley pouted at his boyfriend and Lawson nodded, still a bit unsure.

Delaney was attending a university about an hour minutes west of them, and the distance seemed to make Wesley's obsession with his boyfriend grow- or at least Lawson hoped it wasn't always this bad for Del's sake. Over the weeks of living with Wesley, Lawson had actually become quite well acquainted with the boyfriend, due to weekend visits- there had been two already in their four weeks of living together- and Wesley's need to include Lawson in on their conversations whenever he was in the room while they were video chatting.

Del said something softy then that didn't quite reach Lawson's ear, and Wesley sighed dreamily before smiling at his laptop. For just a second, Delaney's eyes flicked up to the camera to look at his boyfriend, and then back down again. Wes glanced over his shoulder to look at Lawson. "Don't you usually have class at this time?"

"Canceled," Lawson responded, "sorry, I forgot to text. I was driving".

"That's alright," Wesley said, sounding distracted as he looked at his screen and worried his lip. "Do you need to do homework or something? We can-"

"You guys are fine," Lawson cut in quickly, knowing Wesley was going to offer to end his call to give him silence. "Really".

"We won't be a distraction?" Wes inquired.

"You're the distracting one," Delaney pointed out, making Wesley gasp in mock offense, and Lawson smile at the banter. They were often like this.

"I'm getting good at tuning you out," Lawson told Wesley, who turned his head to pout at him as Lawson gathered his school work from his desk and crawled into bed with it. "Just don't try to include me". Wesley's mouth parted wide, probably to protest with some annoying argument, but before he could, Delaney laughed. This, as it always seemed to, cleared Wesley's brain, and he turned back to smile at his laptop screen, brown eyes alight with happiness.

"So mean, Laney," Wes accused. Lawson pulled his blankets over his lap before opening his anthology. "Laney, say hi to Lawson and then we're going to leave him alone".

"Hi Lawson," Del greated. "Thank you for putting up with my idiot boyfriend all the time". Once again, Wes looked wounded, but he turned the camera when Lawson instructed him to so he could smile at the boy on screen. They were a striking couple, Wesley and Delaney. While Wesley looked like a model, Delaney looked like he would be cast in a movie aimed for tennagers as the bad boy heart throb.

"I don't know how you do it year round," Lawson teased before Wesley huffed and turned the screen back to face himself.

"I repay him with looking incredibly handsome all the time," Wesley informed Del, who laughed softly, but didn't bother to correct him. He was incredibly handsome, afterall.

After that, Wesley turned the volume on his laptop down and continued their conversation in a hushed voices that were easy for Lawson to ignore as he analyzed the short story for his english class, highlighting and circling when necessary. It almost felt good, he thought, doing work that he understood rather than looking at numbers for hours and hours and still not understanding what any of them meant.

Usually, his negative thoughts of math tended to deter him from studying the subject, so it was a surprise to even him when twenty minutes later, after he had finished his analysis, he found himself arranging his calculus textbook and notebook on the mattress in front of his folded legs. He didn't really want to do math, but he did have a test in two days, and he was curious to see if he had retained any of the information Sean had attempted to teach him that morning.

Approximately four minutes, and a broken pencil lead later, he was laying across his bed on his stomach, crushing his text book as he looked at the page in his notebook that he had taped Sean's phone number to. He had done immediately prior to coming back to his room after class, knowing if he didn't put it somewhere, he'd misplace it almost instantly. For some reason, this seemed like a horrible outcome, even though Lawson doubted he would ever call the number. Honestly, Lawson didn't really know why he kept it. The idea of calling Sean and asking him for help was almost a terrifying as losing the number in the first place. They barely knew one another, and calling Sean so soon after already receiving his help would make him think Lawson was an even bigger idiot than he initially let on- which, admittedly, he was, but still.

Lawson went over the numbers one last time, considering crushing the paper and throwing it into the bin right by his bed, but instead he carefully ran his thumb over the tape to make sure it was secure before closing his notebook. As he stared up at the ceiling, wondering exactly what the chances were of him not failing Wednesday's test, Wesley and Delaney's conversation seemed to be coming to an end.

They were exchanging their usual goodbyes, accompanied with breathlessly sad I miss you's and promises to visit soon. It was silent for a minute then, and Lawson was tempted to turn his head to see if they had ended the call. He hadn't heard the laptops usual sound that signified the ending of a call, so he doubted it. A second later, Delaney confirmed his suspicions with a quiet, "I love you".

Wesley breathed out a small laugh and said, "I love you too".

The laptop dinged, and a second later, Lawson could hear Wesley moving off of his bed. He turned his head and watched his roommate move his laptop to his desk. When Wes turned back around, their eyes met, and the attractive boy smiled. "Eavesdropping, Lawson?"

He ignored the accusation and instead asked his own question. "How long have you two been together?"

Wesley look pleasantly surprised. The question was apparently taken as an invitation to join him, because Wesley came to sit on the edge of Lawson's bed before also flopping back onto the mattress, perpendicular to Lawson. "You've never asked me about this before," Wesley pointed out. "We've been living together for a month, and you've met Laney in person twice, and you've never shown interest before. Why now?"

"Because I'm procrastinating and curious," was Lawson response, and Wes chuckled. He knew about a Lawson's conflicting relationship with Calculus. "So, are you going to answer the question of not: how long have you two been together?" There was another moment of silence, and Lawson was just about to tell Wes if he didn't answer he could get off of his bed, but a second later Wesley was speaking, his voice soft in a way that it only was when he was talking about Del.

"Our entire lives," he said, and Lawson's eyebrows shot up. "He's my best friend. Always has been. We met when we were five and have been inseparable since".

"Wow," Lawson breathed, thinking about how lucky Wesley was to have something like that with his best friend, or to even have a best friend to begin with. Typically, Lawson attempted to avoid such thoughts, but he found since he was already trying to keep himself from thinking about school, it made not thinking about other things more difficult. It made him a little jealous, but he reminded himself that there was no need to be, since he was perfectly content on his own. "How long have you been together romantically?"

"Since our sophomore year". Wesley said it casually, as if it wasn't a long time, and Lawson turned his head to look up at him, only to find him staring at the ceiling with a fond smile. "I'd been in love with him for years at that point, since I learned what love was, I think, but I didn't realize he felt the same, even though all of our other friends told me he did. I ended up tricking him into fake dating me to get some other guy off my back, and then we just kind of ended up real dating". This made Lawson snort, and Wesley finally turned his face to look at him. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing". Lawson smiled at him. "It's just something I can see you doing. Tricking Del into dating you". Lawson was expecting a pout in response to this, but instead Wesley laughed, turning his face back up to the ceiling. Lawson did the same briefly, and then a comfortable silence fell over them that had his mind already moving back to math. "Fuck".

"What?"

"I'm going to fail my test". There was a sigh, and then Wesley was picking up Lawson's math notebook.

"Let me look at this," Wesley said in his I will fix everything voice, as if he was planning on actually helping Lawson. This was funny, since Wesley struggled just as much with his own algebra course. Just as Lawson was going to bring this up, and then maybe hit Wes with his notebook a few times, the boy was speaking again, voice now light with curiosity. "Hey, whose number is this?"

Quickly, Lawson sat up and shifted around on his mattress so he was facing Wes, who had rolled onto his stomach. He was looking at Sean's number taped to the top of the page he had opened to. Quickly, Lawson tried to snatch the book away from his roommate, but failed when he jerked it backwards and raised his eyebrows. "Oh". Lawson didn't like how that sounded.

"It's not like that," Lawson defended immediately, leaning over Wesley to retrieve the notebook. This time, Wesley easily gave it up, his eyes still on Lawson's face with a smile. "He's just..."

"So it's a he then," Wes observed, eyes flashing as his eyebrows raised. "I didn't realize you swung that way. I wouldn't have flirted with you as often".

"I-" Lawson cut off and averted his eyes before huffing. "That's besides the point. The point is that he didn't give me his phone number for me to use it". That really didn't make sense, and Wesley's eyes narrowed. "I mean, not in a romantic way. The only interest he has in me is the interest to tutor me".

"What does he get out of tutoring you?" Wesley inquired, and Lawson immediately thought back to Professor Blackwater telling him that Sean was a good kid. Instead of answering, Lawson simply shrugged. "He was totally flirting with you". Wes sat up and folded his legs under himself, facing Lawson. "Was he cute?" As he thought about his surprise when he first saw Sean, Lawson's eyes flitted away. Dark hair just long enough to curl at the very ends, blue grey eyes, the perfect combination of soft and sharp facial features, and, if Lawson recalled correctly, the subtle smell of ocean scented body wash. It took him too long to answer, and he realized this the second he looked back at Wesley to find him grinning. "So he is cute!"

"Hey!" Lawson snapped, flustered. "I was thinking". Still, he didn't deny that Wesley was right- because yes, Sean was cute- and Wesley seemed to realize that too, because his smile didn't fade. "Wes, none of this matters. He just wants to help me with math".

"Math, and your sad love life".

"Hey!"

"So, are you gonna call him?" Wes propped his elbow onto his knee and leaned forward to rest his chin in his hand. With a sigh, Lawson looked down at the paper and brushed his thumb over Sean's number. The pencil was smudged, and when Lawson looked at his finger, it has grey lead dust on it.

"I don't know... I mean, he just gave me his number today-"

"You're right," Wes interrupted and Lawson frowned. "Don't want to sound too eager"- or stupid- "Maybe you should wait until Wednesday".

"He's not interested in me!" Lawson reminded. Usually, Lawson tried to keep irritation out of his voice when talking to Wesley, since it only seemed to fuel the other boy, but with this conversation, it seemed impossible. The annoyance grew when Wesley laughed and climbed off his bed.

"Whatever you say, Lawson. Whatever you say". With narrowed eyes, Lawson watched Wesley wander around the room and gather his things. Before he left, he instructed, "try not to be late for two classes in one day".

Lawson checked his phone for the time, and then began to shove his pencils and calculator into his backpack for Chemistry. He was- still annoyed but- thankful Wesley had said something, or he expected Nathan would be very upset with him.

Before he closed his math notebook, he gave Sean's phone number one last look.

***

Nathan was waiting for him at their lab table, but instead of staring at the door as he typically did when Lawson entered at the last second- because if Lawson didn't show Nate was screwed- his attention was on his cellphone. It wasn't much of a surprise when Lawson thought about it, and when he pulled out the lab stool across from Nathan, he said, "you're going to have to put that away when class starts," because he feared if he didn't say anything, Nate would be distracted the entire class. Instead of responding verbally, Nathan chewed his lip and nodded, ducking out of view as he bent to put his phone away in his backpack. When he rose, he finally met Lawson's eyes. He looked nervous. "Did Glenn respond?"

"No," Nathan said sadly. "But I text him and told him we needed to find a time to get together and talk".

"Oh". Nathan nodded, and Lawson took a moment to think of what to say in return. He settled with, "if you need to talk about anything, feel free to call me".

"Lawson," Nathan said, giving him a smile that he knew was only half real. "I already know that".

A/N It gets more exciting soon- I promise. Also, Wesley and Delaney's relationship is based off of one of my favorite (Anime) ships- and I'll be very impressed if you can guess which. 

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