Opposites attract - 2. Chapter 2

I startled at the rapping at my door. Nobody in this dorm ever bothered to knock the door, people just entered.

“On my way…” I said with a sad excuse for a confident voice.

I opened the door… and was staring at the midsection of a man. My eye level was somewhere between his pecs and his navel. Not that I could see any of those: he wore a plain white t-shirt and khakis. The t-shirt was strained to its seams by what must have been the biggest mass of muscle I had ever seen on a man. His chest could literally rival with the chest of a bear. His arms could have been branches of a mighty tree. I looked up. He had bowed down a little bit, so that he could see me and not only the door frame. I looked into a face under a bunch of curly, light blond hair, with the most boyish and cordial smile possible on it. When discussing poetry with Josh, I had always mocked about authors comparing eyes to gems, but “sapphires” was the only word that could approximately describe the color and brightness of his eyes. His features were delicate and manly at once. He was clean shaven and a very subtle hint of his aftershave surrounded him.

“Hi, my name is Kevin Schneider. Are you…” he looked at the door plate “Leon Fitzgerald?”

His voice was a deep baritone that gave me goose bumps.

“Um… yes… I am Leon Fitzgerald. You are my new roommate, I assume.”

My voice had cracked several times during these few words. I cleaned my throat.

“Nice to meet you, Kevin.”

“Nice to meet you, Leon.”

And he extended his hand. I was reluctant to call it hand, because it was twice the size of mine. Paw would have been a much more appropriate term. We shook hands/paws and I was surprised, that his grip was firm, but still gentle considering his mass. I stepped to the side, so that he could finally enter. Though this entire scene had taken seconds at most, I felt as if hours had passed. He bowed down a little more and came into the room. My first impression of him intensified even more: the most massive man I had ever met. But his powerful body was interestingly contrasted by his friendly demeanor.

“Leon, I know, most people feel a little intimidated, when they see me the first time…”

“Even the incredible Hulk would feel a little intimidated by you.”

Had I said that aloud? Leon Fitzgerald speaking before thinking? But his answer was a deep chuckle, followed by

“Like the incredible Hulk, I use my strength only for helping people in distress and I don't have anger management issues.”

The chuckle gave me goose bumps again and now it was my turn to grin.

“I will fetch the rest of my stuff from my car.”

I realized that a duffel bag was his only baggage.

“I can help you. What I lack in strength, I compensate with enthusiasm.”

Once again he chuckled, a sound I definitely loved to hear.

“Leon, you don't have to. If you have other things to do…”

“The courses do not start before next week. I have more time on hands than I can usefully spend. After bringing your stuff here, I can show you the campus, if you like.”

“That would be nice!” He beamed at me.

It took less than an hour to bring the boxes and bags from his car to our room. That wasn't exactly my merit: while I struggled to get one box up the stairs of the dorm, he easily had one under each arm and a duffel bag around his neck. I watched his muscles play under the fabric of his t-shirt and his pants, looked at his biceps bulging, when lifting a box. All the muscles that nature had denied me had been transferred to Kevin somehow. But I didn't mind and enjoyed the show. Though second thoughts followed suit: having the hots for your roommate was the subject of bad internet porn. Hitting onto someone, who could easily break me into two halves, was not the most intelligent thing to do. Moreover, we had to live together for at least one term.

Friendship good, crush bad.

But given the effect he had on me, I would be in love sometime this evening and would propose marriage tomorrow. My would-ifs and could-bes came to the rescue.

Most probably, he is not gay. Even if he is gay, why should he be interested in me? He could have a boyfriend or more likely a girlfriend.

These thoughts brought me back to the ground with a vengeance. I decided not to let my feelings overwhelm me. For a mathematician, it was that easy. At least, I hoped so. He was the most gorgeous man I knew, but I would strife to be the best roommate I could be and that included not hitting on him.

“A penny for your thoughts?” Kevin said smiling his boyish smile again.

He had just finished unpacking most of his stuff and had returned from parking his car in the long-time parking lot of the college.

“Just some math stuff I am thinking about…” I mumbled.

“Right. The letter said you are a math major. I am thinking of taking an introductory Calculus course for some extra credits. ”

“Cool! I could help you learning… if you need to… and want to…Kevin”

The latter part was a stuttered mess, but nonetheless, his smile deepened.

“Yeah, really cool. And if you knew my math performance in high school, you wouldn't even think about adding ‘ifs’ to a sentence dealing with Kevin Schneider and mathematics… and by the way: everyone calls me Kev.”

“Okay… Kev… I promised you the great campus tour.”

“Can you include some place to eat? I am starving.”

“Sure. Then prepare yourself for Deng Long's, the most un-Chinese Chinese deli in the western hemisphere…”

Deng Long's was really a special place. The owner, whom we all called Deng Long, but that wasn't his real name for sure, had less Chinese genes than me. He didn't even look remotely Asian and had a mid-western accent. He served a wild mix of Asian food, which he all advertised as being Chinese nonetheless. But all his meals were excellent and Deng Long's was an institution on the campus. Kev looked a little bit puzzled.

“You will soon understand.”

That resulted in one more of those spine-energizing chuckles.

Since Kev was hungry, we started our tour at Deng Long's. We exchanged knowing glances, when I introduced him to Deng Long himself. The place was heavily decorated with dragons, the eastern-style, snakelike dragons. Chinese calligraphies had been put on the walls. One of the students at the dorm, who was of Chinese descent, had told us that most of the signs weren't even real Chinese ideograms. But one of the signs actually read “No parking allowed!” It suited the fake charm of this place perfectly.

Kev ordered some Cantonese duck with lots of fried rice and I went for the soup ‘Beijing’, since I was not really hungry.

“This is great… wanna taste?” Kev said and the fork was already almost in my mouth. “Thanks I…” I started and he simply shoved the piece of duck in.

“I meant: no thanks, but thanks anyway” I put on a shy smile.

“Sorry.” And a sly grin crept across his handsome features.

He talked about his two years at State U, while we were eating. He explained to me that in physical therapy it was useful to learn more than one therapeutical approach and that was the reason, why he wanted to transfer here. He wanted to specialize in sports injuries and their treatments. I told him about my plans of becoming a college instructor.

“If you can teach me Calculus, you can teach anyone.” One more chuckle of his.

After our early dinner, I showed him the campus. Lecture halls, administration buildings, sport halls, our football and baseball fields were all part of the tour.

“This is one of the few colleges, which participates in college level bodybuilding competitions and offers a full scholarship based on it. My former college did, too.”

Kevin explained to me, when we were heading back to our dorm.

“I was wondering, which sport requires such level of…. muscle development.”

He laughed.

“Yeah, not many sports require that much surplus mass.”

“That was not what I… sorry, no offense meant.”

“None taken.”

“So you participate in competitions?”

“Sure. The State U team won the national college finals. I was part of the team.”

“Awesome.”

We had arrived at the dorm again and got up to our room.

“Thanks for showing me around. That was nice of you.”

“You are welcome!”

“Most people need a little time to get beyond that intimidation stuff.”

“Hey, I have to share a room with you. Being afraid of my roommate isn't exactly what I intended to do this term. And you don't turn green.”

We grinned at each other.

“I would like to try out the training room here. Have to spend time there, if I want to keep my scholarship.” He said that jokingly, but I knew it held a grain of truth.

“Um, Leon. I haven't got the keys to the lockers yet. Do you mind if I change here?”

“No prob.”

I smiled again, but it was a nervous smile. What had I expected? I had seen Josh naked and half-naked many times. Of course, it would be the same with Kev.

Can you get used to seeing this body naked without getting too obviously aroused?

I asked myself and wasn’t sure, if I liked the answer. Kev had started to get rid of the t-shirt and the khakis soon followed. I could see the true level of his definition for the first time. Every single muscle was clearly visible as a distinct feature. While my body felt soft to the touch, the same would not hold true for Kev's body. Touching him would be like touching a granite sculpture.

Stop it!

Having this kind of thoughts would interfere with my intentions not to get too involved. My resolve did not last long… not when Kevin dropped his boxers and revealed the most adorable butt, bubbly and muscled, simply perfect. He put on a jock strap instead, which, of course, didn't cover his butt. By sheer force of will, I moved my head to look outside of the window. I wiped my mouth, because I wasn't sure, whether I was drooling. When I looked again, Kev was dressed in a black t-shirt and grey track pants.

“See you in two hours then.”

He waved and left.

It was now six o'clock. I went from worrying about my new roommate to (almost?) drooling over him in just three hours time. This had to be a new record. I wrote an email to Josh, telling him that my new roomie was a nice guy. Josh had always been cool with me being gay, but I didn't want him to bother with my feelings for Kev. That privilege would be reserved for poor Rob. She would be here in three days. That meant three days, which I had to spend with Kev and my feelings alone. That was the moment, I decided that the universe was playing a prank on me by pairing me with this adorable hunk of a man.

“I’ll play along!” I announced to the universe.

Never get cocky with the universe, because that was when Kev returned. He was glistening with sweat, his clothes drenched in it. Not once in my life had I thought of the smell of sweat as sexy before, but living proof was standing in the middle of the room. Kev radiated a male and musky aroma that clicked something in my brain.

“Nice session. Very good equipment, way better than at State U.”

He looked exhausted and energized at once. I showed him where the dorm showers were and quickly returned to the room, opening the window to get rid of that aphrodisiac floating through the room.

“Sorry for bringing the stench… I'll leave it at the locker room next time.” Kev hinted at the open window with a grin, when he had returned.

“That was not the reason, I opened the window. I, uh, always let fresh air in the evening. Helps to stay focused and awake.”

What the heck are you talking there, dude?

Kev's grin broadened into a smile.

“You’re too nice for this world. No need to invent cover up stories. I stink… uh… stank. The shower helped.”

He had dressed in the shower room into another t-shirt / track pants combination. As far I had seen, he owned quite a lot of those. And they absolutely suited him. He would look good in almost any clothes, while my sorry excuse for a body needed special packaging to be presentable.

“I will have to keep my change… for all the pennies I will need for your thoughts.”

“Sorry. It will take a little time to get used again to someone around, who is interested in what I'm thinking.”

I tried to dampen the impact of this sentence by putting on my most amiable smile.

“Oh yes, Leon Fitzgerald. It's difficult to have secrets from Kev Schneider. You will learn soon.”

We both burst out in laughter.

“And it's difficult to extract them from Leon Fitzgerald.”

“Then we'll both have a mission to accomplish.”

Kev sat down on his bed and looked into one of the duffel bags, which he had not emptied yet.

“Can I connect my iPod to your stereo? It's some German band. My grandpa emigrated from Germany in the 1930s as a young boy. I can't get a straight German sentence out, but I understand it quite well. And the music is very cool.”

“Sure. Schneider… that sounds German.”

“Yeah. Means ‘tailor’ in English and thanks.”

He connected the small device to the stereo and a song was playing at low volume soon. It was a strange, but interesting, experience to listen to music and to have no clue about the lyrics, which were sung by a pleasant female voice.

“The band is ‘Wir sind Helden’… um… ‘We are heroes’… and the song is ‘Nur ein Wort’… that's ‘Just one word’… she is pleading to a person, whom she is in love with, to say a single word to her… returning her love… as far as I understand it. Their lyrics are full of puns and some of those I don't get.”

“I really like it.” I smiled again, but my thoughts were racing.

Why had he chosen exactly this song? Was this supposed to be a hint? Or was it a coincidence? What-ifs and could-bes again. Sometimes I wished I was thick like a loaf of bread, that I hadn't to bother with thinking and started to just live.

We spent the whole evening listening to music. From time to time, Kev explained a song and I acknowledged his explanations, sometimes inquiring about a part or phrase of a song. We didn't talk much, but our silence wasn't bothersome. We were both at ease and enjoyed the music together. At 10 o'clock, Kev told me that he was tired from the long drive and the training and we both went to sleep. At least, I tried to sleep. I was pondering about Kev and the situation as a whole. I was still resolved not to make any move on him, but the afternoon and evening with him had been more fun than anything in a very long time. Would a constant feel-good-time wear down my defenses at last? What if I came on to him and the feelings weren't mutual? I imagined any reaction from a polite rejection to a violent attack. After too many hours spent with such thoughts, I finally slid into an uneasy sleep. Dreams and reality mixed into a haunted state of mind.