Dark Star - 2. Chapter 2

"Tyler! Your friend is here!" my mom shouts from the front door.

I check my reflection in the mirror to make sure I look great and leave my room to go and greet him. I wear my denim and a polo shirt, which I'd typically only wear outside, but it's a special occasion.

I come downstairs, and he's standing awkwardly in the doorway, wearing a backpack and holding his laptop. It's 85 degrees outside, but he still wears his jeans and a button-down shirt. Come to think of it, I've never seen him in shorts outside of PE. Somehow, this uptight style compliments his slim body, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

"Hey, Rufus!" I chirp. "You're early."

"Yeah," he says, smiling nervously. “My brother dropped me off.”

I lead him upstairs and watch him look around. I spent extra time cleaning my room and making sure it smelled nice. He doesn't comment whatsoever.

"Have a seat. You can put your stuff wherever," I say casually, wondering how long before he feels comfortable around me.

"Thanks," he says, dropping his bag onto the floor.

It's one of those moments I'm sad I don't have a large desk to easily fit two chairs, two laptops, and my other stuff. We need to have to squeeze together somehow. But Rufus goes straight for my roof window on the far wall with a telescope pointing outside.

"You can't see much because of the light pollution, but you can see the moon and sometimes even Saturn on a nice day," I say with a hint of pride.

"So cool," he comments and grazes the device with his fingertips.

"You can come over sometime after dark, and we could play with it," I offered, hoping he'd be willing to play with my other telescope afterward.

"Thanks," Rufus says. "Anyway… I wrote down a few ideas for the presentation. Do you want to see?"

"Yeah, sure," I move away from my desk to make him room and sit on the bed. Rufus powers his laptop on, and there's an awkward silence as we stare at the system startup loading animation.

"It can take a while," Rufus says apologetically. "My brother got it on his birthday when I was seven."

"It's fine, Rufus," I smile reassuringly. "Can you tell me about the idea while it loads?"

"Uh, I guess. I thought we could use animated charts…" he says and proceeds to lay out his plan which is actually very creative.

We spend the next hour discussing the project and what we need to do before the eclipse. It’s still almost two weeks away, but there’s a lot to do, especially if we want to make the presentation stand out. My plan is to conduct a few experiments and contribute to the NASA-supported projects' database, and Rufus adds some fresh ideas to the basket. He still hardly looks me in the eyes when talking to me, but he seems to be slowly opening up.

By the time he goes home an hour later, I've made up my mind. He needs to be mine. If he's into boys, that is. It's not impossible, right? The only girls he ever hangs out with don't really give a vibe of being into boys. As prude as Rufus looks and acts, he must have urges. He's sixteen, damn it. Wait… What if he and Dale… No! Rufus is too cute to be wasting his time with someone like fucking Dale. They're just friends. Just like that dwarf and elf in The Lord of the Rings.

The next day, Rufus approaches me in the school corridor while I'm talking to Jim, Clyde, and Dwight. He looks nervous, almost like a sheep walking into a lion's den.

"Tyler, do you have a second to talk about the project?" he asks me shyly, meeting the boys' ironic smiles.

"I'm busy, dude," I say. "Just text me on Whatsapp, and I'll check later."

"Okay," he mumbles and walks away, looking down with disappointment. I curse under my breath. I had hoped Rufus would be smarter than to approach me when I'm around the guys. Maybe he’ll learn from this.

During the next class, I feel my phone buzzing in my pocket and see a message from the boy.

"It's too much to explain in text :("

I roll my eyes and reply, "meet me after school."

I look to my left and see Rufus showing me a quick thumbs-up before going back to paying attention to the teacher. This is going to be tricky. Getting him to talk to me was one thing. Now I have to make sure that whatever we do beyond the project stays our little secret.

After the bell, I go straight to the toilet and wait ten minutes to make sure my friends are gone. I scroll on my phone, then flush and leave the building. I spot Rufus sitting alone on the bench with a thoughtful expression.

"Sorry, I had to take a leak," I look around to make sure the coast is clear and sit next to him.

He stands up quickly when he sees me. "I'm sorry for interrupting you earlier. I didn't know you were busy."

"It's cool. So, whatcha got for me?"

Rufus cheers up and proceeds to tell me about his new exciting research ideas. They're all excellent; I can't deny that. If I didn't have to play cool, I would hug him in excitement. If it goes according to plan, this presentation will be a banger! I just hope he's not friend-zoning me. I can't let that happen.

"Hey, how do you feel about some sky-watching this weekend?" I ask with absolutely pure intentions.

That catches him off-guard. He looks at his shoes and fidgets with his fingers.

"I'll let you know. I have to ask my mom," he says.

I don’t hear from him all day, though, and the next day at school, we keep to our separate circles. I start thinking that maybe I wasn't as subtle as I thought. I should've just sent him a dick pic and stopped wasting my time.

But late in the evening, he texts, "Mom said okay. Saturday?"

I pump my fist triumphantly and lay on my bed, entertaining different scenarios of seducing this cute nerdy boy. Some are more viable than others, but they have one thing in common. They all end with Rufus kneeling before me and my hand grasping his dark, wavy locks. I bet he wants it. The chaste ones are always wildest in bed, I think to myself, basing it on absolutely nothing.

"Saturday works. Let's hope it's not cloudy ;)" I text back, and this short exchange ignites the tension that sticks with me for the rest of the school week. I know he feels it too. He doesn't approach me anymore when I'm with my friends - and that is all the time. My little gang makes me feel comfortable in my straight skin.

Luckily, Saturday is a warm, dry day with just a few small clouds drifting through the sky. This time I open the door for Rufus myself. It's cute how nervous he is; even cuter are his attempts to hide it. At least he dressed more casually, which for him is blue jeans and a green and white striped t-shirt.

"We're lucky; the visibility is excellent today," I tell him, adjusting the focus knob of the telescope.

"Can I see?"

"Not yet. It has to get completely dark."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's cool."

Rufus comes closer, examining the device. "I've never had a telescope, and the ones I used at planetariums, well, you get the idea. It's not the same."

"I get it. So, what do you want to do? We can work on the project some more or watch something."

"What do you want to watch?" Rufus asks cautiously.

"There's a new vid on my favorite science channel about newly discovered Earth-like planets."

"Wow!" he perks up. "I have it on my watchlist!"

"Perfect!"

As much as I look forward to getting physical, sharing my interests with someone is nearly as exciting. At least I don't have to pretend that I like him. We sit on my bed and watch the whole twenty-minute video. When it ends, we chat about it for a while and decide to play another. It's almost completely dark outside.

In the middle of the video, I lift myself from the bed and say, "hold on, gotta turn down the volume. It's getting late."

When it's done, I sit back on the bed, much closer to Rufus than necessary. Our legs and arms touch, and I can feel him freeze. If he hasn't realized my intentions earlier, now he definitely has. A strong tension builds up between us as the video continues playing. I can't focus on watching it anymore. Next to me, Rufus exhales with a tremble. Whatever I am doing to him must be torture, and there are still fifteen minutes left of that video. I hope he can't see a growing bulge in my sweatpants.

Suddenly he jumps out of bed as if catapulted. "I need to use the toilet," he says, leaving the room. I let myself breathe freely. This is more exciting than I thought.

A couple of minutes later, I hear Rufus leave the toilet. He didn't flush. Did he go there to adjust his boner? Or call 911? He comes back to the room, but he just stands there at the door.

"Uh, it's already dark," he says. "Should we use the telescope now?"

"Don't you want to finish watching?"

Rufus looks cute, fidgeting with his hands and thinking about his answer. I wish I were better at reading minds.

"Okay," he says and hops back on the bed, keeping a safe distance. Damn it. I scared him away. A dick pic would be way less hassle and give the same results.

"Tyler?" I hear him calling my name for the first time. "I think I'm feeling sick."

"Sick? What happened?"

I don't know. I just feel… I need to go home. Sorry."

"Uh, it's fine, dude. Do you need anything?"

"No, I just… sorry," he repeats and starts grabbing his things. He genuinely looks sick, and it doesn't take Einstein to figure out who made him that way.

I walk him to the front door. "See you later, Rufus," I say, and he is gone. It is time to give the boy some breathing room. He's either straight or super shy. Maybe both.

After he’s gone, I create a to-do list and text it to him. We do the rest of the preparations through WhatsApp. My hope that Rufus is into messing around wanes. I decide to focus on the project and see where it takes us.

On the big day, Rufus comes over shortly before the eclipse, carrying a backpack and looking stunningly cute. His smile seems a little forced when I open the door for him. It doesn't match his wary and absent eyes. I can't help but feel like he wants to be somewhere else.

I've already moved all the equipment to the roof. My father had helped with setting it up before leaving to attend the town-hosted eclipse-watching party. With Mom visiting friends, it's just the two of us.

"We have one shot at it. Crazy, right?" I ask when Rufus climbs to the roof after me.

He looks around curiously. "Yeah, I hope we can pull it off."

"We only have to press a few red buttons and then read the records later. Even I can't fuck up something that simple."

He lets out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah. I mean, you're pretty smart."

"Not as smart as you," I say and notice his embarrassed smile before he turns away.

"Stop it," he says, not looking at me. "It's so unfair that you're both good at school and sports."

I turn to him and give him a flirtatious look. "I have weaknesses of my own, don't you worry."

Rufus is smart enough to sense something weird about how I said it. He pauses for a bit before changing the topic. "The microphones would work better if we were out of town. It's so noisy here."

"I think we can filter out the traffic noise."

"Yeah, you're right. But still."

This leaves an awkward silence, and I decide it is the right time to go and get us something to drink.

Five minutes before the eclipse, we have all the devices registering and recording without issues. We sit on a thick blanket and prepare our glass plates. Luckily, the traffic is significantly lower as people gather to watch the event.

"It started!" Rufus lets out, and I notice the rim of the moon's shadow appears on the Sun's edge.

"Let's go!"

It happens so quickly. At first, the dark circle covering the Sun is the only thing out of the ordinary. But then it gets visibly darker when it covers more than half of the flaming sphere.

"Oh my god! Look at that!" Rufus exclaims.

I am mesmerized by the sight of the Moon's umbra slowly growing larger and swallowing the sun. The light from behind the Moon turns dimmer and more diffuse.

"So cool!" I whisper.

Then it happens. The last glimmer of the Sun hides behind the moon's surface, and there is complete darkness. I put away the glass pane and watched the anomaly with awe. The wind intensifies, and the cameras shake on their stands. This feels so unreal, almost scary. It's technically even darker than at night because street lights are off.

Then, something I was really hoping for happens. The crickets start chirping, and a bird I don't recognize starts singing. I look at Rufus, and he just sits there, completely mesmerized. A few seconds later, I see a black shape circling over the rooftops.

"Is that a bat?" Rufus asks.

"Shit, I think it is," I reply slowly, watching and listening in amazement. Quickly, the temperature starts dropping, and Rufus notices it too.

"It's cold," he whispers and crosses his arms on his chest.

"Yeah," I whisper back, and in an impulse, I put my hand on his leg. He looks at me in surprise, but I keep staring at the sky. Rufus has another reason to be shaking now. I watch him discreetly, pretty nervous myself. He opens his mouth as if to say something but keeps it ajar, almost forgetting about the fucking eclipse altogether. After fifteen seconds, he turns back to the sky but can barely focus. Encouraged, I gave his thigh a few friendly rubs. He starts breathing deeply. Is he enjoying it, or is he too shy to tell me to get my hands off him?

We spend the rest of the eclipse in silence, but I keep massaging Rufus's thigh like it is nothing. When the first glimpse of the Sun reappears, I let him go and grab my glass pane to continue watching. He does the same. The light returns in sudden flashes as the sun peeks through the moon's occlusion. For a moment, it is possible to see the shimmering corona radiating above the lunar limb. A few minutes later, it is over as if it never happened. Still, the effect it left on me is tremendous.

"That was fucking awesome!" I exclaim and gently punch Rufus on his shoulder.

"Yeah," he answers meekly without looking at me.

"Let's get the stuff down and see what we got, right?" I suggest.

"Yeah… I mean… no, I can't right now. I need to be home," he stutters.

"What? Why didn't you say earlier?"

"Uh, I forgot…"

"Bullshit," I blurt, and Rufus jumps, still avoiding eye contact. He looks terrified now, but I don't care. "Are you just going to leave me with all this?"

"Sorry, I…" he starts, on the verge of crying. He walks past me and climbs down the ladder. I’m too dazzled to follow him. Just a minute later, I hear the front door open and helplessly watch him walk quickly down the sidewalk.

"Fuck me," I curse. I vent by disconnecting all the gear and cables and bringing them down to my room, which takes me almost an hour. If I knew Rufus would freak out, I definitely wouldn't have rubbed his leg like that. Now, not only did I ruin my progress with Rufus, but I'll likely have to do the rest of the project by myself. A failure on all fronts.

I'm too angry to work on the report, so I play League for the rest of the day.

Thank god I didn't make any rash decisions. At midnight I'm already in bed, idling on my phone, and a message from Rufus comes.

"Tyler, I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what's going on with me."

I smile to myself with relief. Poor Rufus.

"No sweat," I reply.

For a few minutes, there are no new messages. He probably hopes I write something more. I decide not to. Everything that comes to my mind would make me sound desperate. And I'm not! Luckily, it works and he follows up with another message.

"I'll come over first thing in the morning to help you carry the stuff down."

"No need," I start typing. "I took care of it."

"Crap I'm so sorry, I don't know why I act like that sometimes. Did you do the report?"

"Nah, not yet."

"Then don't. Let me do it. I'll also present it in front of the class."

"And make the teacher think you did all the work?"

"Right, sorry. We should present it together."

"Let's do the report together, too," I type. "Don't worry about today. I promise I won't do anything to make you nervous."

A few minutes of silence. Guess Rufus isn't ready to talk about my groping stunt.

"Saturday morning?" A reply comes at last.

"Deal. You can stay for lunch."

At school, Rufus seems agitated, but he keeps his distance from me. So do I. I want my friends to think I'm hanging out with Rufus only as much as it's necessary to get the grade. They aren't the brightest bunch, but I want to avoid risking them starting to connect the dots. Dwight makes a few lame jokes, but I don't let them get to me.

On Saturday morning, I feel strangely nervous. It may be my intuition telling me that something is going to happen. I have to wait and see whether this something will be good or bad.

Then the bell rings.

"I'll get it," I say to my parents, who are drinking their coffee.

It is Rufus, all shy and awkward, standing there with his laptop bag pressed tightly to his chest. What strikes me is that he's not wearing his blue jeans. Instead, he sports thin green knee-length NASA shorts. I barely stop myself from starting. If this isn't a sign, I don't know what is.

"Hi," he says and smiles nervously. Damn, I'm growing a soft spot for this boy.

"Come in. Meet my parents."

"Mom, Dad, this is Rufus," I say, and Rufus says hello. By the look on his face, I can tell he's not a fan of formal introductions.

"Hi, Rufus. It's nice to finally meet you," my mom says.

Mom isn't your regular housewife, wearing loose clothes around the house. She always dresses for the occasion, including shoes and makeup, even if she's not expecting anyone. Rufus looks at her with wide-open eyes and I ball my hands into fists. Stop looking at my mom like that, you little virgin.

My dad comes from behind her and welcomes Rufus with one of his practiced smiles.

"Hello, young man. Tyler had so many wonderful things to say about you."

"Thank you, sir," Rufus mumbles and shakes my dad's hand.

"So, you're into science, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. I wish Tyler had more friends like you. Education is the foundation of society. Your generation often takes it for granted, so it's a sheer pleasure to know there are exceptions."

I roll my eyes. I have to save Rufus before dad gets too far with his sermons.

"Let's go, Rufus. We have a lot of work to do."

"I prepared my office for you boys, so you have a big desk to work on. Do you need any help? I used to be a straight-A science student. Today I'm just straight," my dad says, laughing out loud at his joke.

"We're fine, thanks, Dad."

"I'll call you boys for lunch!" Mom says as we're retreating.

"Sorry 'bout that," I say when we enter Dad's office. Dad emptied his spacey mahogany desk to make room for our research. I keep the door open just as he asked earlier. Not trusting his son around his work stuff; that's rich. It doesn't matter. I plan to take Rufus to my room after lunch, so we can be more private. We sit on the chairs next to each other and power our laptops.

"Let's start with the visual," I say, giving Rufus a USB drive. "Here's the footage from the digital cameras. I'll go through the phone videos."

"Okay… uh…"

"What?"

"Nothing. It's a good idea… I just…"

"Come on! Spit it out already."

"Huh, it's nothing. I don't know what I was going to say."

"Did my dad scare you?" I ask. As on cue, we hear his deep laughter over the TV playing in the other room.

"No, I mean, maybe, a little bit. He’s nicer than I thought he would be."

Right. Dad’s locally known for his hawky Facebook live streams where he rants about politics. He doesn’t exactly present his teddy bear side. Rufus might feel relieved for not getting screamed at.

"Dad’s cool." I smile reassuringly. "He only acts like that with people he's just met. You know, occupational disease."

"Yeah…" he says, forcing a smile, but it quickly fades and the boy stares blankly at the screen of his laptop that takes forever to load.

"Hey, Rufus… are we fine?" I ask.

"Yes," he shrugs. "Sorry for the other day. I was…"

"No, don't be sorry. It's my fault. Rufus, can you look at me for a second?"

Rufus hesitates, takes a deep breath, and looks at me reluctantly. He is so cute when he's nervous!

"Did I cross the line, back there on the roof?" I ask slowly.

"No, I swear," he says and looks away again. "It's not you… it's me. I'm just… No one's ever…"

"No one's ever touched you like this?" I ask and accent it by putting my hand on his thigh, just like the other day.

Rufus gasps and nods.

"I guess scaring people runs in our family," I chuckle to relieve the tension.

"Yeah… maybe. I just didn't think… I'd never think that you'd be…"

"Can you finish your sentence for once?" I ask lightheartedly, slowly massaging his leg.

"I'm feeling dizzy," he breathes.

"It's fine, Rufus. I hope we can be friends. Maybe more. Know what? It was a tough week. Let's take a small break and relax for a little. What do you think?"

"Yeah… I guess it's good," the boy says, and I can tell his throat is squeezed.

"Then sit back."

Rufus does as I tell him, and I resume rubbing his leg from his knee to his thigh, going farther north with every move. His shorts are thin, and I can almost feel his smooth skin through them.

I proceed for another minute, getting dangerously close to his groin until it is the only way to go.

"Now try to relax, dude. This is gonna feel good," I warn him and slide my palm over his dick with a smooth motion.

"Ahhh," Rufus hisses when I feel his very hard penis through the fabric. Thank god it feels a bit smaller than mine. I couldn’t stand it if the nerd boy was packing more than me. I'm not super big, just a little above average for my age, so this was very much a possibility.

I run my hand across his shaft a few times, feeling it twitch. Rufus has his eyes fixated on his crotch, breathing through an open mouth.

"You're so cute," I compliment him. Even if he hears me, he doesn't react, completely overwhelmed by being touched for the first time. Encouraged by his reaction, I grab his dick through his shorts and start masturbating him slowly.

"Feeling good there?" I ask.

He nods with his mouth open. "Uh, yes…"

"Do mine, Rufus."

Rufus looks at me with wide eyes as if I asked him to bite off his own head.

"Come on, don't be afraid. We have a lot of time."

Rufus hesitates for a long time but eventually puts his tense hand on my knee while I keep rubbing his little bone.

"That's it," I say when he starts moving his hand. "Go higher."

Rufus keeps rubbing my leg higher and higher, stopping just shy of my visible bulge stretching across my left leg.

"Come on, touch it," I say.

"But…"

"It's fine, I promise."

Rufus gulps, and his small adam's apple moves inside his smooth, pale neck. He closes his eyes and grabs my dick with a desperate move.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry. It's… hard."

"No shit, Sherlock!" I chuckle quietly. "Now, do what I do."

Rufus finally relaxes and starts rubbing my bulge with his small hand while I play with his. It feels so good! I can't believe I've seduced this clueless, innocent nerd into some boy-on-boy fun.

"See? It’s not bad," I say.

We keep pleasuring ourselves for a couple of minutes. Then, very gently, I put my fingers below the waistline of his shorts. My fingertips touch a fluffy patch of his pubic hair and I play with them for a second before diving deeper and grasping his hot rocket.

“Oh god,” Rufus moans and, for some reason, takes off his glasses and puts them on the desk. Shit, he’s even cuter without them. For a while, he forgets about my needs. He just puts his hand on my arm and watches as I manipulate his hardness inside his NASA shorts. He’s really lost in the sensation now.

I’m about to fish his cock out of its cotton prison, when I hear steps coming our way from the main room. I quickly remove my hand making Rufus’s shorts snap against his pelvis. Just a second later, Mom comes in holding two glasses.

“I made you boys lemonade,” she says and places them on the desk.

“Thank you, Mom,” I say.

Rufus is completely paralyzed and in too much shock to respond. I hope Mom doesn’t think he’s rude.

Before leaving, she says, “Don’t spill it on the desk,”

“I know, Mom, we won’t.”

She doesn’t have to remind me what horrible death would await me if I stained Dad’s precious, expensive desk made of a tree older than the United States of America itself.

When she’s gone, I wait until I can’t hear her steps anymore and start chuckling, patting Rufus on the back. He’s still petrified.

“That was close, huh?” I say and place my hand on his crotch again. “Now, where were we?”

“No, don’t,” Rufus shakes out of it and pushes off my hand. “We almost got caught.”

“I had it under control,” I say casually.

“Let’s just work on the project, okay?” he says and sticks the USB drive I gave him into a slot in his laptop. He doesn't even look at me.

I sigh. It’s sure gonna be fun working with blue balls. I can’t do much about it without making Rufus scream for help, so I just open my laptop and get to work.