The Freshmen - 36. Chapter 36

October 1, 2004

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

Will

“When do they get in?” Niko asked.

“Fifteen minutes,” I replied. “I’m going to go down to meet them.”

“See you in a few,” he said. I walked down the stairs and out into the Yard, knowing that I’d probably get a text from Travis when they were close. I got lucky in that I snagged a bench that had a view of the area where I was meeting the limo. I sat there, my subconscious mind keeping an eye out for them while internally I ruminated about my life.

The last few days had been weird, or at least they had been where Thor was concerned. I’d ended up over at Matt and Wade’s house on Wednesday night, and by the time I got home, Thor was asleep. I was worried he was faking it, but I was used to his sleep rhythms and I could tell it was legit. I had a busy day on Thursday, and instead of going straight back to the room, I’d camped out in the library until I’d finished all my work. I knew that I would get nothing done this weekend, so my goal had been to take the academic burden off my shoulders so I didn’t have to worry about it. When I got back, I found that Thor was gone. He’d actually taken the time to write me a nice note, telling me that he was going to New Orleans to see Schaef.

My phone vibrated with the text from Travis telling me they were almost here, so I got up and walked over to the street. I waited maybe a minute before the big black Escalade pulled up. A security guy jumped out of the front passenger seat and opened the door. First out, of course, was Stefan. “It is so good to see you,” I gushed, and gave him a big hug.

“You have not been gone all that long, but you are already missed,” he said. Grand was next.

“Have you acclimated yourself to Harvard?” he asked me, after he too had given me a big hug.

“I’m starting to,” I said. And while I was happy to see them, the main event for me was the next person to exit. Stef had offered to stop in New York and pick up Travis on the way, so he’d come with them.

“Hey there,” he said, and gave me a massive hug. We just stood there embracing for what was probably much too long, then finally separated.

“You won’t get to meet Thor on this trip,” I told them.

“That is disappointing since you said he was the most handsome of the boys you are living with,” Stefan said.

“The Frenchman gives him a run for his money,” I said, then focused on Travis. “Marie gave Scotty a makeover, and he looks stunning now.”

“Seriously?” Travis asked.

“No shit,” I confirmed. We formed into a procession of sorts, with a guard in front of us, followed by me and Stef, then Grand and Travis, and trailing after them was Tom. It was an entourage bound to attract attention, and it did. People stared at us, trying to figure out who we were, but it didn’t take long for them to recognize Stef. He was by nature a showman, and because of that and his involvement in the fashion industry his face was often featured in the media. For some reason, People magazine seemed to love him. Even at Harvard, where there was no shortage of people from rich and influential families, he got stares. Still, the guards intimidated people enough that they stood back. A few guys said “Welcome to Harvard, Stef,” to which he paused to thank them before moving on. By the time we got to Weld, we had created quite a stir.

“So why can I not meet Thor?” Stefan asked as soon as we were in the elevator.

“He flew down to New Orleans to see his boyfriend,” I said. That got surprised looks from all of them.

“Did you fuck him yet?” Travis asked playfully.

“Not yet,” I said. “But we did talk about it.”

“It sounds like our conversation over dinner will be enlightening,” Grand said.

“I’m excited for you to meet Fab,” I told Stef. “He is very tall, very handsome, and very French.”

“You make him sound tempting,” he said.

“He’s very hot,” I answered. “And he likes older men.”

“I am confident that we can restrain ourselves,” Grand said. Stef rolled his eyes.

“This is my home away from home,” I said when I reached the door. I opened it up to guide them in. The first person to greet us was Marie.

“It is so good to see you,” she gushed. She greeted them and introduced them to Sarah, who looked mildly uncomfortable. She and I were getting along to the point that I would call her a friend, especially after she’d taken such good care of Travis’s wound. We had a couple of the same classes, and we sat together. I watched Stef greet her politely, trying to hide his disdain over how unfashionable she was.

“Thanks again for fixing up my arm,” Travis said to Sarah, referring to his wound. “It’s healing up so well I didn’t even have to go to the doctor.”

“I was glad to do it,” Sarah said, then got an evil look. “I figure that anyone who’s dating Will needs some help.”

“True that,” I said. We moved beyond them and I introduced them to Niko, Fab, and Scotty. Niko of course charmed Stef immediately, since they were both huge extroverts. When Stef got to Scotty, he seemed surprised.

“You look much different than your pictures,” he said. “You are a very handsome man, and now that you’ve cut back your hair, it is very obvious.”

“Thanks,” Scotty mumbled shyly. “It was mostly Marie.”

“My niece usually has amazing taste, so I am glad to see she is using it for good,” Stef said, mildly slamming Marie.

“Whatever,” Marie snipped in a bitchy way, making the rest of us giggle.

“And this is Fabien,” I said. Stef immediately switched to French.

“And you are just gorgeous,” he said.

“I am glad that you think so,” Fab replied. Grand looked at me and rolled his eyes, while Travis and I laughed. Niko made everyone drinks and we socialized for about an hour, then Marie and Sarah decided to go back to their room.

“We are meeting at Matt and Wade’s house at 6:30 tonight,” Grand reminded them. “We decided to have dinner in, so it is casual.”

“We will see you there,” Marie said, then she and Sarah left.

“Now that the spies are gone, let me share with you my ideas for your rooms,” Stef said in a conspiratorial way.

“Awesome,” Niko said.

“They’ve all been paranoid, so hopefully this will calm their asses down,” I said, giving my suitemates shit.

“I will try to displace your concerns,” Stef said. Tom obligingly handed him a folder, then we sat on the couch and chairs while Stef used the coffee table as a surface to lay out his plans. “We will have all of this furniture removed, and then when you are done for the summer, we will move it all back in again.”

“They should burn it instead,” Niko said.

“I agree with you, but JP has demanded that I respect the property of his alma mater,” Stef said, giving Grand an annoyed look. Grand ignored him.

“You went here?” Scotty asked. “When did you graduate?”

Stef giggled, while Grand gave him a dirty look. “I earned my bachelor’s degree from here some time ago.”

“Cool,” Niko said.

“The theme I have chosen is a modern take on a 1920s speakeasy,” Stef said, and laid out a sketch. I had never seen Stef design something that wasn’t ultra-modern, but this was fucking awesome. “I have designed this room with three basic areas. The first is in the back of the room, where you will see we have placed a bar. There will be an ice machine, and soda dispensers.”

“So we won’t have to go buy Cokes?” Scotty asked.

“No, you will merely have to fill them up much as if you were at one of those self-serve style restaurants,” he said with disdain, making us all grin. He showed us a picture of the back side of the bar. “See these two large compartments?”

“What are those for?” I asked.

“You will push a button that can only be activated by your fingerprints. Pushing that button will cause the panels to vanish, revealing your alcohol,” he said, and showed us what they would look like when they were open.

“That is amazing,” Niko said, and was literally stunned.

“At the back of the bar is a cabinet that contains a sink where you can pour out half-empty drinks,” Stef continued. “Unfortunately there is no plumbing, so it will flow into a bucket which you will have to empty.”

“No problem,” Scotty said.

“You will notice that to the side there is extra space, a counter to work on. In reality, below this is a, what was it called, kegerator,” he said. “The keg outlet will pop up when you activate the bar with your fingerprint.”

“That is kick ass,” Niko said. Stef then moved on to the other spaces.

“In this part of the room, I have placed a table which could be good for eating, doing homework informally, or perhaps playing cards,” he said. That was really cool. It was a round table that could fit five, maybe six people around it. The chairs were on wheels but looked super comfortable.

“Poker!” Scotty said enthusiastically.

“And this larger area will contain a sofa and a couple of chairs,” Stef said. “We will have a row of cabinets here on which will sit a large television, and the cabinets below will also be locked with a similar fingerprint mechanism. This gives you the ability to store other things safely. Off to the side is another built-in kegerator.”

“This is unbelievable,” Fab said.

“I have opted to use faux leather for the couch and chairs,” Stef said sadly. “I think that will be easier to clean off, and will be more durable, but if you prefer real leather, I can work that in quite easily.”

I scanned their faces and got the impression that they didn’t care. “We’ll leave that up to you, Stef,” I said.

“The floors look different,” I said.

“They are,” Stef said. “We are going to put down some faux wood floors that are easily removed when you move out. That will help hide this horrible institutional linoleum.”

“So much better,” Niko said.

“There will be rugs by the table and in front of the television, and I have made arrangements for a portable steam cleaner to be delivered along with the furniture so you can remove any stains or any beer residue,” he said.

“Just in case Stuart comes sniffing around,” I said.

“I am sensitive to the need to keep your illicit activities hidden,” he said, making us all laugh.

“What happens if he does show up?” Fab asked.

“There will be four emergency buttons. One will be by the door, one will be by the table, one will be near the couches, and one will be by the bar. If anyone comes in and you want to hide things, you have merely to push one of them and all of the panels will close and the kegerator spigots will retract,” he said.

“That is so fucking cool!” Niko said excitedly, then got embarrassed for dropping an F-bomb.

“I am glad that you think so,” Stef said playfully, then he showed us his plans for the bedrooms. He’d put full-sized beds in all the rooms, although in the smaller bedroom those would be bunk beds. He gave them a choice of having singles on the ground, and Niko, Fab, and Scotty decided that would be better.

“What are these for?” I asked, spotting some weird tracks on the floor.

“These are privacy dividers,” he said, and pulled out a brochure to show us how they work. “You simply push a button and these are lowered, thus blocking out the view from one bed to the other.”

“Holy shit,” Niko said, then grinned at Scotty. “Dude, you may actually be able to get laid.”

“Ha ha ha,” Scotty said sarcastically. “Hasn’t been a problem so far.”

“The only girl you’ve gone out with here is Marie, no?” I asked. It was hilarious to watch Grand get annoyed. “I’ll have to chat with her about that.”

“You do that,” he said, being snarky.

“While the divider will block vision from the side, it will not block out the view from the other directions,” Stef said. “And it certainly is not soundproof, but I am going to put in some white noise machines to help with that.”

“This is absolutely incredible,” Niko said. He went over and sat next to Stef, then gave him a big hug. “Thank you so much.”

Stef patted him on the cheek. “You are welcome.”

“It has been a pleasure meeting all of you,” Grand said, then stood up, indicating he was ready to leave.

“I’m assuming that you guys can get to Matt and Wade’s house by 6:30?” I asked. “I’m going to go back with them and hang out.”

“He wants to get laid,” Fab said to Niko.

“Goddamn right,” I said, making Travis blush.

“Now I must ask you all for a favor,” Stef said. “I am competing with Marie’s mother to see who will do the better job on your rooms, so you cannot leak these plans to them. Especially those of you who may have a more intimate relationship with Marie.” We all laughed at that, while Scotty blushed and Grand frowned.

“We won’t”, Niko pledged, followed by the rest of them.

“Then we will see you at 6:30,” Stef said. We left the room with our entourage exactly as it was before. “Marie did an excellent job with Scotty,” Stef said.

“There’s no way I could have gotten him to do that,” I said. “That dude is so heterosexual it’s scary.”

“That is so disappointing,” Stef said, making me laugh. “I like straight boys who are willing to branch out and experiment.”

“I like those kinds of boys too,” I teased, cracking him up.

“Tell me about Fabien,” Stef said.

“You want the basics, or the really juicy stuff?” I asked Stef. That coincided with our arrival at the Escalade. Once Jorge had started the brief drive to Matt and Wade’s, Stef responded.

“Tell me the juicy stuff!” he insisted.

“Fabian seduced Dad and Jake and they had a threesome,” I said.

“Indeed,” Grand said, then smirked.

“Fab took a shower in their room and then, when they got back, he walked out stark naked,” I said. Stef started giggling.

“Your father did not tell me about that,” Stef said, annoyed.

“When I confronted him with it, he said ‘I guess you’re going to tell Stef’,” I said, imitating my father. “I told him that I absolutely would.”

“I cannot wait until Sunday night when I get back home,” Stef said maliciously.

“I’m sorry I’m going to miss it,” I said, then started to get homesick. That was truncated by our arrival at Matt and Wade’s.

Wade opened the front door before we even got there, with Matt next to him, both smiling broadly. It was fun to watch them greet each other. Wade and Grand were like twins from different generations, while Matt and Stef were born party people.

“Let me show you to your room,” Matt said as soon as we were in the foyer.

“One moment,” Stef said, then went into the kitchen to greet Rosa. It was so cool that Stef had such a good bond with her, but it made sense since she’d been working for him for a long time.

“We put them in the guest bedroom on our floor, just so you don’t keep them awake,” Matt teased.

“You should give them the code to your sex lair,” I said. Grand and Wade immediately blushed, while Matt, Travis, and I laughed.

“Let me show you to your room,” I said seductively to Travis.

“See you later,” Travis said to the others, then we left the room and caught the elevator. As soon as we got through the door and closed it, Travis grabbed me and planted a major liplock on me. He broke off our kiss then said “I missed you,” in his sultry way.

“I missed you too,” I said. Then we kissed again, which ultimately led to our clothes being strewn all over the room and the two of us coupling in an almost frantic way. When we were done, we laid flat on our backs, panting to catch our breath. I looked at him and smiled. “Thank you for coming up here.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. “I actually have plans for us next weekend.”

“Really?”

“There is a new exhibit at MOMA on film art, along with a dinner,” he said. “My producer suggested that I buy a couple of tickets.” He’d said ‘suggested’ with air quotes.

“So I have to bring a formal ensemble for that,” I said, making a mental note.

“You do,” he said. “I hope you’re okay with this. Jeremy may be there.”

“Can you make sure we’re not at his table?” I asked

“I’ll try,” he said. “If we get there, and he’s close to us, we’ll leave.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I have been so much happier since he’s been out of my life. I don’t want any unpleasant reminders.”

“I hooked up with a dude,” he said. I stared at him, flashing an expression of annoyance before I got control of my emotions. “Takes some getting used to, doesn’t it?” I was glad he said that with sympathy.

“I guess it does,” I said, then leaned over onto my side so I was close to him, then leaned in to kiss him. “Now tell me about him.” He laughed at me then started talking.

“When I tell you, you’re going to think I was in a porno,” he said, and started laughing.

“Tell me, asshole,” I said as I chuckled with him.

“I ordered a pizza…” he began, but I cut him off.

“You fucked the pizza delivery boy!” I accused, and was laughing so hard I was almost in a fetal position.

“I fucked the pizza delivery guy,” Travis admitted. It took me a long time until I could get my laughter under control. “He came in with my pizza and he was really hot. Had light brown hair and a gorgeous ass. Dude was a total twink.”

“That is hilarious,” I said. “So was this like a five-minute fuck?”

“Um, yes and no,” he said. I raised an eyebrow to indicate my curiosity. “The first time when he delivered the pizza it was really fast and furious. He came back after work and that took a lot more time.”

“So what was he like?” I asked.

Travis thought about that. “His name is Paul. Paul is hot, Paul knows he’s hot, but Paul is not a very good lay.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“You’re sorry that my piece of ass wasn’t good?” he asked, surprised.

“Yeah, dumbshit,” I said. “I mean if you’re going to have sex, I want it to be fun for you.”

“See, and I always hope that your sluts are shitty lovers so you won’t want to kick me to the curb,” he said glumly.

I lay on my back again. “See this ring?” I asked, pointing at the mood ring Travis had given me. He just looked sideways at me, waiting for me to answer my own question. “I meant what I said.”

“I did too,” he said, then he rolled so he was on his side. He leaned in and kissed me in one of our more meaningful oral encounters.

“I get what you’re saying,” I told him. He raised his eyebrow to question that broad statement, since we’d talked about all kinds of shit. “The part where you said it takes some getting used to.”

“It wasn’t easy at first, but it bothers me a lot less now,” he said, like that was some big admission.

“It was weird, because when you told me you fucked someone, I was really only irritated for a second. Once that flash was over, I was okay with it,” I said.

“When you told me about guys you fucked, you’d get annoyed at me for glaring at you,” he said. “That’s what was going through my mind. Only when I say ‘getting used to it’, what I mean is that the time from initial anger to calm is getting shorter and shorter.”

“That’s very insightful,” I said, pretty impressed with how he’d figured that out.

“I think you’re ahead of me. Your anger cycle was a second; mine’s probably down to 90 seconds,” he said.

“Are you okay with this?” I asked him. “With how our relationship is?”

“For now, it’s good,” he said, smiling at me. “I don’t want to have some monogamous thing right now for two reasons.”

“What are they?”

“The first reason we already talked about. It would be dangerous if one of us messed up, and I think that could happen,” he said. I was about to argue with him, but thinking of how much drinking I’d probably do, and how horny I was, I knew he was right.

“I can see that,” I said.

“The second, and biggest reason is that it would be really hard on you. You don’t want that now. I would almost feel like I had enslaved you,” he said to me. “And I get lonely too, and may want some company.”

I hugged him tightly, kissing the side of his head while I told him that I loved him, which fired us up for another round of amazing sex. We got up, took a shower, then picked our clothes up off the floor and got dressed. We went downstairs at 6:00 and found Wade and Matt in the living room. It was set up so there was a couch facing two chairs, with a small coffee table in the middle. Matt was in one of the chairs so I took the other one, while Travis sat on the couch with Wade. The chairs were facing towards the foyer, which was the room you had to transit if you had just come off the elevator.

“Fabien came over about an hour ago,” Matt said.

“No shit?” I asked, then started laughing. “Where did he go?”

“He said that Stef had dropped something, and he needed to return it,” Wade said. “I didn’t feel like it was my place to ask what it was, so I just led him up to their room.”

“That dude has now gone through every generation of your family,” Travis said, shaking his head.

“We don’t know for sure that they had sex,” Wade insisted, sounding like Grand.

Matt and Wade started laughing at him, while I said “Seriously?” then joined them.

“You said every generation,” Wade said curiously.

“He had a ménage à trois with Dad and Jake last weekend too,” I said.

“Hey, baby, that might be fun,” Matt said to Wade suggestively. Wade tried to give him a dirty look, but then he must have imagined fucking Fab so his expression softened. That cracked all of us up, to the point where I had been laughing so much that my sides hurt.

I saw shadows in the foyer so I reached over and tapped Matt. Stef and Grand came walking in, looking a bit flushed. “Join us,” Wade said. No sooner had Wade gotten them drinks than the doorbell rang. We heard Wade welcoming someone, then Fab walked in.

“They are so sleuthy,” I said to Matt, Wade, and Travis. We all started laughing again, which was painful after laughing so much before.

“So Fab,” I said. “You have now slept with every generation of our family. Who was the best?” Grand put his head in his hands to hide his embarrassment, but Stef had no such issues.

“I am interested to hear the answer to that as well,” Stef said.

“That is not a fair question,” Fab said. “No one was better; you were all different.”

“How?” I asked, to torpedo his attempt to get out of answering.

“You and your father both topped me,” he said in a calm way. “He is appealing if you want a strong man to fuck you in an animalistic kind of way. You are not as aggressive, but you are very smooth and very responsive to your lover’s needs.”

“He nailed you,” Travis said to me. I smiled to thank them for that compliment.

“Jake is basically a power bottom, so if that is the experience you are looking for, he is very good at it. When one fucks Stefan they are fucking his entire body. He moves every muscle, every joint in such a perfect way. And JP is very good at foreplay, but once he actually has a dick in his ass, it is like he turns into a, what do you Americans say, an Energizer Bunny,” he said. I was so impressed at how factual he was, and how accurate he was, at least according to other people who had talked about us.

“That is a very astute summary,” Stef said.

“You’re like a sexual rating service,” I said.

“I am,” he said, then turned to Matt and Wade. “If you two would like my assessment of your skills, I would be more than happy to oblige you.”

“We’ll think about it,” Matt said in his sexiest voice.

“What part of Paris are you from,” Grand asked Fab, probably because he was desperate to change the topic.

“I tell people I am from Montmartre, but I am actually from La Chappelle,” he said. “It is certainly not the nicest part of the city.”

“I understand that parts of La Chappelle are quite pleasant,” Grand noted.

“I did not live in those parts,” Fab said as he cringed slightly. “My mother works at a café, so that is what we could afford.”

“What about your father?” I asked.

“My father passed away before I was even born,” Fab said. “It is as if he were one of those insects who, once he impregnates the female, he then dies.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. He shrugged.

“It is not a problem,” he said. “As I have been intimate with half of you, I do not mind sharing information about my background.”

“Was his last name Laurent?” Stef asked.

“No, that is my mother’s name,” he said. “My mother tells me that I work too hard for a Frenchman, which is hilarious because I get that trait from her. She tells me that I got my brains from my father.”

“What did your father do?” Travis asked.

“He was a college professor at the Sorbonne,” Fab said.

“That would indeed indicate that he was very smart,” Grand said. “I knew many of the professors at the Sorbonne. What was his name?”

“Marc Sievres,” Fab said.