Chasing Rusty Parker - 28. Day Owl, Night Owl

Chapter Twenty-Eight – Day Owl, Night Owl

He didn’t usually wake up in a good mood, mostly because he liked sleeping in and all lectures had the bad habit of requiring students to wake up in the morning when only early birds were supposed to be hard at work, catching that poor worm over and over. Sure, everyone else would tell him otherwise, that waking up in the morning was good, but Rusty really didn’t think he’d be anything else but a night owl. Wasn’t night owl kind of redundant? Was there such a thing as a day owl?

Apparently, if it existed, its name had to be Rusty Parker, because it was way early on a Monday, and he felt rested, amazing, and ready to take over the world. The world of Sunny Hill, of course.

He took his time getting ready for classes, making sure to look his best. While he was the most enthusiastic adept of the ‘I-don’t-care-what-I-wear’ fashion style, today it wasn’t one of those days.

When he walked downstairs, he looked almost preppy. Not entirely, because he would never live it down, but he wore the nice sweater Jonathan had gifted him the Christmas before and a pair of dress pants, the casual type, but still. Footwear was a concession. He felt good in sneakers, and while they were new, they still looked exactly like what they were.

Jonathan gave him a surprised look when he saw him coming down the stairs. Maddox was all over his fiancé, presumably helping him with the coffee, and the domesticity of the sight in front of him made Rusty grin ear to ear.

“Someone’s really early,” Jonathan commented.

“There’s a world to conquer out there,” Rusty declared like a general in front of his troops. “No time to waste.”

“Are you leaving already?” Maddox questioned him. “There’s still about an hour or so until classes start.”

“It’s too nice a day to spend even a moment indoors more than needed,” Rusty offered, reciting each word as if he was performing on a stage.

Maddox threw a confused look at Jonathan. It appeared, however, that Hamilton was not that surprised with Rusty’s good mood. So, he took Maddox by the shoulders and leaned over, surely to whisper something in his ear. Realization dawned on Maddox’s face, and now they were both staring at him like they knew something he didn’t.

“I’m just in the mood for a bit of practice,” he said and walked out with a shrug. He didn’t tell them what kind of practice. Parents or not, they weren’t supposed to know everything-everything.

Once outside, he took one deep breath, enjoying the fresh air for a moment, and took in the sight of the campus stretching in front of him. That was his domain, and he was the king.

***

There were few students already up at that hour, but nonetheless, Rusty greeted everyone in his usual fashion. What he got in return were a few blank stares, a slight sign of recognition from a guy that was quickly smothered by one of his female friends who caught his arm and pulled it down, and a few odd and all-knowing looks.

Rusty shrugged. Morning people were obviously a weird bunch. He’d get used to them, presumably, since he felt too good not to get up in the morning from now on. He took the stairs to the Arts building two by two, checking that no one was staring in his direction. His peers’ lack of interest in him was nice for a change, because it meant that he could go in and out of any place without having to fight a crowd.

Once he reached the room he was interested in, he took a moment. It had been a while since he had practiced in that manner. What he was vocalizing during his morning showers didn’t truly count.

He turned the knob, but the door didn’t open. What the hell? That place wasn’t usually under lock and key. He looked around, feeling rightfully deflated. One of the janitors was cleaning the floors and he waved at the man. “Good morning, my good man. Do you happen to have a key?” he asked.

The man just shook his head and returned to his task at hand. Rusty let out a long exhalation. All right, so his plans for this morning had just been thwarted. Someone must have thought that the music room had important treasures to hide, and thus, the locked door.

Rusty took the stairs down, two by two, but something was off, and the spring in his step was waning. And to think he had even skipped breakfast to get here fast, just to try his voice a little. No dice, it seemed.

***

It wasn’t until late in the afternoon that Rusty began to understand that something fishy was going on. Leaving aside that he felt a bit too hot in his nice sweater and that the energy boost from earlier seemed to have evaporated into thin air, he had begun to have a slightly ominous feeling. Certain crowds no longer seemed to hold him in the usual high esteem. Sure thing, his buddies were as chummy as ever, and the people who knew him beyond hello talked to him, but the overall sentiment was that something was changing.

At first, he had brushed it off, too caught up in what should be called experiencing the college life to the fullest, even by paying attention to lectures. But, just like the locked door to the music room, there was an oppressive atmosphere hanging over the beautiful late fall day, and he couldn’t put his finger on it, nor shake it off.

“Maddie,” he asked with half a mouth, while pretending to look over the people gathered there with his usual confidence, “I think there’s a mutiny in the works or something.”

They were attending their last class together, so at least he had someone to ask whether he was starting to imagine things or something.

“Hmm,” Maddox offered in his most non-committal style, absorbed as he was by the contents of the textbook in front of him.

“I swear,” Rusty commented, “ever since the Hamiltons allowed you to pursue their heir’s hand, you’ve become even more of a nerd than you were before.”

Maddox looked at him and blinked. “What’s that?”

Rusty rolled his eyes. “Come on, Maddie, they don’t even have a moat.”

His bestie snickered and was about to return to his textbook diving when Rusty caught his arm hard.

Maddox sighed and closed the book. “What is it, boy? What is it?” he asked, grinning at him.

“Look around.”

“I’m looking. What am I supposed to see?”

Rusty leaned over and whispered, “I think there’s a coup in the works.”

“A coup?”

“Yeah. They’re after my crown, I’m telling you.”

Maddox bit his bottom lip and then couldn’t keep it in. “Rusty, for real. What’s that supposed to mean? Ah, is it about the Implacable Team and their discourse on morality?”

“I guess,” Rusty replied. “I mean, I thought that they would be as inefficient as a cat in the seafood aisle.”

Maddox stared at him. “Something’s wrong with that phrase.”

“The cat is supposed to guard the fishy things,” Rusty explained and waved impatiently. “The thing is, I’m afraid to say, but I think that S.H.I.T is starting to get to people.”

Maddox appeared to be completely unimpressed by his revelations. “And? Do you care or something?”

Rusty gasped and placed a very offended hand on his chest. “Of course I care. I mean, what’s a king without his subjects?”

Maddox shook his head. “I thought you were over that. And look at things this way. I still love you, man.” To make a point, his bestie took him by the shoulders and looked at him, with a big grin on his face.

Great, his best bro was making fun of his predicament. “Yeah, yeah, like I believe you. You already put a ring on it, and that finger isn’t mine. If I die an old maid, it’s your fault.”

“Get Matty to save you from spinsterhood then,” Maddox said very matter-of-factly.

Rusty searched his brain for a good comeback and had nothing. The professor saved him by walking in, and his convo with Maddie got cut short. How was Matty supposed to save him? He would have to ask Maddox later provided that he didn’t forget.

Was the Implacable Team really going to make things hard for him? Rusty stared out the window, tuning out the professor’s monotone monologue. Maybe he wasn’t a day owl after all; he was a night owl by definition, redundant or not.

***

Matty waited patiently for Rusty to come closer. The famous king of Sunny Hill was strolling through the quad, seemingly lost in thought. One of the things Matty wanted to find out – and he needed superior abilities to do it – was to discover just how affected Rusty would be if he were never to see the cat boy again.

Zoey had assured him over and over that her roommate had no idea she was hiding the costume in her closet, but he worried that his bestie might get entangled in the strangest way with the entire cat boy/girl drama thing. In most universes, A led to B, and B to C, and if Xpress or the Implacable Team caught whiff of what lay hidden inside Zoey’s closet, it would be bad. Maybe he should think about moving it or even returning it. Could he ask for a refund? Given what kind of things had happened while he’d been dressed in that cat boy suit, the honest answer was probably ‘no’. And another thing, he couldn’t go down that road before learning if Rusty would be really affected by the sudden disappearance of Slicky Coolplums.

Now, he must have been the one lost in thought because Rusty bumped into him, and, for a moment, they stared at each other, both looking rightfully startled. That lasted no more than that, and the following second, Rusty threw an arm over Matty’s shoulders, trying to see if he could hold him. Matty dug his heels in and smiled at his special friend. “How’s the king of Sunny Hill today?”

“Smelling something rotten, and we’re not talking about the state of Denmark. We’re talking about the state of affairs here, at Sunny Hill.”

Matty nodded thoughtfully and began walking side by side with Rusty, who didn’t choose to let go of his shoulders. It was a very pleasant feeling, so he didn’t make any remark. If anyone stared and jumped to the wrong conclusion, that was on them.

“So, you heard about the cat boy thing,” he said, grateful for the opening he got to bring up the topic that most interested him at the moment.

“What?” Rusty asked. “What cat boy thing?”

“Xpress and the Implacable Team both are currently engaged, or so they say, in a race for unmasking the cat boy. You know, that guy who climbed on the scoreboard at your game that time.”

Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to play into Xpress’s stupidity over how the cat boy was a cat girl carrying Rusty’s unborn children.

Rusty grunted, not giving Matty much to work with. Could it be that the king of Sunny Hill, the most kinkster of them all, was over cat boys? That might be a relief, but Matty didn’t dare to hope just yet. As much as he would have liked to get rid of the competition, it wasn’t his choice to make. Or was it?

His train of thought was brought to a halt by Rusty. “They’re going after Slicky Coolplums, too. I see. That guy’s not a coward, though. He’s chill as balls. He told me so.”

Matty wanted to offer some slight corrections to that but bit his tongue before he started unraveling his trickery by accident. “Do you think they’re going to catch him? I mean, he could just go into hiding.”

Rusty’s expression was so serious that it was hard to believe that they were talking completely non-ironically about a cat boy, his weird moniker, and the fact that there were two different shady organizations after the guy’s slick pair of balls. Not to mention, the said cat boy was actually taking part in their present conversation.

“If he goes into hiding, he’s not the dude I thought him to be.”

Ah, now that was a relevant piece of information. “Then it means that it’s not the last we’ve heard of him,” Matty replied, a new conviction taking shape in his mind. “Now, what is it about something smelling rotten?”

“It’s about Connor and his acolytes,” Rusty said promptly. “People kept warning me about the Implacable Team, but I’ve never expected them to cause real damage. Especially with a name like that.”

“Yes. It makes you wonder. I believe that my roommate got lured into their craziness already.”

“That roommate who destroyed your Nightwing costume?”

“That’s the guy.” Matty had felt relieved that John had given him plenty of space once he got back to his room, and they weren’t on speaking terms anymore. It made for a very tense atmosphere in their shared quarters, but happy as he had been after topping Rusty, he hadn’t exactly taken the time to defuse the situation. It served that guy right to learn that he couldn’t get away with weird things like that.

“He’s one of them?”

“By how he kept on pushing Connor’s not so secret agenda on me, I’d say so. Anyway, he’s not an issue. He keeps walking on egg shells around me. I guess I scared him enough to last him at least a couple of weeks. Things are pretty weird right now.”

Rusty laughed and brought their heads together. He even rubbed his against Matty’s temple, in an unexpected sign of affection. Matty felt like turning his head and kissing Rusty in full daylight, for everyone to see.

However, Rusty was already turning something on all sides in his head and wasn’t looking at him anymore. That was good, supposedly; because if he looked, he would be able to read everything in Matty’s eyes.

“My reign is reaching its end, I think,” Rusty said with a sigh.

“What does that mean?” Matty asked.

“Well, I suppose it was bound to happen, sooner or later. Which means that it’s high time for a new victor to emerge.”

Rusty was talking like an actor on a stage, and while he enjoyed the performance, Matty wasn’t entirely sure he understood what he meant by those words. As things stood, the Implacable Team was, indeed, against Rusty as the informal king of Sunny Hill, and it looked like they were getting something out if it, too.

Was it a bad thing? Or was it good? Like the thing with the cat boy, it all appeared to be the half-full, half-empty glass type of situation.

But Slicky Coolplums would not back down. Why was Rusty doing it, though? Matty took a long look at him. “Are you going to step out of the way of the new royalty, just like that?”

Rusty laughed and rubbed his head against Matty’s again, but offered no answer. Instead, he proposed something completely out of left field. “How about we hit your dorm room?”

“Sure,” Matty said, although there was nothing he was less sure of at the moment.

He had basically just told Rusty that he and his roommate were engaged in a very weird status quo. And they were headed his way.

***

To know your enemies, you must observe them in the wild, Rusty thought as he pushed Matty toward his dorm. Of course, he could always go head to head with Connor and make the guy regret the day he’d decided that saving the planet was just not worth it anymore. But that wouldn’t help him understand why the guy had managed to gather minions around him in such a brief period of time.

Maddox didn’t see it and couldn’t be made to care but, for Rusty, something that could get out of control like that didn’t sit well with him. Who knew what those Implacable Team supporters would do next?

They were many, and he was one. But that didn’t mean that he would simply accept defeat and get out of the way. No, it meant that he needed to put his mind to work and organize the biggest prank in the history of Sunny Hill. He was already playing with ideas in his head, but he also needed to gather intel.

Which led him to accompanying Matty to his dorm, where one of Connor’s snakelets lay, dormant or not so much, according to his baby dude. If that guy had the guts to ruin what must have been a perfect Nightwing costume just because he believed in whatever gospel Connor was preaching, a bit of evaluation was in order.

“As I told you, John is behaving really weirdly since our little altercation,” Matty warned him for one last time before they stepped into the room.

The guy in question gave them a short look when they entered, but then quickly returned to the book he was reading. He had his nose buried in it, but Rusty could tell that John was all ears by how tense he was.

“John, my man,” Rusty said loudly, startling the guy.

“Do I know you?” John asked from the tip of his lips.

“I sleep over at Matty’s sometimes. I was here before, remember?” Rusty continued, ignoring Matty who was pulling at his sleeve.

John pushed his glasses up on his nose and stared more closely, craning his neck, but unwilling to give up on the security offered by his bed. Rusty helped him by walking toward him until he made him tip his head back.

Rusty put his hands on his hips. “Matty tells me that you’re with Connor.”

John, in the most suspicious manner, looked away and his cheeks burned red. “I’m not with him. I’m under him. I mean, I’m with the Implacable Team!”

Because John shouted the last few words, Rusty straightened up and leaned back, just to show how impressed he was. “Well then, you must know what Connor plans to do about raising the morality levels around here.”

John appeared not to know what to do with this surprise attack. “He intends,” he began, pushing his glasses up his nose again, “to make sure that the students here live fulfilling lives that prepare them for the real life that awaits after college.”

“Hmm.” Rusty rubbed his chin and threw John a very honest and interested look. “And how exactly does he plan to do that?”

“By instilling true values into them.”

“Instilling, huh?” Rusty noticed Matty from the corner of one eye. His baby dude seemed slightly amused by the entire exchange and was trying to hide it. “With what?”

“We believe,” John continued after a brief moment of hesitation, “in the power of the good word.”

“All words, no action, then?” Rusty asked.

John pursed his lips. “There will be action, too. There already is. Everywhere we go, we, those with the Implacable Team, spread the word. And we stop people from making mistakes.”

“I see. How, exactly?”

John puffed out his chest and sat on the edge of the bed, ready to launch into a veritable tirade. “We know that our actions might not be to everyone’s liking, but it’s like good medicine. It may be bitter, but it’s working and it’s good for you. We will raid parties and get rid of all the alcohol. We will stop people from mindlessly hooking up. And, most of all, we will make sure that Rusty Parker is no longer the king of Sunny Hill!” Just as he said that, John paused and took a better look at him. He gasped in surprise. “You… you’re him!”

Rusty began laughing. Matty was already biting his pillow, hiding his face in it, his entire body shaking, and that would easily hijack his interest normally, but now there were important things at stake, which meant that everything else, no matter how enticing, had to wait.

That seemed to send John into some sort of frenzy. The guy grabbed his books, trembling from head to toe and tried to sneak around Rusty, although there was no need for that since Rusty had already moved out of the way and was looking at him like he was studying an alien life form.

“Where are you going? We were in the middle of a conversation here,” Rusty complained.

“I need to study in the library!” John shouted. “There’s no one… weird down there!”

Rusty looked at Matty. “We’re weird,” he said and sighed contentedly like that was an outstanding achievement.

“Totally,” Matty agreed, still laughing his ass off while John rushed out the door. “For real, Rusty, though, why do you have to torture the guy? I’m supposed to do that.”

“You’re too soft on him,” Rusty explained. “That explains why he’s so easy to impress.”

***

Seeing Rusty in action was the kind of thing that brought Matty to his knees, figuratively speaking. John had been on the brink of wetting his pants when he realized that he was actually talking to the enemy of the state. All the time, Rusty had kept himself in check without letting on anything, and it was that kind of power the guy had that made Matty like him and not only because he was crushing on him and had always been.

He couldn’t see Rusty bullying anyone, and indeed, the contested king of Sunny Hill didn’t have to use any of his obvious strength to make an impression. John deserved it because he was actually doing it to himself. After all, Matty had needed to take drastic measures and shake him down only to make him understand that it wasn’t right to destroy other people’s property. The same thing Rusty could achieve with just being in the same room.

“You know, I’m afraid the way you’re presenting your ass right now makes me much in the mood for the kind of debauchery the Implacable Team condemns so openly.”

Rusty’s words made him throw a look over his shoulder to check his own ass. He was interrupted by receiving the full weight of his special buddy right on top of him. He grunted for show and Rusty kissed his cheek while humping his ass.

“Whatever you’re doing, it might be a bit too prudish to cause public outrage,” Matty played into Rusty’s shenanigans.

“I’m dry humping you,” Rusty pointed out.

“That’s the problem. We have too many clothes on.” Matty managed to turn and Rusty trapped him underneath. “Although, I suppose we should behave. John could be back any minute.”

“I think I scared him enough,” Rusty insisted and leaned in for another kiss.

Matty indulged it - because how could he not? – but quickly got back his bearings. “If he sees us in this compromising position, he’s going to tootle his horn all over the place.”

Rusty grinned. “If by tootling his horn, you mean that he’s going to rub one off, then I guess you’re right.”

“I don’t think John really has a tool like that,” Matty offered.

“He’s just one,” Rusty countered. “Nah, Matty boy, you’re reading it wrong. Your roommate might have things to hide.”

“Maybe. Like the fact that he actually browses his phone for cat memes when he’s supposed to be studying. I caught him once. He keeps the phone strapped to his textbook so that no one can see it.”

“I don’t care about that. What I mean is that John might want to suck Connor’s cock.”

Matty stared at his bed partner long and hard. “How exactly did you reach that conclusion? I mean, the guy is really into ass-licking--”

Rusty guffawed. “Yeah, that too. However, if your John were that kind of fun ass licker, everything would be fine. No, the problem is that he wants his cake and to eat it, too.”

“Indulge me in your theories, Mr. King.”

“He got red in the face when I asked him about Connor. That’s exhibit A. He mumbled something about being under the guy. I mean, come on, Matty, that’s really on the nose. Secondly, he wants to impress his leader, and that means he needs to be a stalwart supporter of the morality policies Connor wants to implement. Do you see where the problem is?”

“I don’t think John’s gay,” Matty argued. “The idea that he needs to impress Connor Williams I agree with. But I’m afraid he’s the kind of person that can’t hear anyone talking about sex without breaking into a cold sweat.”

“I think he wants to do it.”

“And do it with Connor, of all people? Talk about weird taste,” Matty said.

“Actually, if they both dropped the act, they’d be pretty all right for a pair of dudes wanting to get freaky.”

“I don’t intend to contradict you because I like you, but I must say that only you’d see things that are sex-related in everything.”

Rusty shrugged. “Hey, I’m telling it how it is. And right now, I have to tell you, Matty, your naughty friend downstairs keeps poking me in the eye.”

“Thank you for the compliment, but your eyes are up here, and my dick is not that long.”

“I was talking about my one-eyed snake,” Rusty explained and glared for good measure.

“Of course you are,” Matty delivered deadpan.

Rusty brushed his nose against his a few times. “You know what I was thinking?”

“What?” Matty could feel his own breath deepening as Rusty continued to tease him gently.

“That you should have a key.”

“A key?” Matty didn’t exactly dare to think beyond the simple words he was hearing, words that carried a lot more weight than he wanted to risk imagining.

“Yeah, a key to the house. You know, where I live,” Rusty explained. He propped himself on one elbow and continued to stare at him from one side.

“Oh, I see.”

“Do you want it?”

“Do horses eat hay?”

“Is that a ‘yes’?”

“Yes.”

“Yes-yes or--”

“Rusty,” Matty said and caught the other’s cheek in his palm. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever asked of me.”

“Cool.” Rusty’s eyes lit up. “I mean, seeing what a douche your roommate is, I don’t see why you shouldn’t have an alternative.”

“Is it only because you care for my wellbeing?” Matty teased as he continued to stroke Rusty’s cheek.

“Not only. I also care for the wellbeing of someone else.”

“You?”

“I wanted to say the Mighty Thor.”

Matty laughed and shook his head. “You know, I was expecting you to say that. So, this weary traveler will have to pay for board and lodging with his own body?”

“It sounds just like one of the fantasies I was thinking about. Do you happen to have one of those feathery hats they used to wear in the fourteenth century?”

“I’m afraid my wardrobe is not as extensive as that.”

“It doesn’t matter. If you feel it in your heart, you’ll be it in no time.”

“I’m really afraid to ask about the ‘it’, though.”

“I’ll guide you through it,” Rusty said and took Matty’s hand. With a smirk, he placed a small kiss on it.

“Wow, Mr. Parker, are you suddenly in the mood for some romantic repertoire or are my eyes playing tricks on me?” Matty asked.

Rusty grinned and then manipulated his hand until Matty’s middle finger was in his mouth. That was enough to make Matty tremble from head to toe, more than all the jokes they could make about one-eyed snakes and Mighty Thors. Without any trace of shame, Rusty proceeded to suck that finger deeper into his mouth, while his eyelashes dropped in the most seductive manner Matty had ever witnessed in his life.

That was the guy for whom he had put on a cat boy suit and pranced around the campus at night and during the day. Words were lost to him, but he knew that he needed more of what Rusty had to offer for as long as he could get it, free of charge.

The payment would probably come later, he thought, as Rusty finally abandoned Matty’s middle finger in favor of his lips. It looked like dry humping could be fun, too.

“Let’s make it wet,” Rusty suggested and he was soon the one in charge, taking both their cocks out of the confines of their pants and rubbing them together. He did quick work with his fingers, wetting them copiously by wrapping his tongue around them, and Matty never missed one beat, his eyes fixed on Rusty, feeling completely helpless.

It was also Rusty who pushed Matty’s shirt upward, leaving his abdomen bare. “I hope you don’t mind if I go a little Jackson Pollock on your belly.”

“Go crazy, don’t worry. It will be a short-lived work of art, though, I’m afraid.” Matty struggled not to feel it all at the same time, as Rusty’s hand was moving slowly and the entire length of the Mighty Thor was pressing down on his smaller cock.

“It’s not like I’d allow anyone else to look at you after the deed,” Rusty replied and shut him up with a deep kiss. “So don’t you worry about that.”

Matty took deep breaths, lungfuls of Rusty’s scent, as he became dizzy from too much want. Rusty was nothing but efficient. He must have thought about the same thing for the entire day, just like him. That was the only explanation he was willing to accept, he thought, as Rusty pressed his lips hard on his and made them both explode, as promised.

TBC