The Academy

by Quinn Anderson

  He moved closer, and Nick’s breath caught in his throat. His eyes wanted to flutter closed as Sebastian leaned forward until their lips were almost touching. “This time, it won’t be a bandage. It’ll be more like stitches. The first step we need to take to heal. I’ve spent my life having sex for all the wrong reasons, but this time, it feels right. With you, it’ll be different. I know it will. Will you let me show you? Nick, will you be with me?”

  Sebastian’s breath tickled his skin. It reminded Nick of when he was a kid, and on the fourth of July, he’d hold his hand close to a lit sparkler and let it brush his skin. Gone too quickly to hurt, but with lingering heat.

  Nick swallowed all his doubts and worries—all the trepidations that had held him back from the moment they’d locked eyes—and said the one word he’d been longing to say to Sebastian.

  “Yes.”

  As Sebastian led him inside by the hand, Nick’s heart pounded like it was trying to escape. Every step toward Sebastian’s bedroom made it beat harder. Not with nervousness, but with anticipation.

  It was funny. After everything they’d been through, Nick hadn’t expected this to feel so perfect. He’d had so many doubts and uncertainties previously, but as they entered the bedroom, and Sebastian closed the door behind them, Nick didn’t think he’d ever been more eager to have sex. It was as if all the obstacles they’d put in their way had been broken down. Now that they’d finally let go, it was flowing like water. Natural and sure.

  Sebastian used their entwined fingers to tug Nick toward him. Nick came willingly, molding their bodies together. Sebastian tilted his head up for a kiss, but Nick held back, soaking in the moment: chest to chest, forehead to forehead. Happy to bask in Sebastian’s warmth and the spicy-sharp smell of his cologne.

  Eventually, Nick gave in and kissed him, and when he did, it was slow, but in no way lacking heat. It built between them, like embers being stoked into a blaze, until Nick’s hands were fisted in Sebastian’s shirt, and Sebastian had wrapped both arms around Nick.

  “You know,” Sebastian breathed between searing kisses, “now that I have you here, I wish I had a fireplace in my room.” He swiped his tongue along Nick’s bottom lip.

  The light touch made Nick gasp. “This is an odd time to discuss your future renovation plans.”

  Chuckling, Sebastian mouthed down his neck. “You don’t remember? I once joked that you don’t hook up, you make love in front of a roaring fire. Joke’s on me, because all I want to do right now is lay you out and touch you in all the ways I’ve imagined for weeks now.”

  The arousal that swept through Nick left him light-headed and much, much too hot. He’d been turned on before, but at that image, sex went from something he wanted to something he needed. He used his hands on Sebastian’s chest to guide him back until they reached the bed, and then he pushed Sebastian none-too-gently onto it.

  Sebastian landed with a thump and blinked up at Nick, eyes dark. “Holy fuck, I’m so turned on right now.”

  With more confidence than he’d ever displayed in his life, Nick stepped forward, between Sebastian’s spread legs, and grinned. “Just you wait.”

  He kneeled on the bed next to Sebastian’s thigh. Sebastian took the cue and scooted back, kicking off his shoes as he went. Nick crawled after him, hovering close enough to feel the heat from his body. He wanted to kiss him, but he held back, drawing it out. He thought he could almost see Sebastian twitching with anticipation.

  When they were in position—Sebastian splayed out beautifully under him, and Nick with a thigh between Sebastian’s legs and a hand on the mattress by his head—Nick leaned down and brushed their lips together. It wasn’t a proper kiss, but it sparked and crackled in a way that made him dizzy.

  “So”—Sebastian spoke against his skin, breath tickling—“how do you want to do this?”

  Nick had imagined having sex with Sebastian enough times that a dozen possibilities sprang to mind. The aforementioned sweet lovemaking. Frantic, desperate sex that left them both sweaty and weak. He’d even thought about some adventurous balcony sex, though that wasn’t quite suitable for a first time.

  Right now, there was only one thing Nick wanted.

  He brushed his mouth against Sebastian’s again, flicking his tongue out to taste skin. “I know you were joking about making love, but I would really like to do that with you.” He kissed Sebastian’s temple. “Spread you out.” Then his cheek. “Finger you open.” The corner of his mouth. “And fuck you.”

  Sebastian actually whimpered. “Hell yes. I want that. Want you so much.” He slotted their mouths together, and this time when they kissed, it was deep and needy.

  If Nick had any doubt how much Sebastian wanted him, it was obliterated when Sebastian rolled his hips up and rubbed their groins together. Nick jolted when Sebastian’s erection met his. It wasn’t just that Nick was hard, it was that he hadn’t realized how fucking hard Sebastian was. Solid and warm. The heat of him could be felt right through his jeans.

  “Oh fuck.” Nick shivered. “Clothes off. Now.”

  “I love this commanding side of you.” Sebastian scrambled to comply, yanking his shirt off and then diving for his jeans.

  Nick sat up, astride Sebastian’s hips, and peeled his own shirt off. He didn’t intend to make a show of it, but when the fabric cleared his head and he looked down, Sebastian was staring at him. More specifically, his torso. Sebastian’s mouth was slack, and his pupils had dilated.

  “Damn,” Sebastian said under his breath. “Why have I never gotten you shirtless before?”

  “Same to you.” Nick leaned over Sebastian again and brushed a hand along both of Sebastian’s distinct collarbones. “I’ve never been a biter, but I’m itching to mark up this skin of yours.”

  “Don’t do it anywhere visible, and I’m game.” Sebastian got his jeans open and wriggled them down his hips along with the black boxers. Now naked, he lay between Nick’s legs in no particular pose, and yet the sight was going to fuel Nick’s fantasies for years to come.

  Nick reached behind him to pull off his shoes before starting on his own pants. To his surprise, Sebastian knocked his hand away. “Allow me.”

  As he looked down, the gorgeous man under him, whose dark eyes were latched on the bulge in his jeans, worked Nick’s fly open in three seconds flat. It was one of the most erotic things Nick had ever witnessed. When Nick’s cock sprang free of his underwear, Sebastian actually licked his lips, and Nick thought he might swoon.

  He had to take a breath before he could move. Sliding off the bed, he shucked all remaining clothing before crawling back on. It felt weird not to have Sebastian beneath him for even that brief moment. He had a feeling that after this, he was going to be seriously spoiled.

  Back in position, he took a moment to appreciate the splendor that was naked Sebastian. His skin flushed pink in all the most tender places: lips, neck, armpits, groin. It was a roadmap Nick intended to follow with his tongue.

  Unabashed in his nakedness, Sebastian threw an arm behind his head like a pillow and grinned. “You come here often?”

  Nick didn’t miss a beat. “No, but you will, if I have anything to say about it.”

  Sebastian laughed and hooked a leg around Nick’s waist, bringing their hips together. With their pesky clothing out of the way, the touch of flesh on flesh was raw and intimate. It made Nick’s arm tremble as it held up his torso.

  He took a shuddering breath. “Do you have condoms and lube and all that?”

  Sebastian pointed to the nightstand and then rocked his hips, making their cocks slide together. “Hurry.”

  Nick scrambled to obey, though he couldn’t help but tease him. “I thought you wanted me to make sweet, slow love to you?”

  From over his shoulder, Nick heard a growl. “I do, but I also need you to fuck me yesterday, so if you can find some magical way to make both happen, that’d be great.”

  Rummaging through Sebastian’s nightstand, Nick gathered the necessary
supplies and dumped them onto the bed a foot away from Sebastian’s head. Then he straddled him again, picked up the bottle of lube, and drizzled some onto his fingers.

  Sebastian watched with his plump lower lip caught between his teeth. As Nick slicked his fingers, he shivered. “I thought you were the long-relationships guy. Not the sex-god guy.”

  Gently, Nick skimmed the back of his lubed hand down Sebastian’s stomach, then between his legs. “Why can’t I be both? Considering all my relationships lasted over a year, I bet I’ve had more sex than you have.” His fingers found Sebastian’s hole, lubed it, and then slid in.

  Sebastian tensed only to take a breath and let it out slowly, his body going slack. “Don’t say ‘bet.’ Too soon.”

  Huffing a breath, Nick kissed Sebastian’s collarbones as he fingered him. “We’re in bed, and I’m inside you. Stop making me laugh.”

  He added a second finger and angled them the way he liked best when he fingered himself. With utmost satisfaction, he listened to the honeyed moan that poured from Sebastian.

  “That’s enough.” Sebastian pawed at his shoulders. “Fuck me.”

  “Is not. I just started.”

  Sebastian whined. “I can’t wait any longer.”

  Nick bit down on the collarbone he was kissing. Sebastian’s startled groan of pleasure was almost as good as sex. “I could do this for hours. I could finger you until you’re a sweaty, mewling puddle under me.”

  “Oh God.” Sebastian wriggled beneath him, panting. “This is your revenge, isn’t it? You’re going to tease me to death.”

  Nick was tempted to answer in the affirmative, but then Sebastian bucked beneath him, and Nick’s vision blurred.

  “Fuck it.” He removed his fingers and reached for the condom. “Spread your legs.”

  “Oh fuck yes.” Sebastian did as he was told, as far as he was able to with Nick’s thighs caging him in. “I’ve wanted this since the day I met you.”

  Nick tore open the condom and rolled it on. As he got into position, he looked Sebastian in the eye. “I’ve wanted you for longer. I’ve been searching for you for a long time.”

  Sebastian made a sound that had nothing to do with sex. He leaned up and kissed Nick with feeling. Nick kissed back as he guided himself into Sebastian’s body and slid home.

  They gasped together, mouths still touching. Sebastian was apparently flexible as hell, because he hooked a knee over Nick’s shoulder like it was nothing. Nick had to adjust the angle of his hips a few times before he found what worked, but just being here—finally with Sebastian—felt so good, he almost couldn’t handle it. He moved slowly, trying to get a hold of himself while also milking the sheer pleasure that was being skin to skin with Sebastian, inside and out.

  Sebastian was no help at all. The smallest motions wrung throaty moans from him. When Nick thrust into him, his leg flexed around Nick’s waist, like he was trying to draw him deeper in. Nick glanced at him and almost came then and there. Sebastian looked exquisite and wrecked: eyes clenched shut, brow kissed with sweat, and head thrown back, exposing his long neck.

  As if sensing Nick’s gaze, he opened his eyes—the winter-sky eyes that had first drawn Nick to him. Their gazes met, and something raw and intimate passed between them. The concrete knowledge that they were here, right now, together. Sebastian craned his head up and pressed the softest but most deliberate of kisses onto Nick’s lips, and it zinged down Nick’s spine like lightning.

  Suddenly, drawing this out was no longer a priority to Nick.

  He started fucking Sebastian in earnest, and the pleasured sounds that earned spurred him on. He gave one particularly hard thrust, and when Sebastian gasped and clenched around him, his own moans joined the mix.

  “Nick, I—” Sebastian quivered from head to toe, and Nick felt it all over. “Fuck, that feels good.”

  “You feel good.” Nick skimmed his lips up Sebastian’s throat. “So gorgeous.” He got his hands under Sebastian’s hips and propped him up, allowing himself to sink deeper into him.

  Sebastian threw his arms around Nick’s neck and buried his long fingers in blond hair. Nick had a serious weak spot for having his hair pulled, and before long, his rhythm faltered.

  “Shit. I’m close. Want me to slow down?”

  Sebastian shook his head, his expression balanced on the delicate knife-edge between pleasure and exquisite agony. “I’ve been close since we were making out. In fact, I think . . .” He reached between their bodies and gripped his dick. “Oh.”

  Nick didn’t stop fucking him, but he did look down to watch. Sebastian’s reddened cock slipping between his beautiful fingers was going to linger in Nick’s memory for a long time.

  It seemed as though Sebastian barely stroked himself before he tensed up. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.”

  He unraveled like a tapestry. Seeing his composed, aristocratic face caught in throes of pleasure would have been enough to do Nick in, but then Sebastian grabbed Nick’s shoulder and dug in his blunt fingers.

  The burst of pain was so sharp and at odds with the ecstasy of being buried in Sebastian, it heightened the entire experience. Half a dozen quick rocks of his hips later, and Nick came so hard he saw stars.

  His eyes slammed shut automatically, and he shoved himself as far into Sebastian as possible. His hips gave a stilted little thrust, milking the pleasure racing through him, and even that small movement was almost too much sensation. He stilled, heart pounding, breath coming in labored pants, and luxuriated in it.

  He thought at some point Sebastian might have said something, but he couldn’t hear anything but his own thundering pulse.

  When the last shockwave had worked through him, Nick collapsed on top of Sebastian as gently as he could. Sweat and skin made a smacking sound as they came together. Sebastian slid soothing fingers through his hair until their breathing returned to normal, and then he pushed at his chest. “You’re heavy.”

  “You’re such a romantic.” But Nick obeyed, sliding out of Sebastian and slumping to the side. He managed to dispose of the condom in a little bedside trash can, but that was the end of his cognizance. He snuggled up to Sebastian’s side, throwing one arm over him and collapsing.

  Sebastian kissed his temple. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” Nick didn’t open his eyes.

  “How are you?”

  Nick chuckled. “Good. Much more awake than I was this morning.”

  “Exercise will do that to you.” Sebastian kissed his temple again and then foisted himself up. Nick watched him through slits.

  Like a true millennial, now that they were finished having sex, Sebastian grabbed his jeans off the floor and pulled his phone out of one of the pockets. He checked it and groaned, and not in a sexy way. “I have three missed calls from Dante and a pointed text from Theo.”

  Nick willed himself to lift his head, only to decide eye contact was overrated. “Why?”

  “Theo stopped by your dorm room around lunchtime. You two had plans?”

  “Fuck, I forgot. Lemme guess, with you not responding and me missing, he put two and two together?”

  “Yeah, and it equaled sixty-nine, judging by this text.”

  “What does he want?”

  “Allegedly, they want to hang out, but that means they want to harangue me and interrogate you. Rest assured, if we ever break up, they’ll be completely on your side.”

  At that, Nick summoned the strength to prop himself up on his elbows. “If we break up? As in, we’re together?”

  Sebastian shot him a wry look, though he was noticeably blushing. “We crammed three years’ worth of relationship issues into less than three weeks and had two rounds of spectacular sex. I think it’s safe to say we’re dating.”

  Nick’s heart was so light, it felt like it was floating in his chest. He grinned. “I did it. I tamed Sebastian Prinsen, the infamous heartbreaker. Wait till the student body gets a load of this. I’m going to be popular.”

  Sebastian snorted. “P
robably.”

  “More popular than you.”

  The indignant squawk that came from Sebastian was worth getting hit in the face with a pillow right after.

  “Anyway”—Sebastian rolled onto his side to face Nick—“we should probably tell Dante and Theo before we do anything else. Or before they break down my door. You up for a hang-out sesh?”

  “Yeah, sure. Tell them to come in an hour, though. I want to shower and eat something before we have this conversation. Oh, and I have to call Deen. He sort of hates you.”

  “Why would he—” Sebastian sighed and started texting back. “Never mind. Silly question. I’ll tell Dante and Theo to head over in an hour. I want to have a conversation with them anyway about how they conveniently forgot to tell me they hooked up. If I play my cards right, I can milk that until winter break.”

  Nick laughed. “I’m so glad I came to this school.”

  That afternoon ended up including a number of firsts for Sebastian.

  Obviously, it was his first time going all the way with Nick, but it was also his first time being intimate with him. Or anyone for that matter. And later, as he made sandwiches for them in his kitchen while Nick sat at the island and kept him company, it was his first time being domestic with someone.

  And most importantly, it was the first time, in a long time, that Sebastian could remember being truly, deeply happy.

  They’d just finished eating, and a damp-haired, extremely kissable Nick was helpfully doing the dishes, when there was a knock at the door. Sebastian opened it without looking through the peephole. Sure enough, Dante and Theo were standing on the other side, still with their school bags on their shoulders. They must’ve come right from campus.

  Sebastian had been prepared to spend all afternoon dropping subtle hints about them until they confessed, but when he opened the door, he saw that they were holding hands.