by David Horne
That was where they came to a stop, the car was turned off and Sebastian looked at Tony with an odd look on his face before he got out without a word.
Tony scrambled to follow; the car locked once his door was closed. They moved to the pool house and Tony had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from asking why they weren't going into the house.
The pool house had clearly been converted into a living space for Sebastian, there was a living room/study when they came into the house. There were two doors deeper into the room, probably a bedroom and bathroom, if Tony had to guess.
The room was decorated in a Spartan-like manner, very little personal belongings, no posters or even paintings lined the walls, very bland white walls, and white tiles. The room's furniture seemed to be similar to that of what would normally be in a pool house, a full couch set ad coffee table, two end tables with lamps on them, it seemed like the original furniture was just left there. The desk looked out of place the dark wood shined but it was just as empty as the walls. It only had a desk lamp and a container filled with pens and pencils.
All in all, the room was very sad.
They both took a seat on a couch and started to take out their laptops and books, Sebastian got up and got a lead for them to plug their laptops into their chargers as to not have them die while the tutor session was going on.
They were about ten minutes into the session when the 'front door' opened and a woman came in carrying a tray.
The woman was pretty and had the same eyes as Sebastian as well as his mouth, her age made Tony think that this was Sebastian's mother. She looked surprised with Tony being there but she smiled, there was a hopeful tint to it.
"Oh, I didn't know you had a friend over; I'll go make another sandwich."
"I'm not hungry, leave it for him." Sebastian said in what was the coldest tone Tony had yet to hear him use. The woman's face fell but she nodded and placed the tray on the coffee table near Tony, she gave him a wobbly smile and left with a backward glance at Sebastian, she was clearly hurt by the whole exchange.
Tony looked back at Sebastian, mouth opened to ask what that was about but when he looked at Sebastian, his mouth closed with an audible click. Sebastian didn't look mad or annoyed.
Sebastian looked hurt, a frown marring his face. Clearly, there was a history, one that caused Sebastian to move to his family's pool house.
"Please just drop it and eat the sandwich." Sebastian's voice was soft and pleading. Tony wisely dropped the subject. They worked while Tony ate his rather tasty sandwich. It had come with a glass of soda; he was told to drink it as well. Sebastian got up and revealed a mini fridge at the corner, on the other side of the desk. It was mostly hidden and inside was small containers which most likely held food and cans of soda.
Once they finished their tutor session, Tony feeling a bit better now that they had started going into the things he was really struggling with.
Sebastian drove Tony back to the parking lot where Tony would walk home to his apartment from there, it would hopefully stop people from figuring out what was going on.
When Sebastian was back home and had his laptop at his desk, working hard on all his assignments and papers, he had gotten so absorbed into his work he didn't hear the knock on his door the first time, he had locked the door when he came home so whoever was at the door couldn't open it.
It was only after the second more insistent knock that Sebastian realized that he was hearing a noise. Looking up from his laptop to his door, a frown marring his face.
"Sebastian?" It was his mother, no doubt with dinner.
Sighing, Sebastian rolled his desk chair back and stood. Opening the door revealed his mom on the other side of the threshold. In her hands was the same tray that she always uses to bring food to him. He loved his mother he really did but he wished she would just stop.
Not having the energy to argue with her, all Sebastian did was lean against the doorframe and look at his mother. She shuffled on her feet a bit and looked down at her feet.
"You really have to stop this; I have my own food." Sebastian made sure to keep the sharp tone out of his voice this time, he just sounded tired, even to his own ears.
His mother was shorter than him, her dark blonde hair was in a low ponytail, and her clothes were still her work clothes so she had to have gotten home later than usual.
"Please let me do this one thing for you, you are my son. That will never change." Her lower lip wobbled near the end, just like her voice and Sebastian signed and rubbed his face.
"Does he know?" Sebastian knew that he had to know as nothing happened in that house that he didn't know of. His mother nodded and opened her mouth to no doubt try and tell Sebastian that he should just come up into the main house and talk it out but Sebastian just gently took the tray from his mother's hands and thanked her.
She seemed to read the vibe and bid him goodnight.
Setting the tray on the coffee table and fell onto the couch himself. He looked at the tray, the food still steaming. It was a standard plate of meat and two vegs but it was food so, Sebastian ate it until he was full and placed the leftovers in his mini fridge.
With a full belly and a cold soda next to him, Sebastian aimed to finish as much work as possible.
***
Tony was lying in his bed, the tutor lesson still fresh in his head. He couldn't stop thinking about that look from Sebastian's face. It bothered him, the rumors about Sebastian and how he was treated were bothering him. He'll just have to show people that the man wasn't as bad as the rumors said.
The next day classes went on as normal. Tony was still not talking to Amanda and Jason, and Brandon said that he'd have to forgive them sometime. Tony knew that but he wanted them to come to him.
When the day was done and Tony was back in his room painting again, he was adding a bit of pink to the woman’s complexion in his current painting. The painting was small and nearly done.
There was a knock and Brendon had to have opened it. He heard rustling and soft murmuring. Brendon popped his head in to say that their friends were there and the twins would like to talk to him. Tony said to tell them to come to his room to talk.
They came in and sat down on his bed.
"Tony… we're really sorry about what we did. Can you please forgive us?" Amanda's voice was heartfelt. Tony pretended to think about it, the longer he pretended, the more anxious the twins looked.
He smiled and they relaxed. "Yeah, I forgive you."
With that Tony quickly cleaned up and walked into the main room to join everyone for dinner. As they all sat around and ate, Amanda was looking at him now and again, a question on her lips. He looked at her to show that she could ask her question, the rest noticed and went quiet.
"Do you still have those tutor sessions?" She finally asked.
Tony thought about lying but knew that if they were to find out late, they would be the ones mad this time.
"Yeah, we go to his house now seeing as other people still firmly believe he's making me do his work." Tony snorted rather unattractively. "As if I could do his work for him, he does his own work and he's at the top of our class." Shaking his head Tony continued to eat, his way of saying the conversation was over for now and the twins, Lucy and Daiki accepted that. They all knew that Tony would tell more soon.
When the food was eaten and the containers chucked into the bin, they all gathered around the TV and watched some series. Tony as always was the first to clock out, his head tilting first onto Daiki's shoulder before the rest of him followed and he was fully leaning on Daiki who just snorted and shook his head when everyone else snickered their way.
Once everyone got too tired, Jason picked Tony up and carried him to his room while the others got their things together to leave.
***
The next tutor session came and Tony was again in Sebastian's living room. Sebastian's mother had come in again with a tray of food, now for two. Tony noticed that Sebastian clenched his jaw bu
t said thank you to his mother.
The more time Tony spent with Sebastian the more things didn't add up for him, the almost gentle mannerisms, how respectful Sebastian was to his mom and Tony himself. He was quiet and very studious and made sure that Tony understood everything he was taught before moving on, and it showed.
Tony's marks were improving with the lessons, his answers were clearer and he now understood all the previous work as well as the important terms that he had never known.
As they spent more and more time together, the more and more Tony's heart seemed to have grown fond of Sebastian's odd like ways, his smirk and the gentle way Sebastian handled everything, like he was afraid to hurt whatever he touched.
It also made Tony slowly like Sebastian more than a friend and the urge to reach out and touch Sebastian grew with each lesson, they talked in between and Tony learned that Sebastian's love for sour candy as he seemed to gobble them up when he had a packet of sweets, he also seems to like spicy food, he learned this when Sebastian's mother came down with lunch.
His own lunch was thankfully not spicy as Sebastian but the light curry was very tasty, he had taken a bite of Sebastian's by mistake and had tears in his eyes in an instant. His coughing alerted Sebastian to Tony's predicament.
"Are you all right?" Sebastian asked, worry clear on his face and in his voice as he patted Tony's back to help him catch his breath again. Tony nodded, hand still in front of his mouth, his breath coming in through his nose. Once his breathing was under control he sighed.
"I think the food is a bit too spicy for me." Tony looked down at his bowl of curry sadly. Sebastian made an inquisitive humming noise. He took a bite of his own curry and made a noise of understanding.
"You have my curry." Was the simple explanation. They swapped dished and Tony all but devoured his bowl of curry now that he had the right meal. It was still somewhat spicy; it had a zing to it but it was delicious. Sebastian just snorted and ate his very spicy curry.
When Sebastian's mom came back to get the dishes, she smiled at Tony when he gushed at how good her food was and he thanked her with such a large smile on his face that Sebastian's mom can only laugh and thank him for his kind words.
Sebastian also thanks his mom for the food and her whole face brightened like a shining star.
Once Mrs. Wright left with the tray and empty plates, it dawned on Tony that he didn't know her name.
"I don't even know your mom's name…" Tony looked down at his pen that he was bouncing off his book. Sebastian glanced his way before he looked down at his own book.
"Selena."
Tony blinked and smiled.
"It suits her."
Sebastian smiled and nodded, the moment was broken when Sebastian pulled them back into studying for an upcoming test, and Sebastian picked up the book and started reading the chapter they would be writing about.
After the lesson was done, Tony stared after Sebastian's car as he drove away. As Tony walked his mind was in a state of chaos, there was just something he was missing as the gossip and rumors had no connection whatsoever.
When he opened the door to his shared dorm apartment, he was so in his own mind that he failed to see his friends all laid out in the living room but they saw him walk into the room dazed.
They all got up and walked into Tony's room to see Tony on his bed, facing the ceiling, a pensive look on his face.
"Hey Tony, are you okay?" Lucy asked as she sat on the bed, closest to his face. Tony blinked at her, broken from his thoughts. He looked around and saw that all his friends were looking at him, worry clear in their faces.
Taking a deep breath and releasing it as a sigh, Tony sat up and looked at his friends.
"Something is just not adding up." Tony huffed out annoyed. Amanda looked at Tony and saw that whatever he was thinking about had clearly frustrated him.
"What's not adding up?" Jason was the one to voice the question they all wanted to ask.
"Sebastian. There’s something there that is just not right, I've spent enough time with Sebastian to have seen nothing that warrants the rumors, he is alone with me in his room so he doesn't have to pretend to be nice to me, hell he doesn't even need to tutor me. He makes sure I understand something before we move on and he is so patient with me when I know I would have frustrated many of the professors long ago. He's sweet yet he sometimes looks so…" Tony released a long whistle like breath.
"Sad" He finished lamely.
"We're missing something, where did the rumors come from? I remember some of the rumors were so outlandish that even the whole campus knew those to be untrue but still, these rumors had to have come from somewhere and why has Sebastian just let the rumors go unanswered? Why has he never set it right that he isn't the man the rumors portrayed him to be?" Tony's ramble got more and more heated; he wasn't angry with his friends but at how unfair it all was.
The room was quiet as his words sunk in. Amanda, Jason and Brandon all looked ashamed for not really having thought about it like that. Lucy and Daiki who had shared classes with Sebastian but never spoke to him knew that there was also something amiss but never really brought it up, up until now.
Chapter Four
"Sebastian has always been quiet but always respectful to the professors, the professors all love him as he tends to help out after everyone has left. I even bumped into him the other day, not the same grand collision as Tony had but I still dropped the books in my hands, he picked them up and asked if I was okay. He looked so surprised when I thanked him." Lucy recalled, she patted Tony's arm.
"These rumors, do we even know where they started?" Daiki pondered, a frown on his face.
The room went silent as they all tried to remember where the rumors started but they all came up blank. It was frustrating, to say the least, they all felt a little bit like morons as they all fell into the whirlpool of the gossip mill that was their campus, the whispered titbits of information that was probably made more elaborate with each reaching ear that was fed by malice filled mouths.
"It doesn't help that I really like Sebastian." Tony mumbled, cheeks flaming red. His friends looked at him, all in different states of shock. It wasn't the fact that it was Sebastian per se but the fact that Tony admitted to liking someone at all was a shock as Tony had never shown interest in anyone before.
"Then he must be a great guy to get you to feel that way." Amanda said with a soft smile. She wasn't blind, she saw the change before she knew what it was. Tony seemed happier, a goofy sort of smile on his face when he was off in his own world or came back from his tutor sessions.
"Well then maybe you should start leaving some hits to see how he reacts to you?" Lucy suggested, her finger tapping her temple as she thought. Daiki seemed to catch on first, but that was normal, he hummed in agreement, going into his thinking mode without saying a word.
Jason just looked at his girlfriend fondly as she started to softly mumble to herself. Daiki seemed to break his mental tirade as he blinks and looked up at Tony.
"I would suggest wearing something slightly revealing next time you have a tutor session, I know you have that one shirt that had the tendency to fall off your one shoulder, wear that but no shirt underneath, if someone asks just tell them you overslept."
Tony looks confused, he looked between all his friends when they all made noises of agreement.
"How will that help?" Confusion colored Tony's voice. Brandon snorted with a fond smile.
"Tony, you might not have met or seen anyone who you would date but many people have been drooling after you, some have tried to get your attention but you either think they're being nice or you don't like them at all and quickly yet all too nicely tell them that you aren’t interested." Brandon explained and they all chuckled when Tony's face rivaled that of a tomato.
"As for the shirt, the amount of times guys have started at the slip of skin you show, no matter how small, it's a miracle that you don't have holes in your shoulder from how hard they stare." Amanda said
with a smirk twisting her lips.
Tony hid his face behind his hands and bemoaned himself as his friends started to bring up times where he unintentionally did something cute or sexy.
He did, however, take it all in and start making little plans in his head, things he can do to start showing Sebastian that he was interested and hopefully make something happen.
And then it hit him: Was Sebastian even gay or at the very least bi? His panic must have shown on his face from his question.
"Tony?" Lucy asked, a hand on his knee.
"Is Sebastian even gay?" Tony whispered his question.
The room went quiet yet again.
"Then I suggest wearing that very tight pair of pants along with the off-shoulder, then maybe one of us can come along and hide to see his reaction." Daiki, the ever practical one said just a few seconds later.
It was decided that would be the best form of action. Tony gulped as his friends soon started to make more plans if they got a sign that Sebastian was interested.
***
Sebastian nearly choked on his own spit when he saw Tony come into the classroom. He had seen the shirt on numerous occasions but it usually had a shirt underneath.
The shirt was very big and loose-fitting on Tony's slim frame, it was a soft pastel lilac purple. There was usually a form-fitting shirt underneath but today there was none. Sebastian blinked and swallowed around the lump in his throat. His white knuckle hold on the desk was the only outer sign that the sight before him had any effect on him.
It was such a small patch of skin but it was enough, the smooth line of Tony's neck as it melted into his shoulder was so enticing. All Sebastian wanted to do was claim the skin with a bite and hickeys around it. Sebastian clenched his jaw when he took note of the rest of the outfit.