Jacky

Jacky had expected things to go badly with Billy. He knew what he'd done was wrong, and had immediately started with an apology the moment he stepped into the room. Speaking to the back of Billy's towel-turbaned head, he said, "Hey, I know you probably don't want to talk to me or look at me or even room with me anymore, but before you decide to go be roommates with Braedyn, I just have to say I'm so sorry—"

"Room with Braedyn?" Billy turned away from his vanity mirror, where he had been doing his twelve-step skin care routine. "Are you fucking kidding?"

Momentarily speechless, Jacky tried to come up with a response. "Uh, I mean, that was just a joke. Obviously."

"Well, stop it. Commitment-phobe here, remember? Bad enough that I caught feels for him, don't you dare suggest we settle down like some married couple. No offense."

"No offense? What's that supposed to mean?"

Billy scooped out some cream and spread it on his neck. "Oh, don't be so sensitive. You can't tell me you and Captain America out there haven't already planned your futures together. Who's taking whose last name? Are you planning to adopt, or will you get a surrogate?"

Again, Jacky was speechless. Had Billy somehow overheard their conversation from last night? Not that they had discussed those specific questions. He couldn't help but run through the options in his head: Ryan Jennings. Jacky Sullivan. No, Andrew Jackson Sullivan. Ryan Sullivan-Jennings.

"Anyway, last night was my own fault. I told you I wasn't coming back, although you could have at least put a sock on the doorknob."

The idea of an actual sock on the door seemed archaic, and he had never noticed a sock on the doors in the dorm. "Do people still do that?" Jacky asked.

"I prefer a tie, and yes. A signal to indicate privacy. But, what can you do. It's not like I haven't done anything on your bed. So, we're all good."

This conversation was giving him whiplash. "Wait, what?"

"Are you mad about it?" Billy raised his eyebrows at Jacky in the mirror.

At that, Jacky shut his gaping mouth. He couldn't be mad, not after what he and Ryan had done.

"Good. I'm glad we've cleared the air. Is your husband going to come in or are you going to make him wait outside until I give you my blessing?"

Jacky almost turned to let Ryan in, then turned back. "When would you have had time to do anything on my bed? I sleep here every night."

"Who said it happened at night?" Billy shimmied his shoulders.

There were too many unanswered questions for him to turn away. "Okay, but what happened last night? Did things not work out with your hookup?"

Billy smirked. "Things worked out exactly the way I wanted."

"Oh, so you wanted a reason to go running to Braedyn and have him give you his shoulder to cry on so you could hook up with him?"

"Exactly."

Jacky grimaced. "I hope the janitors use bleach when they clean the bathrooms."

"Please. Given the opportunity you would have done the same."

Nodding, Jacky asked, "And was it everything you dreamed it would be?"

"Braedyn wishes he could touch the depravity of my dreams," Billy scoffed. "But it was a surprisingly good effort. He is very good with his mouth, as you know."

That evoked an unwanted memory, and Jacky squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head. "Please don't say anything like when I let Ryan in here," Jacky said, and finally went to the door. After a pause he added, "But yes."

And while he could admit that, he also knew that he didn't care what Braedyn was good at. What he wanted was someone who loved him, who saw a future together.

Ryan

That night, with the air cleared between Jacky and Billy, they got takeout from the dining hall and ate in the room as they got dressed to go to a party hosted by someone Billy knew from the LGBTQ club. "It isn't an official campus event, so there will be alcohol," Billy promised. Billy even broke out one of the bottles he'd brought with him on that first day on campus. The three of them toasted with their shot glasses. The liquor burned all the way down Ryan's throat.

There came a knock on the door, which sent them all scurrying to hide the alcohol and shot glasses, but it was just Braedyn. He glanced first at Jacky, then Ryan, finally landing on Billy. "Hey," he said. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure." Billy raised his eyebrows.

After a moment, Braedyn elaborated, "Alone? In my room?"

"Sure," Billy said again, looking unperturbed as he followed Braedyn out, closing the door behind him.

"That was weird." Jacky raked his hands through his hair. "If Braedyn wants to hook up with Billy he could just say it. We're all gay."

"Some people need more time than others," Ryan said, taking the opportunity to move behind Jacky and kiss his neck. "I had a little chat with Braedyn while you were talking to Billy."

"Yeah? How did that go?"

Ryan wrapped his arms around Jacky and squeezed tight. "Hopefully he heard me."

As they did a final outfit check, they had trouble keeping their hands off each other. Each time they got too serious, one of them would pull away and look at the door as if Billy was going to return at any moment. "They're probably doing this same thing," Jacky said, nipping at Ryan's ear.

Ryan gripped Jacky's waist. "I hope so."

"Okay, but we really need to do something other than grope each other," Jacky said. He pulled out his phone. "Let's have a photo shoot."

"With our clothes on?" Ryan asked doubtfully.

Jacky grinned. "We'll see what the situation is later. If Billy's spending the night with Braedyn, we can do a different kind of photo shoot."

"Deal."

Which was how, when Billy and Braedyn walked back into the room holding hands, they walked in on Ryan wearing sunglasses and leaning against the desk chair wearing Jacky's leather jacket over a bare chest.

___

Um, so guys: I have only one more chapter for you and then it's the epilogue!  I didn't realize I was so close to the end until it started wrapping up...