Jock Next Bed (BL)
Chapter 173: Friendship Date

Chapter 173: Friendship Date

That night, they didn’t bother pretending to watch a movie. No half-hearted attempt at distraction, no background noise to fill the silence. They didn’t even share a bed.

Instead, they lay in their separate beds, talking late into the night.

If you asked Chris what they talked about, he wouldn’t be able to tell you. The conversation had been a meandering mess—stories that led nowhere, questions that had no real answers. Yet, somewhere in between, he realized how little he actually knew about Sky’s childhood. Sky danced around it, never diving too deep, but Chris caught glimpses. In return, Chris shared fragments of his own past, carefully filtering out the parts he wasn’t ready to say. He never realized how exhausting it was to lie until now.

But one thing stood out to him that night—how beautifully Sky laughed.

Chris had never seen him this relaxed before. He talked a lot. He laughed even more. He cracked the dumbest jokes—some funny, some painfully not—but Chris found himself laughing anyway, just because Sky was. And Sky laughed because he knew Chris thought his jokes were not ’joking’.

And as much as he wanted to, Chris didn’t ask him to come over, to slip under his blanket and just be there. He wished they had shared a bed, if only to hold each other and fall asleep like that. But he didn’t push.

Funny. He had never considered himself a man of self-control, not when it came to something—or someone—he wanted. But this... this was a new level he kept unlocking with this guy. He could have pushed. He could have easily closed the distance between their beds, pulled Sky into his arms. But he didn’t. He’d never pegged himself as someone with this much restraint, especially where Sky was concerned.

His brain wasn’t consumed with the idea of sex anymore. Not like before. Now, he just wanted Sky to laugh. He wanted him to be happy. He could be satisfied with that, he thought. He could be content just to see Sky smile, to know that he was safe and comfortable.

Like this. Forever.

...Hah. Okay. That was a lie.

Chris was definitely going to get inside him someday.

For experimental purposes, of course.

Just to see which was hotter—his physical beauty or inside of him.

The next morning, Sky left before Chris was fully awake.

He vaguely registered a presence, a gentle shake, a voice murmuring something he couldn’t quite grasp. He remembered Sky leaning down, his face close, a warmth radiating from him. "I have a full day," Sky had said, his voice soft, almost hesitant.

Chris had mumbled something in response, a garbled, half-asleep reply he couldn’t for the life of him recall. But he did remember the kiss. A feather-light press of lips against his forehead, a silent blessing. His eyes had fluttered closed, and when they’d opened again, a disorienting blur of minutes or seconds later, Sky was still there, his face close.

Squatting beside his bed, watching him with that unreadable expression, as if caught between leaving and staying.

Chris must have drifted again because when his eyes opened next, Sky was gone.

But a note was there.

Just like before. Just like Sky always did.

Chris picked it up, the familiar scrawl staring back at him.

"Gone to slay dragons and bring victory to my kingdom. Back later, Princess." It was signed with a simple "S."

Chris chuckled, a fond smile spreading across his face.

But then he frowned, suddenly feeling irritated.

What kind of stupid job was so important that it dragged Sky away from him at the crack of dawn? A surge of possessiveness, irrational and unwelcome, rose within him. He wanted to tell Sky to quit them all, to just... be with him.

But how the hell was he supposed to bring that up?

And what right did he have to dictate Sky’s life?

With a sigh, he carefully put the note aside and got up.

He had plans of his own today. A "friendship date," as Rachel had called it. They were meeting at a cafe. The cafe. The same cafe where he’d first seen Sky.

The moment he stepped inside, nostalgia hit him like a wave. It was exactly the same.

His lips curled into a small smile before he could stop it. He wondered if Sky had taken any particular notice of him that day. And what exactly had he thought of him?

Rachel spotted him from a window seat and waved.

Chris shook off the memories and trudged toward her, smiling warmly at her as he took the seat across her.

Thirty minutes into their conversation, Rachel’s jaw dropped. Chris wasn’t sure if he should be amused or concerned. He’d opened up to her, spilling the contents of his heart, or at least a heavily edited version of it. She’d been curious about him and Sky long before the party, even before Sky’s impromptu kiss in front of everyone. There was no point in lying now. He told her the situation, painting a picture of their tentative dance, the push and pull, the unspoken desires. He talked about Sky’s hesitations, his guarded heart. He even mentioned Rain, skirting around the specifics of their conversation, and then, the bomb dropped: Collins.

"What the hell?!" Rachel exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief but then she remembered her surrounding and look around with apologetic gaze, keeping her voice lower now. "That’s... a lot. And I know nothing!"

Chris shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "I didn’t want to interrupt your studies," he said, a half-truth at best. "Besides, it was... a lot to process. I had to figure things out myself."

Rachel was still reeling. "Chris, I could have failed a test and it still wouldn’t be as insane as what you just told me. I’m really stunned about Collins," she said, shaking her head. "I never thought he was like that. And Noel didn’t mention anythi—" She stopped abruptly, a flicker of realization crossing her face.

Chris noticed the slip immediately.

His eyes narrowed. "Noel?" he echoed, his voice laced with suspicion.

Rachel stiffened. "Uh— I mean—"

Rachel’s cheeks flushed a delicate pink. She quickly recovered, though. "So," she said, changing the subject with practiced ease. "What are you going to do about Collins?"

Chris leaned forward lazily. "How long have you been dating him?"