Level Up (Franklin U 2, #4)

by Max Walker

For Armando, your love always make me feel like I’ve leveled up.

This was dumb. Hot, but really fucking dumb.

I grabbed the ball from his hand, our fingertips grazing. Sparks flew. What the fuck?

Music pumped through stereos the size of tiny elephants, rattling my ribs. Or was that the hundred thousand monarch butterflies currently slapping their wings against my heart and lungs? I worried that if I opened my mouth, they’d all flutter out at once.

This guy was hot, had sexy biceps and a friendly smile, and he played video games? He had to be some kind of trap. Either a straight guy who liked to fuck around orrr he was a serial killer.

So Ryan was hot, funny, a gamer, good at sports (the kind involving alcohol at least), gay, and came from a rich family. Definitely a serial killer.

“Jay, anything you do, wear, or say, I’m probably going to like.”

He was a Greek god, and I simply wanted to worship him.

Everly walked across the front of the class, enthusiastically lecturing us all about how the stains would look under a microscope. I had to give it to him: he was a good stand-in for the professor. Rumor had it he was also a stripper on the weekends, which wouldn’t really surprise me in the least. The guy had a body made for dancing naked and getting bills rained down on him.

“I’m going to prove to you that I’m not some evil villain. You’ll see.” Jay paused at the door. He had a hand on the handle when he looked over his shoulder. “I already know you’re not a villain, Ry. Just prove to me you’re not a prince either.” “I will,” I said. “I’m not my father.” “We’ll see.”

“You are dumb,” I said, with no actual teeth behind the word. “And you’re cute as fuck.”

God, I loved fucking with him. I had a feeling that I was going to love fucking him too.

“If it means anything from this slightly drunk himbo jock you just met at a bar: I think you’re already a beautiful and confident woman, and I’m sure you’re accomplished too. Don’t let anything—mirror or person or yourself—tell you otherwise. Ever.”

I swallowed him whole. Like a goddamned sword swallower at the circus. Gag reflex? Didn’t know her. Jaw pain? Who was that? Dry mouth? Never heard of it.

“That’s it, baby, that’s it. You look so good with my dick between your lips.”

He was going to ruin me. After this, I would never be able to enjoy anything ever again. I knew I’d be comparing everything to this exact moment and be let down each and every time. Because nothing would ever be as hot as this.

“You missed some drama at the beach cleanup the other day.” “Oh?” I asked. “What happened?” “Well, Everly, the TA, was there, and so was Professor Sinclair. Something happened between them, I think. There was some secret touching or something. I’m not a hundred percent sure on the deets, but whatever happened spooked the professor because he had a pretty sudden exit.”

“And… I can’t believe I’m even saying this out loud, but he called himself ‘Daddy’ the other day, and I nearly flew off into orbit it was so fucking hot.”

everything felt different with Jay. Everything felt right. And I wanted to hold on to that feeling as long as I possibly could.

Maybe this way sucked major fucking donkey dick.

Would a 2024 college student say this? Very 2003

“With you, it’s like I can forget about all the chaos in the world and… just be.”

“Oh,” she said, clapping her hands. “But if we do have some kind of show, I know the perfect person who could help with our fits. Blaise. He graduated from FU already, but he’s trying to break into costume design for TV and film. Maybe this could be his big break?”

Kissing him was like seeing daylight after having your eyes closed for far too long.

“FU? There’s some good trade on that campus. Do y’all know a Derrick Hughes?” I racked my brain, the name sounding familiar but no one coming to mind. Jay shook his head. “Nope,” he answered. “Ah well. He was the best lay of my life. I couldn’t perform for a week from how badly he broke my back.”

I wanted Ryan’s balls in my mouth and his full body weight on my face. If my tombstone read “death by suffocation from big, meaty thighs,” then everyone would know I died a happy boy.

Damn it. Leave it to a best friend to hold up a mirror directly in front of your face.

Boom. Galaxies were created, universes formed, planets birthed. That’s how astronomical this kiss felt.

This must be what finding paradise feels like.

“I went up to a group who were talking about roommate problems. So I channelled my early days with you and went off. Improving the entire thing. I think I even called you a stoner.”

I leaned in for a prolonged kiss, my smile pressed against his. “You guys are so gross,” Maddy said. “I fucking love it so much.”

Even though we were miles away from home, it felt like we’d never left. It didn’t matter where I was in the world. So long as Ryan was by my side, I figured I would always feel at home. He was my North Star, my lighthouse in a stormy night, my sunshine after a rain-filled day. Ryan was quickly and unapologetically becoming my everything.

He was a god, and I was ready to pray at his altar.

Austin was also there, sans Kindle, with his boyfriend, Dex.

??

Even our bio TA, Everly, was here… with Professor Sinclair. Hot.

As I looked over to a beaming Jay, I realized that every day forward with him in my life would be the same. It was as if I had leveled up and I could now take on whatever the world threw at me. So long as I had Jay at my side, I knew it’d all be alright.

He dropped his pants, revealing that the cocky motherfucker wasn’t even wearing underwear. He had accepted Game of the Year award fully commando. God, I loved him.

“Ryan, you are my everything. You’ve always been my everything. I want you to keep being my everything.

I want to keep you in my heart for the rest of time.”

But the day I met Jay changed it all for me. He was the stone thrown into my placid lake. He didn’t cause ripples through my life. He’d caused waves. And I wanted to ride each and every one of them. With my fiancé.