His Tiny Sun

Chapter 7 - Testing Hypotheses

CHAPTER 7

Testing Hypotheses

Alan and Jonah chatted all week. At first, their texts were few and far between, but as they discovered all the interests they had in common, their conversations became much more animated. When Thursday arrived, they were messaging each other nearly every hour of the day. Jonah had even told him ‘goodnight’ at one point, and Alan had fallen asleep with his phone pressed against his heart.

They hadn’t seen each other since the wallet incident, though, as Alan didn’t go to the Goliath Café all week. The tables there were too small to hold all his notes and books, and he badly needed to study.

Focusing had been a major struggle with Jonah texting him constantly, but Alan had survived. All his exams were done except for one. He wasn’t so optimistic about his grades, though. He would have to do much better next year if he wanted a chance to further his education; they only allowed the very best into the PhD program.

No matter. What was done was done. That was a problem for future Alan to fix.

As for present Alan, he was currently attending his very first uni party, a little tipsy, and still sore from his very first workout session at the gym on Tuesday.

Marina had tagged along at first but left the moment Eric started flirting with a blonde woman Alan had never seen before. It didn’t take long for Eric to pour his full focus onto his new conquest, leaving Alan awkwardly standing by himself in a sea of people he didn’t know. Alan couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed about it, though, because it was confirmation that Eric and Jonah had definitely broken up. For all his faults, Eric would never cheat on his partner.

Alan was starting to consider going back home, but there was someone he’d really been hoping to talk to.

The previous night—after five minutes of deep breathing exercises—Alan had texted Jonah to ask him if he was going to the party. He’d watched the three little dots animation appear, then disappear, then appear, then disappear over and over again with increasing anxiety, and just as he’d thoroughly convinced himself that Jonah was trying to find a polite way to turn him down, he got a reply.

‘Yeah.’

Alan had nearly exploded.

Jonah was already there when they arrived—Alan spotted him instantly—but they hadn’t exchanged more than a nod and a smile so far. Alan had come prepared with a few scenarios in mind as to how he could approach him, but Jonah was sitting at a table with two of his friends—who looked oddly familiar—and hadn’t once gotten up from his seat.

“Doesn’t he ever need to pee?” Alan grumbled to himself. He was nowhere near confident enough to walk over there and introduce himself to Jonah’s friends, who looked like the epitome of extroversion. Alan’s brain was mush from all the studying. There was no way he’d manage to hold a conversation with strangers.

Also, they appeared to be having an animated discussion. It would be rude to interrupt them.

Seeing as Alan was with Eric—and also because Jonah caught him in the act every single time—Alan had done his best to limit the frequency at which he glanced in Jonah’s direction. It was increasingly difficult to resist, though, especially since he didn’t know what to do with himself anymore with Marina gone and Eric…figuratively gone.

Maybe I could walk behind him and accidentally spill my drink on his shirt , Alan plotted. Then he would be forced to get up and go to the bathroom—away from his friends and out of sight from Eric.

Alan would never do such a thing, but he would definitely explore the scenario next time he sat down to write.

Alan cast a quick glance at Eric and concluded he was probably too deeply invested in his conquest to notice much of anything. Eric now had his hand on the woman’s waist and was whispering something into her ear that made her bite her lip. By the looks of it, he would be bringing her home tonight. Still, that only cleared half of the roadblocks.

Alan sighed. It was probably best for him to just leave. He couldn’t tolerate standing by himself in a dense, noisy crowd any longer. He could always talk to Jonah at the café on those mornings when he had time to kill before work.

Or maybe they could go on an actual date if Alan ever found the courage to ask Jonah out. They’d only been texting for five days; there was no need to rush things.

Alan gave one last look at the table where Jonah was seated and found that the three chairs were now empty. He took out his phone to see if he’d missed a text from Jonah, but the last message he’d gotten was a picture of the meal Jonah had cooked for himself three hours ago.

Well, that settles it , Alan mused with a heavy heart. He turned to tell Eric he was leaving, but decided otherwise when he was reminded of how busy Eric was. Alan would text him on the way back home, just so Eric wouldn’t worry about his disappearance.

Alan slowly made his way out of the crowd with an abundance of apologies no one seemed to hear, a tightness growing in his chest at how overwhelming it all suddenly became.

“Hey.”

Alan startled and felt cold liquid splash against his chest.

“Shit, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you,” Jonah said.

Alan looked down at his chest, which was now soaked with grape juice. Why did he have to go and wear a white T-shirt? He should have known something like this was bound to happen, clumsy as he was. “It’s okay,” Alan said with a forced chuckle. “I was going home anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

“By yourself?”

Alan blinked in disbelief. Was Jonah suggesting they leave together ?

Jonah’s eyes widened for a second. “I mean uh, I can give you a ride home, so you don’t have to walk all the way like that,” he said, gesturing at his T-shirt.

“Didn’t you want to stay here with your friends?”

“I’d rather not,” Jonah said, jerking his chin over Alan’s shoulder.

Alan turned around and gasped. Eric was now shirtless and making out with the blonde woman in a manner that suggested they’d forgotten they were in public.

“I don’t care,” Jonah spat out, making Alan turn back around. “Doesn’t mean I want to stay and watch, though.” His gaze lowered to Alan’s chest. “What were you drinking anyway? Grape juice?”

“Grape juice and amaretto. It’s really good, wanna try?” Alan held out his sticky, nearly empty cup, then froze as he realized just how weird he was being— again .

Jonah smiled. “Thanks, but I don’t drink. I don’t judge people who do, though,” he added quickly.

“Yeah, I don’t really like drinking either,” Alan said as he dumped the cup in a nearby trash can.

But it helps calm my nerves when I’m standing in a loud crowd and trying, but failing, to find the courage to go talk to the man I’ve been fixated on for months.

“So, should we head out? I have a clean hoodie in my car I can lend you.”

Alan beamed. “You’re the best.”

“Just how much did you drink?” Jonah asked with a lopsided smile.

Alan raised two fingers. “Two and a half. But you were already the best before I drank.” He gave weight to his argument by jabbing one of those fingers at Jonah’s firm chest.

So firm.

Jonah gave him an amused smile. “Let’s get you home.”

Another ride in Jonah’s car!

Alan would not be looking at his phone this time, he decided. He would relish every single minute.

Maybe they would hold hands? No, not possible. Jonah’s car wasn’t an automatic. He had to continually move the stick thing around, so his hand would be busy the whole time. But once he’d parked, maybe? Would Jonah lean in for a kiss? Probably not, he’d just watched his ex make out with someone else. He probably felt hurt. As revenge, maybe? It seemed like something Jonah would do—

“You alright?”

Alan blinked. How had they reached Jonah’s car already? “Yeah,” he said with a big smile. “Rough week. I’m a little tired.”

Jonah popped open the trunk of his car and looked through his gym bag. “Here,” he said as he held out the promised hoodie.

Alan took off his shirt and used the dry part to wipe his chest, then dropped it on the ground and put on the offered garment. It was soft, it smelled good, and it was far too big for him.

Jonah huffed a laugh. “It could fit two of you. ”

Alan’s smile faded. “Yeah, I’m not…very imposing.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Jonah said earnestly. “But uh, if it’s something that troubles you, you could, you know, take self-defense classes or something,” he mumbled while averting his gaze.

“Self-defense?”

Jonah shrugged. “You never know.”

“Yeah…that’s probably a good idea,” Alan said as he looked down at his hands, which barely poked out of the long sleeves. “I’m pretty sure if I got attacked, I’d curl up into a ball and cry.”

Why?

Why would you say that?

That’s like, the most unsexiest thing ever!

He was terrible at this whole flirting thing.

Alan looked at Jonah in hopes it wouldn’t be too late to pretend it was a joke, but he was taken aback by the genuine worry he saw in Jonah’s eyes—it looked almost…painful?

Before he could hold back his tipsy mind’s whims, Alan stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Jonah.

Jonah immediately hugged him back, and Alan once again felt himself melt in his strong, divinely scented embrace. He wished he could stay in Jonah’s arms forever, but just like everything else, it had to end eventually.

Which it did too soon.

Jonah patted his back. “Let’s get you home, alright?”

“Okay,” Alan mumbled against Jonah’s chest before letting go. He gave him a big smile, then bent down to pick up his ruined shirt. “I’ll just throw this away.”

“What? Why?”

“Because…it has a big stain?”

Jonah looked indignant for a second. “Give here,” he said as he held his hand out.

Alan handed him the shirt, which Jonah folded neatly before placing it next to his gym bag in the remarkably uncluttered trunk of his car.

What did he intend to do with a stained shirt? Make rags with it? That would be the most sustainable thing to do, Alan realized. He felt embarrassed that he hadn’t thought about it.

Alan climbed into the passenger seat, greeted by the scent he now associated with Jonah. He put on his seatbelt and started sorting through the conversation topics he’d pre-selected for tonight. Best start simple: compliment-question combo. “Did your meal taste as good as it looked?”

Jonah smiled, and Alan felt himself leaning toward him like a magnet. “Yeah, it was pretty good,” he said, but didn’t follow up with an invitation for him to try his cooking like Alan had hoped. Every single romance movie had been a lie. “Ate it while watching the last episode of season five.”

Alan gasped. “What’d you think?” It ended on such an insane cliffhanger, Alan had nearly flipped his coffee table back then because he had to wait a whole year for the sixth season to come out. Which was a problem Jonah didn’t currently have.

“It was pretty good.”

That’s it?

Alan stared at Jonah for a moment, baffled by his response. Jonah had been remarkably chatty in the past few days as he binge-watched seasons one through five, texting Alan constantly to share his reactions.

Jonah’s favorite character had an entire scene dedicated to him in that one episode. There was no way he just found it ‘pretty good’ .

Alan could think of two possible reasons for Jonah’s unexpected answer—well, three, but he decided to ignore the third one for now. Maybe Jonah wasn’t in a chatty mood because seeing Eric kiss someone else had hurt him more than he’d let on. Or maybe he was like Marina: much more expressive with texts than in person.

Jonah had been quite passionate when they watched the opening scene of the first episode together, though. What was different then?

We were arguing.

“I think John was wrong to kill him.”

“ What ?” Jonah exclaimed, making Alan smile triumphantly. “It’s not like he had a choice! What would you have done in his place? Saved the day with the power of friendship?”

“Why not? A hug goes a long way. They could have held hands and discussed their feelings while gazing at the stars.”

Jonah stopped his car in front of Alan’s apartment building and looked at him with a generous dose of indignation.

Alan gave him a big smile and fought the incredible force that was pushing him to reach for his hand. Or his face. Or his—

Jonah huffed. “You’re messing with me.”

Alan giggled. “Just testing a hypothesis.”

“And that is?”

“It’s a secret ,” Alan said with a mischievous smile.

A little mystery goes a long way.

Jonah raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. No words were needed, though; Alan could see in his eyes that he was intrigued.

“I’ll go change out of this. Do you wanna come wait upstairs?”

“I’d rather not,” Jonah said, his features hardening. “Don’t wanna be there when Eric comes back.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry. I’ll make it quick, then.”

“Keep it,” Jonah said abruptly. “Uh, for now,” he specified at Alan’s quizzical look. “You can give it back next time we see each other at the café.”

Not a date, but still a clear invitation to see him again. Alan chose to see it as progress. “Okay, thank you,” he said with his best smile. He held Jonah’s gaze for a moment to give him a chance to say—or do—something before they parted ways, but it soon became clear that he wouldn’t, so Alan got out of Jonah’s car and waved goodbye.

He calmly walked toward the door, then ran inside as soon as Jonah’s car was out of sight. He nearly fell down the stairs, dropped his keys, stubbed his toe on a kitchen chair leg, bumped his shoulder against the door frame, then finally threw himself on top of his bed. His sore muscles made him even clumsier than usual, and he didn’t even have firm abs to show for it.

Working out sucked.

Self-defense classes sounded like a good idea, though. He was glad Jonah suggested it. Alan liked to learn new things, and it would help him be in slightly better shape.

Alan took out his phone to do a web search, but his focus was hijacked by his conversation with Jonah. Should he be telling him something?

Thank you for the—

I had a good time with—

I hope to see you again soon—

Good night—

Alan let out a big sigh as he changed his mind and closed the app. He couldn’t be trusted not to try to rush things at the moment. He opened Jonah’s social media profile and expanded his picture, and then it hit him: he was single now.

Jonah was single.

Alan didn’t have to hold back anymore.

He propped his phone against the lamp on his nightstand, then grabbed a few tissues and pulled down his pants.

Alan knew he wouldn’t last long from the moment he started stroking himself. He struggled to suppress his moans as he finally gave himself permission to masturbate to the man of his dreams, taking in every detail in Jonah’s alluring picture while he vigorously moved his arm. Desperate and horny. So horny.

Then he remembered that Eric wasn’t home.

Alan slowed down his pace and bit his lip as he let out a deep moan. “Jonah, you feel so good,” he whispered, then let out a shaky breath. He paused just long enough to zoom in on Jonah’s face, then resumed his stroking while looking into his eyes.

“Jonah,” Alan exhaled as he felt his climax coming, each shallow breath he took followed by a soft moan.

I’m wearing his sweatshirt.

I’m looking into his eyes.

He’s single.

One day, it would be Jonah’s hand doing this to him, and Alan would look into his eyes while he cameall over his toned chest.

It would be so hot.

So hot.

Alan grabbed the tissues he’d left within reach, then saw a notification pop up on his screen.

? Jonah Delamare: It was nice seeing you.

Alan let out a cry as his orgasm hit him like a tidal wave. He whimpered and moaned as he finally gave himself the release he’d been needing for weeks—and it was exactly how he’d anticipated it to be.

What would you say if you saw me now ?

Alan let out a long, shaky breath as he shot his last drop into the bundle of tissues and slowly cooled down from his ecstasy.

One day.

He threw the used tissues in his trash can, then reached for his earplugs just as he heard the sound of their front door opening, followed by giggles and moans.

After securing them in place, Alan took his phone and opened his conversation with Jonah. He smiled as he let Jonah’s words settle into his heart for a moment, before taking a deep, calming breath, and typing a response.

? Alan Thomas: It was nice seeing you too. Good night!