Stand By Your Men

4.

Ming went to his room and tossed his backpack on the ground. He'd check the first year group chat to see if there was any homework posted for the classes he'd missed in the afternoon but he was too tired at that moment to do anything more than flop on his bed. But even after only one night he could smell Wayo on his sheets and he was flooded by the memory of everything that happened the night before.

Pissed off by his inability to keep such thoughts out he stripped the bed and tossed the beddings into a hamper. He was getting some detergent from the bathroom when he was assaulted by an even fresher memory. Everything about it so vivid that he could almost feel the exact sensation of Wayo's hands moving over his body as he soaped him up and used a loafer to scrub him from head to toe. Then turning him around and giving his front the same careful attention as his back until he was so hard he thought he'd break. The memory of soft hands jerking him off slowly replaced by a tentative tongue and a warm mouth sucking him with so much enthusiasm it made up for any lack of skill and sent him over the edge so fast he was thoroughly embarrassed by his lack of stamina and his complete annihilation by Wayo.

He'd used it to his advantage. Instead of washing him quickly and getting him off like he'd done for Ming. Ming had taken his time with Wayo. Teasing the smaller man until he was trembling with need. Begging for Ming to just let him come. And when he finally took Wayo down to the back of his throat and hummed softly his former best friend had come so hard that his legs had given out from under him. Ming was quick enough to catch him before he fell but the two of them ended up on the floor of the shower stall; Wayo gasping for breath and Ming holding him gently until his body stopped trembling.

Never again. It was a once in a lifetime chance. He'd taken what he could get and the memory of it would have to be enough to keep him warm at night. If he could stand to look at the shower for more than five minutes without feeling the heat pool just below his navel. If he could get over the arousal that sent blood flooding to his cock leaving his mind addled and his balls aching. Ming wasn't getting over this the way he'd hoped he would.

Vexed with himself he grabbed the detergent and fabric softener and his hamper of clothes, slamming the bathroom door and then his dorm room door as he left to go do his laundry and try to get the dirt and the memories out all at once. With his clothes clean, his room was subjected to the same thorough cleaning until he was satisfied that there was no trace left of Wayo or P'Kit. Even the box of condoms and the lubricant that had lived in his bedside drawer for months had been donated to his doubtful looking next door neighbour.

Perhaps with time the desperate need to forget them both would come to pass. Memories would fade. Feelings would disappear. He would be free. He would be alone. But at least it would not be a facsimile of affection. A lie he wilfully believed in the blind hope of someone who really cared about him. He was the campus moon for god's sake – he was better than this.

He must have fallen asleep because he was woken up by the sound of his phone ringing. The bright light of his phone screen stinging his eyes in the darkness as he picked it up without thinking.

"Ming...oh thank god." P'Kit said urgently. "I was afraid you weren't going to pick up."

"What's wrong?" He asked responding to P'Kit's hurried tone with concern he didn't feel he had a right to feel.

"It's Wayo...."

"What...?'

"Could you please come to my dorm room? He..."

'Don't you dare tell him anything?' Ming heard Wayo saying in the background.

"What is going on?"

"Could you just come here as...?"

The call dropped in the middle of whatever P'Kit was trying to say. When Ming tried to call back the number was busy. Waiting a few minutes he tried again only to get a notification that the phone was off. He tried Wayo's number and got the same message. Not sure what else he could do he got out of his dorm room still wearing the shorts and t-shirt he'd changed into while washing and drove to P'Kit's room.