Carnal Desire

Baby Steps

With his last goodbye, he faded from the man's arms to face reality: waking up in his cold bed, utterly alone. Being alone didn't particularly bother him on normal occasions, but he didn't typically dream of men holding him during typical circumstances. This was just painful. For the first time in a while, he found himself wanting to hug a pillow and cry the loneliness away. He couldn't bring himself to do it though, so the only choice was to man up and roll out of bed.

Ray sensed something was off with Eddy, but couldn't put a finger on it. Maybe it was just the stress of the finals? It was quite possible; Eddy always had an enormous mountain of expectations to shoulder.

The day went on, and ended on a very surprising note. Or shocking, depended on how one looked at it.

The professor who had kinda bullied Eddy the whole semester came up to him after he performed his piece and smiled at him, shaking his hands.

"You did great, Mr. Chen. I am so proud of you! I knew you had it in you!"

The final grading would still take a while, but the man only ever grunted and dismissed Eddy quite harshly in the past, if not outright ignored the boy. Eddy was quite sure the professor was possessed, but he tried not to let it show in his facial expression.

"Thank you, sir." The boy smiled awkwardly as he drew away. The best course of action was to scurry away as fast as possible to his dorm with uncomfortable panic.

Once safely inside, he secured his bedroom door behind him.

"What the heck just happened?!"

His mind helpfully recalled the deal he struck with the man in his dreams. His skin turned almost ghostly pale at the realization.

"It's just a coincidence," Eddy tried to tell himself, "Or maybe the professor was actually possessed; holy shit, I knew I shouldn't have skipped all my confessionals! No, no, Eddy, don't panic. Remember what you said, it's a coincidence. It is very possible, and way more likely than your dream having anything to do with it."

He laughed awkwardly; oh, gosh, he didn't even check if Ray was back and here he was sounding like a crazy person, talking to himself. Maybe he should confront the thing in his dreams tonight? Was it Satan himself? Oh no, what had he done?!

Eddy was pale white when Ray came out of the kitchen area, snacking on some buttered, sugary popcorn.

"Was your evaluation that hard with Prof. Welsh?"

He offered Eddy some of the diabetes-inducing food offhandedly while munching.

"You look like you have seen a ghost or a demon."

Eddy let out a whimper at the word demon- he was pretty sure he had seen one, despite his logic trying to save his sanity.

"I am pretty sure Prof. Welsh is possessed... he was really nice to me after I played my piece today, and- and–"

He cut himself off after stuttering out and twice. He had no clue how to bridge the topic about his dream man; he was already very uncertain about discussing sexuality comfortably. How was he going to say I probably kissed the devil to grant me wishes without making it morally questionable–because it could be considered cheating–and how to not disclose more than he was comfortable with.

Ray was not stupid, but also thanks to the finals week a little bit braindead like every other students on campus. Otherwise he would have picked up more clues from Eddy.

"Prof. Welsh was nice? Well, apparently it happens once in a blue moon."

He shrugged his shoulders. What was the panic about? Prof. Welsh was always nice to him at least. Maybe because he was his favourite?