Page 15 of Advanced Chemistry

He and Sebastian shook their heads no.

“I’ve heard of it,” Sebastian said.

“It’s funny. You’ll want to start on season two. The first season’s a little slow. The characters and humor need some time to come into their own.”

“Is that the mom fromHome Alone?” Anton asked.

“Correct.”

“Works for me. Seb?”

“Yeah. I may go out and get something to eat.” Sebastian shrugged, the tension from before continuing to linger on his face and tighten his jaw. As proof that horniness had zero logic to it, his stonefaced demeanor turned me on. Perhaps all the pheromones Anton was pumping out were messing with my head.

“In this weather? It’s still cats and dogs out there.” Anton clicked onSchitt’s Creek. He turned to me with a raised eyebrow. “Season two. Let’s fucking go.”

His mighty, outstretched hand navigated the remote to the season two tab. I nodded and rested my hands in my lap in the hopes they would hide the shenanigans still happening in my pants.

My friends loved to joke about how oblivious I could be, but I didn’t need an electron microscope to determine that Anton was hitting on me.

Anton shut off the floor lamp, leaving the apartment shrouded in gray. He turned onSchitt’s Creek. The Rose family helped me calm down.Schitt’s Creekwas my happy place. I was able to concentrate on the show and stop wondering about the guy next to me.

Each episode was approximately twenty-two minutes, and it took people on average three episodes to decide if they liked a show, so that meant I had sixty-six minutes to figure out what was happening here. Did I want things to progress, or did I want to be the responsible adult in the room?

So far, judging by the howls of laughter, Anton seemed to enjoy the show. He’d rub my knee here and there, as if to sayCan you believe this family?

The squeak of Sebastian’s desk chair broke through a few times during the episode.

“Sebastian, you don’t seem comfortable. We can make room on the futon,” I said.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine,” Anton said.

“I’ll scoot down.” I shuffled closer to Anton. He wrapped his arm around my back and pulled me flush against him, which I did not mind at all. My objections against getting too close to a former student became weaker and weaker. More dirty thoughts played in my mind. My pants got even tighter.

“Seb, come on,” Anton coaxed. “Watch some TV with us.”

Sebastian blew out a resigned breath and squeezed in next to me. Three grown men on one futon was a challenge, but we made it work.

“There we go. You good, Chase?” Anton asked, his thumb massaging circles on my shoulder.

Was I good? Well, the gravitational pull of collapsing stars in the galaxy was so strong that it could transform carbon molecules into oxygen. But collapsing stars had nothing on the pull of being sandwiched between Anton and Sebastian.

Anton was looking at me, waiting for my answer. Was I good? I gave him a thumbs up.

“Awesome.” Anton turned the episode back on.

I was in a testosterone sandwich, the pheromones and hormones circling around me, impacting my brain chemistry. The darkness and rain and Anton’s glimmer and Sebastian’s steely frame all combined into a powerful concoction. In other words, holy fuck was all this close proximity making me horny.

Anton moved and let his hand rest against my leg. He kept looking over at me, making me meet his stare.

Then, as the second episode started, his hand dragged up my thigh.

Let’s look at this logically, Chase. You are a gay man scrunched in between two gay men that you find attractive. It’s only natural to be stimulated, but that doesn’t mean you need to act on your impulses.

Brain, you make a good point. I’m still going to ignore you, the way I ignore my dentist when he tells me to lay off Twinkies.

I couldn’t wait until we reached sixty-six minutes.