Ficorpio
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
I’m a straight guy who just happens to look kind of gay.
And to keep the peace with the roommate who seemed to hate me, I fed him a banana every day.
Then one day, I didn’t.
That night, he climbed onto my bed, pried my mouth open, and said in a low, forceful voice, “Open up, baby. My turn to feed you.”
That was later.
Right now, I was in the middle of accidentally jamming an unpeeled banana straight into Jace Walker’s mouth.
My hand shook so hard I nearly dropped it.
Jace was six-three, a tan college athlete, the kind of guy who looked hot and terrifying at the same time. He’d just gotten out of the shower, a bath towel slung low around his waist, all sharp abs and damp skin and pure physical intimidation.
And then there was me.
Five-nine, built like a sad underfed chicken breast, a straight guy with a face and vibe people kept calling kind of gay-looking.
All I’d meant to do was offer my roommate half a banana as a peacekeeping gesture.
Who could’ve known he’d turn his head at that exact second?
So when I reached out—
Yeah.
Direct hit.
Jace’s hand shot out and clamped around my pale wrist. His tongue pushed half the banana back out of his mouth.
The peel came away slick with saliva.
He stood up with an expression somewhere between anger and disbelief.
An entire wall of muscle moved toward me. He glanced at the banana, then at me.
“Evan Brooks,” he said, voice low and dangerous. “Where exactly were you trying to shove that?”
I jumped so hard my ass hit the wall.
“I—I was actually asking if you wanted some.”
“I do.”
I was already halfway to pulling my hand back. I genuinely hadn’t expected him to say yes.
The thing was, Jace definitely hated me.
In our shared dorm room, he was always staring at me.
Every time I changed clothes, his eyes would lock onto the dip of my waist and stay there, his brows drawn tight like something about me was actively bothering him.
If I drank milk, he’d watch my throat like he was tracking every swallow.
If I came back from the communal washroom after a shower and crossed the room in nothing but a white button-down—before I’d had time to put on pants, the hem barely covering my ass—his gaze would drop straight to my legs, and he’d frown.
“Evan. Put some pants on.”
See? Obviously the problem was that I looked too kind of gay.
I already had a slim waist, pale legs, and, according to certain extremely unhelpful people, a face that looked kind of gay too.
A tan college athlete like Jace probably couldn’t stand a straight guy who looked this gay, which was why he glared at me every day.
He seriously seemed annoyed by my existence.
So, in the interest of peace and stability in the Men’s Residence Hall, I’d started sharing my bananas with him.
Jace leaned closer.
His nose was practically about to bump mine.
He frowned, something twitching around his eyes. “You know you have to peel it first, right?”
He looked a little scary. My legs nearly gave out.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
“O-okay.”
I peeled the banana and held it out to him with shaky fingers.
“H-here.”
Jace paused for a second. His expression darkened, eyes dropping lower.
Then he opened his mouth.
“My hands are dirty,” he said.
“Feed me.”
I held up the banana and fed him the rest of it bite by bite.
Every time Jace took a bite, the look in his eyes burned a little hotter.
When he finished, the tension in his brow finally eased.
Even his voice sounded more relaxed.
“Thanks.”
Right then, our two roommates shoved the door open and came back in. One of them immediately spotted the banana peel still in my hand and lunged over, grabbing my wrist.
“Where’d you get that? The campus store was totally sold out. I didn’t get a single one!”
Jace frowned at the sight of my roommate holding my hand.
My hand was pale, my fingers slim, and with his big hand wrapped all the way around it, the whole thing looked weirdly intimate.
That was way too kind of gay-looking.
A super straight guy like Jace was definitely grossed out, right?
No way could I let him get the wrong idea and think I wasn’t a straight guy.
I yanked my hand back so fast it was almost rude.
“I bought the last bunch.”
I went to the desk, grabbed a fresh banana, and broke one off for that roommate.
Then I gave one to the other too.
“Here, eat mine.”
Since they’d obviously gone out hoping to buy some and come back empty-handed, they probably really wanted bananas.
So I split off a few more and handed them around.
“Oh man, we can’t take these.”
They tried to refuse, and I shoved the bananas into their hands anyway.
“It’s fine, I’ve got a ton. I can’t eat all of them myself.”
While I was passing them out, I could feel Jace watching me the whole time.
So I gave him a few too. He was big, ate more than the rest of us, and I even broke off an extra one for him.
But he turned me down and went to wash his hands.
“I don’t need that.”
So yeah. He really had been disgusted by what he’d just seen with me and my roommate holding hands.
I gave a quiet “oh” and got ready to climb onto my bunk, doing my best not to make the view of my butt while climbing up look too kind of gay-looking.
Then a large hand suddenly slid around my waist from behind.
Jace’s chest pressed hot against my back.
“You don’t have to give them all to me at once,” he murmured.
“Give me one every day.”
The next morning, I held out a banana to Jace’s mouth again.
He was sitting at his desk, and he froze for a second, looking confused.
“You’re still feeding me?”
“You still want me to feed you?”
I couldn’t quite read his tone, so I peeled it and pushed the banana straight toward his mouth.
He looked a little dazed, but he still took bite after bite.
Then his gaze dropped to my chest, and his brow furrowed.
“Evan, don’t you think that shirt is way too see-through? You’re wearing that to class?”
“See-through?”
His frown deepened.
“Yeah. I can already see your…” He broke off, then added, “And did you button it wrong?”
I looked down.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Under the light, my white button-down really was ridiculously thin. You could practically see the lines of my torso through it.
And because I’d somehow buttoned it wrong, the top left side had fallen open enough to show a big stretch of pale collarbone, while the lower right side exposed a strip of my waist.
Oh no.
Even I had to admit it looked…
I grabbed a jacket and threw it on in a panic.
“I’ll wear this over it when I go to class.”
When I turned back, Jace had tipped his head up and was chugging water like his life depended on it, gulping so hard he was practically gasping between swallows.
Guess that banana had really gone down the wrong way.
His whole face was red.
Wait, why was he sweating too?
I reached out to wipe at him, but Jace jerked back so suddenly that his chair tipped and he landed hard on the floor.
His expression was almost alarmed, and when he spoke, his voice came out rough.
“Y-you… don’t touch me right now.”
So he really did hate guys who dressed kind of gay.
Which was a problem, because basically all my clothes looked… soft. Very soft. Potentially bottom-coded.
My sister had bought most of them for me. She kept insisting it was a “soft submissive look,” said it had design sense, said trendy guys dressed like that now.
I had my doubts.
Because every morning, when I handed Jace his banana, his eyes would always drift—almost against his will—to whatever part of my outfit had the most “design sense.”
Like the little shoulder cutout on one sweater.
Or the tiny cutout at the small of my back on one of my hoodies.
Every single time, Jace would frown and ask, “You’re wearing that to class?”
He sounded deeply unhappy about it.
Which meant he probably really couldn’t stand seeing a guy dressed like that.
So after that, I switched to giving him his banana at night instead.
That way he wouldn’t ask if I was going to class in it.
Gradually, even though Jace still stared at me all the time, he started talking to me more too.
Every day, he ate my banana.
So… the degree to which he disliked me had probably gone down, right?
But in the end, he still couldn’t tolerate my wardrobe.
That morning, I was just about to head out when he suddenly charged over, all muscle and aggression, and yanked my shirt right off me.
??
I was only wearing one layer on top!
He snatched away the only shirt I was wearing.
Honestly, how was that any different from plucking a chicken bare?