A/N: This chapter contains mature content. I will indicate where it starts with ------------------------ and indicate where it ends with ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ so if you want to skip this section you can.

Arthur Sakho

By the time the dance class was over, I was sweating and hungry. I just wanted to go home, shower and eat. And probably have Trevon come over. Danny and I trailed behind the other dancers as they exited the room.

"Arthur, Danny," Mrs. Madsen called to us. She waved us over to her corner of the room. We walked over to her. She didn't continue until everyone else was out of the room.

"How are things between you and Alice?" Mrs. Madsen asked me. Of course she had heard of the drama.

"Fine as far as I'm concerned," I said. "Has she said anything?"

Mrs. Madsen shook her head. "No. She said things were fine between the two of you as well. You're okay partnering up with her again?"

Danny looked slightly bored clearly not understanding what this had to do with him.

"Of course," I said. "It's not the first time Alice and I had our differences, but we are always professional when it comes to dancing."

Mrs. Madsen nodded. "That is true." She looked at Danny. He ran a hand through his hair that was wet with sweat. He had that naturally red hair that looked so red you thought it must be dyed but it wasn't. He had the pale skin and the multitude of little freckles to go along with it. He was handsome, even though I had never been attracted to him.

"I'm thinking of doing things a little differently for the end of the semester performances," Mrs. Madsen said. "I'm thinking of giving you different partners."

"You want to partner me up with Alice?" Danny asked. His face clearly showed he did not like that idea.

"Could you handle that?" she asked.

"I am a professional," Danny said.

Mrs. Madsen smiled. "That's not what I'm suggesting though. I'm thinking of having male dancers paired off."

Me and Danny looked at each other.

"Us?" Danny asked.

"Yes," she said, "I just haven't decided if I want it to showcase male friendship and strength or have it be a romantic story. Or maybe even something else completely, maybe showing the soft, elegant side of man. What do you think?"

I was excited. I thought it was a great idea. I wasn't sure Danny would want to be paired with another man though. He had told me he got into ballet because the female/male ratio was so advantageous.

"Yeah," Danny said. "Let's do it."

"Great," Mrs. Madsen said. "Why don't you two talk it over and decide what concept you want to try. If you can't come up with one on your own, I will decide for you. But I'd rather you just did it for me."

She left the room leaving just me and Danny. Danny sat down against the wall with his legs stretched out before him. I followed suit.

"What do you want to do?" I asked him.

"Let's do the romance aspect."

"Really?"

"You don't want to? Will your boyfriend be jealous?"

I thought about that for a moment. "I think he'll be understanding. Besides you're straight, right? Are you sure you can act it out well enough?"

"I don't like Alice, but I could have acted it out with her," he said. "And you're my friend so I think it will be easier. I can act."

"Let's do it then," I said.

"Great," he said.

We stood up and walked out together talking about nothing in particular. When we rounded the corner into a new hall, Alice was standing against the wall. She smiled when she saw us. Her smile always seemed fake to me.

"Why are you still here?" Danny asked her.

"I wanted to talk to Arthur for a minute," she said.

Danny looked at me not sure if he should leave me alone with her.

"It's alright," I said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He leaned in close and whispered, "I'll be in yelling distance if you need me to come save you from her."

I nodded that I understood and then he left.

"Everything alright?" I asked Alice even though I just wanted to leave.

"Yes," she said. "I just wanted to know if you liked the cookies. I can make more if you did."

"What cookies?" I didn't get any cookies nor did I hear anything about cookies.

"I gave cookies to Trevon to share with you yesterday to show I wish you both well."

Trevon didn't tell me anything about cookies or that he saw Alice.

"Oh, those cookies," I said. "They were a little dry, but thank you for thinking of us." I had no idea if the cookies were dry or not. Why didn't Trevon tell me?

"So no hard feelings?" she asked.

What game was she playing? This felt weird. "Of course. No hard feelings," I said. There was no way I was trusting her.

"Great," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

I went home and showered. When I came out, there was a text from Trevon.

Tall Dark and Handsome: Are you home?

Me: Yes. Come over. Pick up something to eat. I don't feel like cooking.

Tall Dark and Handsome: K. I'll be there soon.

I sat on my couch and pulled out homework from my bag. I might as well get as much done as I could before he got there. I worked through it quickly not really caring if the answers were sloppy or even correct. I had one last problem to finish when the doorbell rang. I put the assignment back in my bag so Trevon couldn't complain about my sloppy work before I went and opened the door.

"I got cobb salads," he said and held up the bags.

"Perfect," I said. "I'm starving."

I led the way to the glass dining table. He took out two cobb salads and 2 dinner rolls. He tried to hand me one of the rolls as I sat across from him, but I gave the roll back to him.

I took a few bites of the salad before I said, "I'm going to be pairing up with a different partner for the end of the semester performance."

"Is Alice giving you trouble?" he asked. The fork froze halfway to his mouth and his voice was thick with concern.

I smiled because he cared so much. "No," I said. "In fact, today she asked me how the cookies were." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh," he said. "I completely forgot about them."

"So what happened to them? Did you eat them all yourself?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No."

"Why not? Did they smell weird? Is she a bad cook?"

"I don't know," he said. "They smelled fine, but I threw them out."

That was not what I had been expecting.

"Why? Did she do something suspicious?"

"Besides standing outside my door for an hour to give me cookies?" Yeah, that was weird. "No," Trevon went on, "I've just had a bad experience with cookies. I won't eat them unless they are from the store or directly from a bakery. I probably could eat them if I saw as they were being made. I thought I was over it, but then I threw away Alice's cookies so I guess not."

"What could possibly happen that would make you distrust cookies?"

"My sisters baked me peanut butter cookies with laxatives when I was seven. I ate them all."

I sat there a moment not sure how to respond. "I don't know if I should laugh or be mortified," I said.

"Be mortified," he said aghast that I could even fathom any other option.

"Okay, I'm mortified." I was glad I had managed to hold back my laughter.

"So who is your new partner?" he asked.

"Mrs. Madsen wanted to try a male/male pairing." I watched him closely to see how he would react, but he was frustratingly expressionless.

"Is it going to be romantic? Like a love story?"

"Would you have a problem with that?" I asked because if he did, I would change it to be something else.

"You don't have any real feelings for him, do you? Who is it?"

"The only one I have feelings for at the moment is you," I rubbed my leg against his under the table. "It's Danny. He's been my friend since I first started attending the university. He has the deep red hair and he danced with Samantha at the last performance. Her hair had been left down instead of tied up. It's long and black. You don't have anything to worry about with Danny. He's straight. It would just be a performance."

"Honestly, I mainly remember you from that performance," he said. "And Alice a little. I vaguely have a picture of him though when you mentioned the red hair. I'm fine with it. As long as it's just acting, I'll support you with whatever you want to do."

And my heart warmed and the rest of me melted.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked.

How had I been looking at him? I wasn't sure, but I knew what I was feeling. "You're just pretty close to being perfect," I said. "If only you liked reality shows instead of those boring science shows."

He smirked. "That's not going to happen."

We sat down to watch t.v. after dinner and after I had assured him I had finished my homework. He was such a nerd, but he was my nerd and I loved it. He pulled out the second book my mom had ever written.

"What happened to the first book?" I asked. We had just bought it.

"I finished it. You were right, she does write great sex scenes."

I blinked at him.

"What?" he asked.

"You finished it already? We just bought it yesterday."

"It was really good. What? Why are you blinking at me like that?"

"Do you always finish books that fast?"

"It's not unusual," he said.

Why did I find that so attractive? I leaned in and kissed him. I completely forgot about the show I just turned on as his luscious lips melded with mine. He placed the book on my coffee table. His strong arms wrapped around my waist as the kiss drew deeper, as our tongues swirled together, tasted each other. He flipped me around so my back was against the soft seat cushions of the couch. He hovered over me and pulled back to look at me. I hoped he always looked at me like this - like I was captivating, beautiful, mesmerizing.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down to me to continue the passionate kiss.

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His fingers trailed down over the cloth of my shirt, pinched my nipple through the fabric and I moaned into his mouth. His fingers continued down and slipped into my pants and under my boxer briefs. He pulled away from the kiss as he stared down at me. He rubbed over my rapidly growing hard on. I bit my bottom lip as the fire spread through my blood. He paused when he saw the movement. Then he crashed his lips back to mine.

His hand left my hard on to pull the shirt roughly over my head. He unzipped my pants, but paused as I pulled his shirt off to expose his muscled chest. I ran my hands down his bulging biceps as he tugged on my pants. It didn't take long for my pants and boxer briefs to be on the floor. I tried to pull him back to my lips, but he paused as he hovered between my legs.

"Have you been tested?" he asked.

"Condoms were always used," I said, but that wasn't exactly true. There had been that one time with Jackson and the first few times with Scott because we were foolish and didn't know what we were doing.

"Have you given blowjobs without condoms?" he asked.

"Oh," I said. "I was tested after my last boyfriend." Which was true. "I'm completely healthy." Also true.

I should have kept my mouth shut as his head started to dip to my member, but instead I said, "Have you been tested?"

He sat up and looked at me. "I always use a condom," he said.

"So you've never gone down on your girlfriends? Because I don't know a lot about women, but I'm pretty sure they have fluids too."

"So...you don't want me to give you a blowjob?"

"Yes, I do." I grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him towards my hard on.

He didn't need any more encouragement as his mouth enveloped me with heat and moisture. His tongue licked me and explored. My hips moved to escalate the pleasure. His hands came to my hips and helped support me as I moved my hips again. Moans escaped me. They probably weren't quiet either, but I was too wrapped up in the euphoria to even think about controlling them. He was a little clumsy at first as his inexperience showed, but that made me like it even more. I was his first in many things and I reveled in that. The only thing that could make this better was if he was fingering me too. I'd tell him some other time. I didn't want to ruin this moment.

The euphoria and pleasure built and built until I released with his name on my lips. His name sounded in the air much louder than I had intended. He jerked in surprise and then he swallowed.

"Sorry," I said as he pulled back wiping his lips. "I should have warned you."

He smiled down at me. "Don't be sorry. It was exactly what I wanted."

I sat up, threw my arms around him and kissed him. I pushed into him slowly until he was now on his back. I kissed down his neck, down his chest, down the ridges of his stomach muscles while my hands were busy unzipping his pants. I reached in and pulled out his thick, long hard on. I licked it from the base to the tip and he moaned and shifted underneath me. I paused to take his pants and boxers off completely. I stared down at him. My fingers slid back and forth over his strong thighs. I bent down and took him in my mouth.

"Wait," he said, "test...ing." And another moan escaped him and he was puddy in my hands. My tongue teased his member in my mouth. His hips bucked as another moan escaped him. His hands gripped the couch cushion underneath him.

I briefly thought about fingering him. Some of my past boyfriends liked that, but I immediately dismissed the thought. We had never discussed anything like that before and he might not like it. And part of me was afraid he would like it and he would want me to top. I didn't have any desire to top. I tried it once with Scott and bottoming was so much better.

I did however like this, him moving underneath me with his moans filling my living room.

"I'm going to..." he said and then there was a burst in my mouth. I swallowed all his cum. I didn't pull my mouth away until I was sure he was finished.

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He sat up slightly so his shoulders were up against the arm of the couch. "You're amazing, Art," he said.

"And beautiful," I added.

He smiled. "And beautiful."

My eyes flickered briefly to the t.v. Oh yeah, my show. I sprawled out across him so my head was on his chest, our bare legs entwined.

"Will you please hand me my book?" he asked. I stretched over him so I could retrieve his book from the coffee table and handed it to him.

He opened it and held it with one hand lowering it so as to not block my view of the t.v. His other hand ran up and down along my back absently while he read.

I was sure of it now. I wanted to be this way with him forever. I loved him.