Stand Together: A Gay Enemies to Lovers Novella Read online

  Stand Together

  A Gay Enemies to Lovers Novella

  Written by J. W. Greyson

  Copytight © 2019 J. W. Greyson

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  Table of Contents

  MATHEW

  AIDAN

  MATHEW

  AIDAN

  MATHEW

  AIDAN

  MATHEW

  AIDAN

  MATHEW

  AIDAN

  MATHEW

  AIDAN

  MATHEW

  MATHEW

  MATHEW LEANED FORWARD and bent his toes over the edge. He bowed his head and extended his arms. He took a deep breath and felt his heart rate jump up. He held his breath as his heart steadied and the whistle sounded.

  In sync with fourteen other young men in line, Mathew leaned over the edge. His body struck the surface of the water like an arrow. He exhaled and moved his feet up and down. He reached with his left arm first, up above the surface and back into the depth as his right arm mimicked the movement. Mathew held his course steady.

  He moved his head to the right and took a deep breath while propelling his body forward with the left arm.

  Doing his best, Mathew tried to focus on swimming without looking around. That sort of self-control was beyond him. He could never simply do his best, he needed to do better. More specifically, he needed to do better than Aidan in the on-going semi-finals. The son-of-a-bitch beat Mathew in every competition ever. Mathew hated his guts.

  Mathew’s lean, wiry body moved naturally in the water. He first learned how to swim all by himself and ever since then no water was a challenge to him. He could swim across a river or in an olympic pool without troubles.

  Aidan, however, swam faster and with more grace. He was already two feet ahead of Mathew and that was unacceptable. Mathew powered up, his heart sped and his breathing intensified. He was burning all his energy but it was a matter of pride.

  Aidan was a sophomore, Mathew had just enrolled. Their animosity for each other had first started during Mathew’s first week at college. Aidan pushed Mathew to a side in the locker room the way he pushed everyone. Apart from a few jerks surrounding their master, the popular boy, Aidan seemed to hate every human being.

  Mathew had always wondered whether there was a deep reason for Aidan’s hatred, possibly a sad childhood story, but he brushed it off as a cliche and went back to rightfully hating the guy back.

  No matter what he did, Mathew could not even out with Aidan. He was close, catching up, but it took a toll on his energy. He couldn’t sustain it for much longer. The finish line was not far away. He wouldn’t make it.

  As he pushed himself faster, used up the greatest force his body could muster, Mathew looked up and saw Aidan propel his body forward one more time and touch the edge of the pool. He won. Again.

  Mathew did the same a mere second later. The taste of bitter defeat was not a new sensation for Mathew. It was something he was growing used to and more than anything, Mathew hated the fact the feeling was so familiar. If only he could drown then and there.

  Aidan climbed out of the poor and gloated as the coach raised his arm high in the air. Mathew climbed out and walked in a circle, waiting for the charade to be over.

  Coach Preston let Aidan go and headed toward Mathew, who straightened his back and tried to inflate his muscles to at least show some quality.

  “Don’t beat yourself over it, Mathew,” said Coach Preston. “You were very close this time.”

  “Not close enough,” said Mathew through clenched teeth. His eyes were locked at Aidan as he walked away. Coach looked behind his back and turned his head to Mathew again.

  “You know why you fail,” he said. “And it’ll never get better if you don’t fix it.”

  Mathew knew what the coach was talking about, but he would never admit to it.

  “Why is that?” asked Mathew with more than just bitterness. There was cockiness to his voice and he immediately felt ashamed for it. Coach Preston was a fine man, a good one.

  “Focus on yourself, Mathew. You will never beat him if you compete with him.”

  Mathew nodded and bit his lip. Coach Preston reached up and tapped Mathew’s shoulder before turning around and walking away. Mathew stood for a moment, looking at other boys who failed. Being the second best was just being the best among the losers, Mathew thought and headed to the locker room.

  The white tiles blinded him under the bright neon light from the ceiling. Mathew headed for the shower and took off his tight briefs. He turned on the water and washed soaped his skin, tightly outlining his physique. His muscles were aching and trembling from exhaustion. He had never pushed himself that hard before and he still couldn’t do it.

  Aidan was on the far side of the shower. His back was turned to Mathew. His shoulders were much broader than Mathew’s and his legs were more muscled. The chatter of the other boys walking for the shower broke Mathew’s attention and he realized he was observing Aidan’s butt-cheeks. They were round, firm and completely hairless.

  Mathew turned around and faced the white tiles. His face was suddenly made of stone and his eyes of glass. He felt an undeniable wanting for his nemesis. The sheer hatred combined with Aidan’s body was a mixture Mathew never would have looked at twice, but this was different. There was something…

  Mathew washed the soap off his body and fled from the shower as fast as he could. His cock was swelling up the more he thought about it. He dressed quickly, before anyone noticed, and headed for the exit. On his way out he forced his head to remain still, facing the doors, but his eyes wandered toward left. Aidan was massaging his muscles softly and washing off the soap. His hair was darker as it was soaked, his eyelashes were long, eyes olive green and skin tanned.

  As Mathew slowed his steps, his eyes still firmly locked at Aidan’s body, his enemy turned and looked directly at his face. His eyebrows curved and Mathew sped up and left the locker room, his heart racing as though he was sill competing.

  Whatever it was, Mathew needed to work it out. He needed to get his head straight. It was far from optimal to have any sort of feeling, physical or emotional, for Aidan. It would result in pain any way he could imagine. The only thing left for Mathew was to find out why he even felt such attraction in the most bitter moment of that year.

  Mathew’s life was a struggle. It had always been a fight. Whatever he needed, he had to work hard for it and earn it. There was never anything free and those lessons taught Mathew to be a grown man at the age of nineteen. Some might say he grew up too quickly, but a life where a high-school student had to become the bread-winner in the house does that to a boy. Even college was a struggle. Getting into it would never have been possible without the grant and Mathew knew well enough he had to stay on top to continue.

  If Mathew wanted to graduate, if he wanted to stay on course, he needed to beat Aidan. There was no other way. He had to win the final and be qualified for the full grant. Otherwise, it would be turning burgers on a stove again for him. While he was away from his home, his mother could provide just enough for herself and his little sister.

  The last think Mathew wanted was to have a crush, least of all on Aidan.

  AIDAN

  WHEN AIDAN SAW MATHEW for the first time, the freshman was a typical popular boy. Aidan barely had to look at him twice to
know all about him - his Instagram account had a five figure following while he followed a grand total of twenty people; he was the most popular kid in any class; he became a swimmer so he could brag about his athletic abilities and pose shirtless. Aidan could read people like books, and he was never wrong about them.

  Just as he was leaving, Mathew stared at Aidan in the shower.

  Aidan was a muscled twenty-year-old with a proper swimming physique, his torso had a V shape, his chest and shoulders wide and his hips flexible. It was the secret of his success and one think he was proud of. Aidan knew what his passion was as soon as he took a swimming course as a child. Since then, he had worked his ass off to reach to where he was. From the very start, he understood that the vital parts of swimming were stamina and hip movements. Those aspects were the ones he focused on from the very start - his build came with swimming. His muscles grew over time without much exercise outside of the pool.

  Aidan shut the door of the dormitory and crashed into bed. He was exhausted, so he closed his eyes for a moment. He had half an hour of spare time before lunch and was more than happy to have some peace in the room. Bobby, his roommate, wouldn’t be back until the evening, by that time Aidan will have left for practice.

  Sadly, Aidan managed his schedule depending on when he would have to see his roommate the least. So it came that Aidan often went for swimming either early in the morning or late in the evening, when his roommate studied (aloud and by heart).

  In front of Aidan’s eyes appeared a slightly curved nose which may very well have been broken a long time ago, thick lips and two large eyes. Light brown hair streaked with blond covered the forehead. A blue V-neck T-shirt revealed the nicely outlined collarbones and the red jean shorts emphasized a firm and round buttocks (which was annoyingly too big for someone calling himself a swimmer) - Mathew, moving his eyes away when Aidan saw him was now stuck in his mind. He wouldn’t leave.

  Aidan pressed his eyes with the palms of his hands. He pressed so hard his eyes felt as though they would burst. A sharp pain in his head was the only reason Aidan relieved the pressure, otherwise he would pop the image of Mathew out of his head.

  He jerked his body up and sat on the bed. His lips curled and he was overcome with urge to break Mathew’s curvy nose. As though it was not enough for Mathew to take the spotlight everywhere he showed up, now he had to infiltrate inside Aidan’s mind.

  Doors opened and Bobby walked in. Aidan’s eyes jumped at the clock - was it possible he messed up and was late?

  “What are you doing here so early? Aren’t you in a class?” asked Aidan annoyed his privacy was disturbed. He was not lucky like some who had private rooms - Mathew for one, that rich little cunt.

  “Ditched IT so I can study here,” said Bobby and took a large breath of air, preparing to tell Aidan all about it. “I thought since it was practice today, I might as well use the time more meaningfully. Don’t you think? I don’t really find practice that useful. Like, who’s gonna ask me to make an app in an exam?”

  “I gotta go, man,” said Aidan and headed for the door.

  “Oh, that’s a shame,” said Bobby and fixed his glasses impulsively. “We never talk anymore. But I should really start studying, you know.”

  We never talked, you fucking nerd, thought Aidan and slammed the door on his way out.

  He walked around the campus for ten minutes before returning to the canteen. He was on a strict diet, eating proteins and vegetable. No empty calories were allowed inside his body and the campus canteen was not an optimal source of food, but on most days Aidan had little choice so he dealt with it the best he could - measuring the portions and being picky and annoying about it. He knew what everyone thought of him and it never bothered him. All the people in the world could be placed in one of two groups: those who matter and those who gossip the ones that matter.

  Aidan had a clear plan in which group he would end up.

  After a light meal and an apple for dessert, Aidan headed for a swim. In the locker room he almost gave up and went to his room to brood - a pair of red jean short was on a bench, next to it a blue T-shirt.

  Aidan took off his clothes, put on his tight swimming boxers and walked out. He did not enter the water but stood in the shadow and watched Mathew, the only person in the whole damn place, swim from one side to the other, dive and turn, swim back and repeat. He was going of his way to improve.

  Aidan may have been wrong about Mathew.

  MATHEW

  MATHEW BURNED ALL HIS ENERGY during a single practice that day. For the rest of the day he frowned at everyone who may have contemplated coming near him. Lizzy succeeded by coming behind his back in the library and pinching him below his armpit.

  Mathew jumped.

  “Wha…” he shouted, looked around and whispered: “What the hell?”

  “What is it with you the whole day?” asked Lizzy.

  “Leave me,” said Mathew and added giving her a theatric evil smile, “or join the real of depression.”

  Lizzy joined him and sat down, pulling on an exaggerated sad face.

  “What got you down, Matty?” she asked.

  “Aidan,” said Mathew.

  Lizzy rolled her eyes: “Again?”

  “He beat me, again. Like it’s not enough pushing me around and being mean all the time, he also has to be better at the only thing I can do well.”

  Lizzy took a deep breath of air and shrugged. She tilted her head and smiled with motherly concern. Mathew knew that face, she was about to drop some common knowledge or a proverb and dash of, certain her very existence improved the world - he loved her for that childish eccentricity, but not when he was her target.

  “What you need, dear,” she said, “is sex.”

  Mathew choked and looked down. His cheeks immediately turned into two plum tomatoes ready to be picked. He laughed an airy laughter and said: “Shut up.”

  “I’m serious.” She curled her lips and leaned back in the wooden chair. “Your angry ‘cos everyone around you is banging all the time and you’re not invited for the party.” She paused, stood up and tapped Mathew’s shoulder. “Find yourself a nice dick to ride and you’ll be all better in time.”

  She was half way out when Mathew regained control over his voice.

  “What?” he asked in an incredibly high-pitched voice as if he was speaking to dogs only. “I’m not gay.”

  Lizzy’s laughter rang against all the bookshelves. Heads all around flew up and the librarian crossed her arms, looking at Lizzy who couldn’t care less.

  This piece of advice was stuck in Mathew’s head while he walked for his first ever evening practice. If he couldn’t force himself to practice when he is at his lowest energy level, he reasoned, he should quit all together.

  Entering the empty pool was a special experience for Mathew. He would finally feel free. Only then, in water and swimming, Mathew could be comfortable with himself, his body and his emotions. Swimming was almost an excuse for maintaining a hairless body, he thought at times. If he weren’t a swimmer, people would laugh at him, and they did - his mother, for one, despite him claiming it improves his speed and being common for swimmer, never could understand why he had to remove all his hair, like a girl.

  Mathew loved his mother dearly, but she sure made it hard for most of the time. Since he was fourteen years old she would correct the way he was standing or how he waved his hand when explaining things. In a way, he could understand it. His father left when Mathew’s sister was born - walked out of a fight one night, with his car keys and his wallet, slammed the doors and never returned. He only called once when the family was in church. The voice message was a cold reveal he hadn’t died. They never heard from him again.

  Back when it mattered, Mathew may have daydreamed of finding his father’s address, going there and with sheer appearance turning the man around. That would almost always end in a shitty day for Mathew, embarrassed by his own childish thinking.

  Since then, his mother start
ed insisting he mans-up. Was it the lack of alcohol on someone’s breath or a hairy chest peaking from an unbuttoned shirt that she was missing, Mathew did not know. All he knew was the constant struggle to feel remotely sexy without feeling guilty.

  Mathew touched the edge of the pool, dived and turned, swam to the other side.

  Then, there was Lizzy. Her casual remark was nothing casual to Mathew. The thought of her even mentioning Mathew’s true desire made his blood boil and force with which he swam increase. Could he be that obvious? What did the others think? It could be the answer girls like hanging around with him - they weren’t threatened. The likes of Aidan probably scared the shit out of them, never knowing what the guy was after. It could explain why Aidan hated him - him being a homophobic asshole was the last thing of all the things that could surprise Mathew.

  He touched the other edge of the pool, dived and turned, headed for the other side when someone moved from the shadow. Mathew’s heart sank when he recognized the tanned, muscled body of his arch enemy. Aidan, came to gloat.

  Mathew swam as fast as he could, ignoring Aidan who stood still. He reached the edge, dived and turned around. He swam for the other side, burning up the reserves of energy he never knew he head. It was as though a shark was on his tail, and the incredible amount of adrenaline was released in Mathew’s bloodstream. He touched the edge, knowing full well he was showing off, turned and swam back.

  His legs started to get numb and he lost both his speed and his grace. There was no technique to his swimming now, only a cub thrown into water, struggling to keep afloat.

  Outraged with embarrassing himself in front of Aidan, twice in a day (breaking his own record), Mathew reached the edge of the pool and not looking at Aidan climbed out of it. He swiftly straightened his back and was immediately thrown off balance.

  The world around him was spinning and leaning to one side.