"Sure!"

Aaron stared down at me. I looked at K. K grinned at both of us. Up the stairs a second later came Max and Thomas. The five of us looked at each other.

“You’ve met him before, Jacob? You’re gay?” Aaron said. I nodded.

“Us too,” said Thomas, stepping forward. “Me and Max are gay. We were messing around down there.”

K grinned. “Down there?” he pointed at Thomas’ bulging crotch.

“Down there,” Thomas corrected, pointing back at the stairs.

Aaron shushed us. “Cut it out. So you’re telling me...we all like dick? That’s a hell of a coincidence.”

“Yup,” I said.

“I need to process this.” Aaron stepped back into his room and shut the door. Thomas followed him in, giving us a shrug and leaving us there. I moved over to talk to K.

“What’s the problem?” said K. “I thought you knew he was gay. I fucked him.”

“It was a misunderstanding. I thought you fucked him,” I pointed at Max, who looked like he wanted to die.

“No,” said K, “But I’d love to. Aw, he’s so cute!” To Max, he said “Are you a bottom, cutie?”

“Uh, yeah.” Max said. “Sorry, I’m not sure I quite understand. Who are you?”

“Your housemate here called on me for a quickie. He’s super horny, or hadn’t you noticed?”

“I had wondered,” Max ventured. “I mean, I had imagined - not fantasised, but--”

“It’s okay,” I told him. “Looks like it’s all out there now.”

“No, hang on,” said K. “If Aaron - that’s his name, the guy I just banged who went into that room? - if Aaron met me on Grindr, didn’t you see his profile?”

That hadn’t occurred to me. “Not if he blocked it first. Which means…”

“I knew from the start.” Aaron stood in his doorway. He had taken off his shirt, showing off a slim smooth chest with a tiny happytrail leading below the waist. Behind him Thomas lay on the bed, and gave a lazy wave.

“You didn’t say anything,” I said.

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I kinda panicked. I didn’t know if we’d get on, or if it would be a lot of pressure.”

“Yeah, ‘cause this is much less pressure,” muttered Max. K laughed and put a hand round his shoulder, which Max kept there.

“I get it,” I said to Aaron. “It’s hard to know what to do. But it’s all in the open now. We all know.”

“Yeah,” he said. He gave a perfect smile, right at me. “We all know.”

There was a pause.

“So,” said K, “Am I topping all of you, or what? Big guy, you gonna help me out?”

“You bet,” called Thomas from inside Aaron’s bedroom. “I call dibs on Jacob. You can have Max - oh, looks like you already have.”

K was leading Max into the bedroom - Max couldn’t stop giggling. He looked back at me. “Is this really happening?”

I answered by walking up to him and kissing him, hard. Everyone whooped, and I felt him smile as we kissed. Thomas grabbed me from behind and I let myself be pulled back into his arms. “Let’s do it.”

Aaron, smiling, closed the door. That night, second year really started.