⚠️ WARNING: Always have your wits about you!

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It was a simple enough task. To get from one place to another, or to be more specific, to get from his dorm, to class. But it seemed for Tan, Boystown had ideas of its own.

He had only made it to the bottom step of his block when the first chance encounter happened. "Hmph, oh sorry."  Tan gets nudged on the shoulder by a guy submerged in the contents of his phone. Not a clue about who was around him, until he nearly knocks Tan sideways.

"Just look where you're going..." Tan begins to say, as he looks to his side. Rookie mistake!  He should know by now that he needs to be careful with the extremely handsome boys around here, but he looks into the boy's face.

Skin, so soft to touch, so golden...

No... He refuses to let it happen.

"N...never mind." He manages to blurt out as he tries to get away from the masculine danger as soon as possible.

"But wait." the guy reaches out, his hand grabbing a hold of the sleeve of Tan's jacket. He has to stop, turn and again be faced again with the...

...Flawless skin of an angel...

Tan forces himself to not look above the rather chiseled chin of the male.

"What is it?" He asks rather curtly, not wanting this moment to last any longer than needed.

"Do you live in this block?"

Why does he want to know that? Answer very carefully, very carefully indeed!

"No. I'm... visiting a...a friend." He ends the sentence with a smile and a hope this will be enough to take his leave with minimal scarring.

"A friend?" The guy questions, still not letting go of Tan's arm. The answer was clearly not enough for the other male
to take the hint.

Ahh I know!

Tan speaks out what he thinks is a good idea. "My girlfriend." He responds rather prouly. That reply seemed to work as now the hand which was holding his arm pretty firmly, finally lets go.

"Girlfriend?" Comes the response. Tan now finds the strength to look up at the male. His face looks confused, which in turn makes Tan feel disappointed in himself. Mainly for telling a little white lie. He didn't know why he had to fabricate a girlfriend. There could have been a plethora of reasons why the guy wanted to know where he lived.

Tan didn't want to find out the exact reason why and decides to take his leave. He finds himself nodding apologetically before he pulls the strap of his bag tightly against his shoulder and heads on his way.

***

The bus. Full of people. Busy people on a mission to be somewhere, with falling in love being at the back of their minds. That's what Tan thinks and hopes for as he waits at the bus stop for the single decker to come into view.

He plugs in his music to focus his mind away from the immaculately suited male office workers who seemed to have crawled out of the woodwork from nowhere...

Wait...wait a minute...what is this?...

From day one at this place, Tan had done his best to  keep himself focused on his studies. He didn't want anything to interfere with it, but now for the first time he sees it. He actually sees.

Everyone, EVERYONE IS MALE!

Not only that, everyone is a straight from a fashion catalogue gorgeous male.

E V E R Y O N E !

Wait...not everyone...

The librarian.

She was a female. Definitely female, but for some reason, Tan just couldn't remember any features. Why was that? Why was this place full of handsome men, every tiny detail scripted to perfection but lacking in females and the ones that did feature had nondescript faces? Was this place totally biased or just out to get him? Maybe that was why that other guy looked at him funny when he mentioned 'girlfriend'. Girlfriends don't exist!

Finally the bus appears from around the corner.  Tan finds himself not being surprised to see the attractive driver as the doors concertinas open. He hurridly scans his pass and filters on, having to make do with standing and hanging on to a hoop being suspended from the ceiling. He closes his eyes and focuses on the pop song filling his ears. If he couldn't see anyone, he would stay pure. But that smell...What is that?

Sweet candy, lemon sherbet. Strawberry milkshake...

Tan opens his eyes to see that he is inches from a body. An obviously male body, a very well turned out male body, which for some reason was in ridiculous close proximity. The scent radiating from the male felt intoxicating, like an addiction. The urge to close his eyes and inhale was unprecedented as for a split second, Tan does just that. He closes his eyes and breathes slow and deep and hopefully discreetly.

Since when did men smell so good?

Tan's recollection of the boys locker room at school was far from a candy shop, with the stench of body odour and sweat.  Was this....

Hold your breath!

Tan opens his eyes, finds his face mask from his coat pocket and hurridly puts it on. The smell is dulled enough that he can at least resist the urge to nestle his nose into the creases of the man's woollen sweater. He was just glad his stop was only two away.

Just a short walk and he would be safe in his classroom...