A few steps away (Michael)

[Fer Reyes]

Fer lighted up his cellphone and turned Grindr on.

Although he was a fan of most social networks, and perhaps an addict to tumblr, this particular one never quite settled in with him. He didn't use social networks to meet new people, like Grindr was all about, but instead, to keep in contact with his friends, let them know what's going on and learn what are they up to (although for him, it was more about the former one).

This particular night, he was bored in his room and decided to mix it up a bit.

He hadn't used the app in a long time, certainly not since he arrived back at the States, and was wondering what type of guys he'd find. He looked at the nickname he was using: "F.U.C.K.". Contrary to what it sounded like, there was nothing sexual about it, it was the name of Fer's fashion's blog. It stood for "Fer's Unique Cool Klothes". The purpose of using the name was to, well, make people wonder and ask about it, calling attention to him and raising awareness to his little blog, and hopefully, one day making it popular. His profile picture shared one of those reasons too: it called the attention.

The photos of online guys appeared on the screen and the first one called his attention quite a bit. He entered his profile, and was surprised to find that the proximity meter said that said guy was quite close. He decided to strike up a conversation.

[F.U.C.K.] Hey
[F.U.C.K.] What's up?

[Michael Arceneaux]

"Oh Grindr, oh Grindr, save me from boredom," Michael spoke aloud to himself.

He sat alone in his dorm watching The Avengers for what felt like the millionth time since buying the DVD the night it was released in stores. He loved watching movies, but you can only see them so many times before they become a bit boring or repetitive. So to alleviate his boredom, he took out his iPhone and opened the Grindr app he occasionally used to pass the time. Sure, he wasn't 18 yet, which meant he wasn't supposed to use the app, but he didn't care. He hasn't hooked up with anyone yet or anything like that anyway. All he has ever done was chat with people on it while always making sure to block anyone that was too old to be talking to him.

His username was RatedMA, which had a double meaning. The first thing that would normal come to mind is the TV rating for mature audiences, but Michael's meaning behind it was much more innocent than that. It was simply the initials for his first and last name, Michael Arceneaux.

Compared to a lot of the profile pictures he has seen on the app, his was rather modest. He really didn't seem to need a shirtless picture on there anyway because every time he opened the app, he had plenty of people trying to chat with him.

This time around, he noticed that he had a message from a guy who was within walking distance to him. His curiosity was only elevated when he saw the highly attractive profile picture and realized it belonged he recognized. He had seen the boy in the hallways of Hammel on occasion, but he and Michael never interacted or even talked to each other. Michael didn't even know his name. That had to change.

RatedMA: Hi. Nothing much, just watching a movie.
RatedMA: My name's Michael.

[Fer Reyes]

Fer hit back to see the guy's picture again. If it said they were this close, well, then he had to be in Hammel. And at this time of the night, it was because he was another student. Staring at the picture a bit more, a couple of bells rang in his head. Maybe he did recognize the guy. Well, not recognize-recognize, but Fer had seen him around. When was it? He couldn't pinpoint it exactly, and it was very unusual, if there was something Fer was good at, was remembering guys. It only made him more curious on who the guy was.

"Michael..." He wondered out loud, but the name didn't ring any bells.

[F.U.C.K.] Fer.

Fer took a second look at the guy's nickname now. It was rather interesting. The way he saw it, it either meant that he was looking for "Rated-M" kind of things, he was looking for "mature guys" a.k.a. oldies, or like Fer's nickname, it was a play on words. Hopefully it was either the former or the latter.

[F.U.C.K.] So are you naked?
[F.U.C.K.] Because you're rated mature AND adults.

He saw the words he wrote for a couple of seconds and thought it was a good point to introduce a small joke to break the ice.

[F.U.C.K.] I'm none of the above, btw.
[F.U.C.K.] Except naked. I'm definitely naked.

[Michael Arceneaux]

Fer? Surely he would have recognized an odd name like that. Then he realized it was probably short for Fernando or something similar, which made it seem much less odd and much more exotic really. He was beginning to wonder if the person he as talking to was from a country somewhere in Central or South America. That would be very cool.

RatedMA: Haha. Unfortunately no, I'm not. It's too cold!
RatedMA: MA is my initials.

He couldn't help but giggle, yes, giggle, at at the cute little joke Fer decided to throw in.

RatedMA: I guess that means you're under 18? Don't worry, I am too! Only 17.
RatedMA: And good luck trying to stay warm!

So far so good...

RatedMA: Where are you from?

[Fer Reyes]

He's too cold? Fer's expression turned into a devilish grin when reading this. That's easily solvable!

[F.U.C.K.] Thinking about it, I'm cold too
[F.U.C.K.] We could keep each other warm

Direct was usually not Fer's style when meeting new people. When the confidence is there, meaning when things has already happened, there's no room or use for subtlety, but when meeting new guys, Fer preferred to be at least a little subtle about it. He wanted to make sure people understood his intentions and propositions from the beginning, but with elegance. Like courtship. If he just jumped into every guy he's interested in, it would lose its fun quickly. People unusually hunt to eat anymore, they hunt because it's fun.

[F.U.C.K.] 17 too.
[F.U.C.K.] Luck staying warm?
[F.U.C.K.] It's hard!
[F.U.C.K.] For real, wanna help me out?
[F.U.C.K.] I mean with the "warm" part, of course.
[F.U.C.K.] Although if you want to get involved with the "hard" part...

Ok, ok, that was a bit too much maybe. Control yourself Fer! Let's go back to his other question.

[F.U.C.K.] Brrrrrrazil baby.
[F.U.C.K.] 100% made in São Paulo.
[F.U.C.K.] What about you?

[Michael Arceneaux]

RatedMA: How would we keep each other warm?

Michael already knew the answer to the question he asked, he just wanted to see what kind of response Fer would offer.

RatedMA: Hahaha! Stop, you're making me blush xD

He was joking of course, but Michael was actually rather impressed with Fer's way with words. Most other people were a lot less blunt about asking him to do naughty things. Michael wasn't going to... well... he didn't plan on doing anything naughty with the guy (he knew that sometimes hormones get the best of people).

RatedMA: Are you really from Brazil? That is so freaking awesome!

Game. Set. Match.

Fer had officially succeeded in winning Michael over. He had never seen or spoken to a Brazilian in person, and he found them to be very exotic.

RatedMA: I was born and raised in LA.

Michael had never actually wanted to meet anyone he talked to on Grindr before, but Fer was quickly becoming the first. Michael thought about asking if they could meet up, but he decided to hold off until later. He didn't want to come off as creepy by being too eager or anything like that.

RatedMA: So what's with that neat little hat thing you're wearing? It looks nice on you hehe

[Fer Reyes]

Fer laughed a bit at Michael's question on how to keep warm. A small smile remained in his face as he wrote his answer.

[F.U.C.K.] I'm sure we can come up with something

The Brazilian boy then wondered if the other boy was blushing and went back to his pic to try to imagine him blushing. Should I ask for more pics? I should ask for more pics.

[F.U.C.K.] Hey, got any other pics?
[F.U.C.K.] So I can imagine you blush better, of course.

It had been sometime since he heard someone being excited about Fer's nationality. I mean, most people just say "sexy" or "how exotic", but "awesome!"? That was unusual. It made Fer smile again.

[F.U.C.K.] Yeah, Brazilians are awesome.
[F.U.C.K.] And I'm like cousins with Francisco Lachowski and Arthur Sales!

Of course he wasn't, he was just waiting for a "really?" so he can instantly reply "no! xD".

[F.U.C.K.] Oh, LA? Awesome, do you know any famous people?
[F.U.C.K.] I've always wanted to do one of those famous people's houses tour.
[F.U.C.K.] You should invite me to your place and take me to those!

And there, finally Michael was asking about the headset on Fer's profile picture. It took him enough, most guys usually asked him rather fast.

[F.U.C.K.] I was playing cowboys and indians.
[F.U.C.K.] I'll let you borrow my arrow if you guess which I was

[Michael Arceneaux]

Oh yes, Michael could think of plenty of ways to stay warm with Fer's help.

RatedMA: Oh, yeah, I've got more pics. Hold on.
RatedMA: [Sent Image]
RatedMA: [Sent Image]

Michael hoped the second image he sent made a good impression.

RatedMA: Nah, I don't know any famous people... but now I know a cute Brazilian!
RatedMA: And I'll be glad to invite you to my place if you invite me to your country!!!

"Oh my god..." Michael said aloud. Fer played the hottest rendition of an Indian he has ever seen. He thought he was going to melt.

RatedMA: I'll play the cowboy since you've got the Indian part down pretty well. Hopefully you wont hurt me too bad with your arrow. hehe

[Fer Reyes]

"Aww..." Fer let out as he looked at the first pic.

The second one, however made Fer's jaw drop.

A couple of seconds had to pass before he reacted.

[F.U.C.K.] Dude!
[F.U.C.K.] Wtf! ABStastic!
[F.U.C.K.] I mean.
[F.U.C.K.] They're ABSolutely nice pics.
[F.U.C.K.] And it would be ABSurd to ABStain myself from saying you look very nice

Fer definitely did not expect those kind of abs from the smiling boys in the first two pics. He was still rather pleasantly surprised.

[F.U.C.K.] I didn't get the second pic you sent, though.
[F.U.C.K.] Could you send it again?
[F.U.C.K.] Like maybe in a different pose, idk

He was joking of course, hopefully it would be obvious and Michael wouldn't think Fer was referring to the non-abs pic. Maybe he should have refrained from that joke, but oh well, it had already been sent.

[F.U.C.K.] Oh really?!

Fer replied to the cute Brazilian comment by flushing a bit.

[F.U.C.K.] You should introduce us.
[F.U.C.K.] We could have a threesome, imagine that.

Fer actually imagined himself having sex with Michael AND himself. The image was weird and shook it off. It was better just Michael. Yeah, his mind had gone there... a long time ago.

[F.U.C.K.] Sure, let's go tomorrow, what'cha think?

The Brazilian boy couldn't help but laugh at how Michael took the indian and cowboys thing. Pretty well. Too well. Fer was definitely was not going to sleep after this, and as he thought about it, the why he wouldn't sleep was now Michael's hands.

[F.U.C.K.] Can't promise that
[F.U.C.K.] Unless our GPS are really broken, wild guess is you're in Hammel too, right?
[F.U.C.K.] Which room? We should totes meet up.
[F.U.C.K.] I'll bring my arrow if you bring your gun, cowboy.

[Michael Arceneaux]

RatedMA: Thanks haha.

Michael was glad his abs made a good impression. He didn't play sports really, but he did what he could to stay in shape. A naturally high metabolism helped also.

RatedMA: I don't have anymore "ABSurd" pics, sorry. lol

He honestly didn't have any other pics of his abs, or of him shirtless for that matter.

RatedMA: I think he likes me more than he likes you, sorry!

Michael laughed. Fer was a joker, and he was quite okay with that. It's good to have a laugh every now and then.

RatedMA: We've got school tomorrow silly!!

RatedMA: 506, but beware, I'm locked and loaded

He couldn't believe he just gave out his room number to a stranger on Grindr. Well, Fer wasn't really a stranger, he was more along the lines of a schoolmate, and that was all the reassurance Michael needed to not feel ashamed about a Grindr meetup. He and Fer were the same age, so it wasn't like there was a creepy, shameful age difference to be worried about. Plus... Fer was pretty damn hot...

RatedMA: If you promise to come dressed as an Indian, I'll dress as a cowboy.
RatedMA: Oh, and my roommates are away...

For the first time in a long time, Michael let his feelings hold more influence than his logic.

[Fer Reyes]

[F.U.C.K.] Oh

Fer responded after reading that there were no other pics like that. Then again...

[F.U.C.K.] I can totally help you take more pics, then!

He then laughed after Michael said that "the cute Brazilian" liked Michael more than him. It wasn't far from the truth, maybe, and as Fer attempted to come up with a clever response, Fer watched the numbers appear in his screen. 506... He smiled. He didn't need anything more, and so, he stood up from bed, and since he was still dressed, he just placed his keys in his pockets and proceeded to walk towards the door when he heard his cellphone ring again in his hands.

He read and laughed out loud again while slightly blushing.

[F.U.C.K.] Baby, you've got yourself a deal.
[F.U.C.K.] Be there in five minutes!