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practice makes perfect - 10

the college au continues!

Okay, this one is probably a mess of typos because we're doing our best and our best involves writing on the phone because we have no time. It's me. I'm we.

<3

If you're still reading this fic, thank you and I hope you enjoy it!!

We're going into another house party! Warnings! there are drugged drinks and there are going to be fists thrown. There is also reference to the bad bad darlin/quinn relationship.

If you want to read the fic from the start you can find it here. It started as a very steamy non-magical Asher/David and has evolved from there into a bunch of pairings.

Practice Makes Perfect - 10

It had been a month in the new apartment and Darlin wasn’t sure about it. It had seemed fine at first. The apartment was right on the edge of campus and the guy was hot, which was always a plus, but…

Quinn was fun at first. Casual and vaguely interested but too busy? Like, it was an easy flirting situation with no strings.

And then there were strings.

Where had those strings even come from?

And how had it happened so fast?

Something about it felt…bad. But Quinn was always smiling so Darlin smiled back. It was all just a joke, right? It was all just fun. It wasn’t like Darlin was some delicate thing. It wasn’t like they didn’t rough house with their own friends. Why did it feel different with Quinn? Why was his smile so…mean?

Darlin spit blood into the sink.

Their phone vibrated on the counter. The screen was cracked but it still worked.

Asher. They turned off the faucet and answered.

“Where the hell are you?” he asked without greeting.

Darlin dragged a hand through their hair and walked out of the bathroom. “Apartment. I’ll be there in ten.”

“Want us to come up?”

“No,” they answered fast—too fast? Why did they hate the idea of Asher or anyone coming anywhere near this place? “I'm on my way down.” They hung up and shoved their phone in their pocket. They didn't even like thinking their friends were parked by the curb.

They pushed out of the bathroom and went straight for the front door. They didn't look at his bedroom door more than to confirm it was shut, the soft hum of his music pressing out. They didn't run. They wouldn't. But they kept walking, nerves spiking when they were past his door.

“Jeeze, where the hell did you get that shiner?” Asher asked, twisting around in his seat to look at them. David looked too, brow creasing.

Darlin blinked and then smiled, ignoring how it pulled at a cut inside their lip. “Did you forget me taking Huxley's shoulder to the face at practice?” It wasn't exactly a lie. They had slammed into him. But it hadn't done this.

Asher frowned still but sat forward. “Shit. We'll find you an ice pack when we get to the party.”

Darlin snorted. “Don't worry about it.”

“Seatbelt,” David grumbled.

Asher craned his neck to watch Darlin buckle up. Had they winced when they reached across themselves for the seatbelt? How badly had they been hit in practice? Darlin had always played hard and taken some truly stupid dares over the years. What if they broke a rib again?

Asher made a mental note to get a better look at Darlin tonight and see if they needed to visit a doctor before their next practice.

“I thought Hux was getting a ride with you guys,” Darlin changed the topic.

Asher caught the ghost of a smile on David’s mouth when he said, “He’s got a ride.”

Darlin raised an eyebrow, waiting.

“He’s going with Gav.”

Darlin blinked and then grinned. “Stop it.”

Asher shrugged, smiling. It had been a surprise, but also not really. Ever since that morning practice when Gavin showed up and went to breakfast with them, the two had been palling around.

“Talk about opposites attract…” Darlin thought aloud.

Asher snorted and watched the road, his smile fading a little. He sort of hoped they were just friends. He wasn’t sure Huxley was the casual sex sort of person and didn’t want to see the guy getting his heart crushed.

Cars parked up and down the sides of the street as they neared the house, slowing them to a crawl as they looked for a parking spot. The frat house where the party was would be within stumbling distance of their own dorms. Really, they could have walked if they’d wanted to, but then Darlin would have had to take the subway. David had insisted he wanted to drive anyway and wasn’t going to drink, which was absolutely a lie, to get Darlin to let him give them a ride. It was a routine Asher had seen a hundred times.

They parked and joined the drifts of college students making their way toward the pulse of music in the house up the street.

The rumble of a bike drew their eyes just in time to see Milo sneaking past traffic to park on the edge of the driveway. He had someone on the back of his motorcycle. He helped them off and smiled as he unbuckled their helmet and took it off of them. He helped fix their hair and Asher caught the blush on the stranger’s cheeks as they waved his hand away–pretending to be annoyed.

-

The party was in full swing when Morgan got there. He always felt a little out of place at these things, but his friends had dragged him along. And it was good to get out of his comfort zones, right?

He barely got into the livingroom of the big frat house when a smooth, curling voice spoke up beside him. “I was hoping to see you again.”

Morgan turned and blinked at the all too familiar face. Porter offered him a red solo cup.

Morgan smiled and took the drink. “I would hope not…”

Porter stepped closer, the crowd turning them into a corner to make room for more people. “Why would you say that? You’re a classmate, surely I should be hoping to see you at my party…”

“I'm your counselor,” Morgan reminded flatly.

Porter scoffed. “You were my student conflict manager for like ten minutes. We could have sex right here and no one would care.”

He curled his lip at the idea. “It would be public indecency and we could get arrested.”

Porter leaned in closer and Morgan was surprised by the way his pulse jumped. “What if I promise?” the other man asked in a near whisper.

“Promise what?” He shouldn't have asked. Why did he?

Porter held his gaze, suddenly terribly sincere. “To be decent.” He leaned in and Morgan inhaled the scent of his bodywash. Porter's breath brushed his ear when he added in a whisper, “To fuck you decently.”

It took everything he had not to react. Not to inhale or, god help him, exhale. He lifted an eyebrow and waited until Porter leaned back to get a look at him. He poured everything he had into looking unamused, but something in Porter's smirk made him worry he saw through it. Still, the other man took a step back.

“You don't really want to go to bed with me,” Morgan warned, a part of his brain telling him to shut up. Shut up and just kiss this man. Down the drink in his hand, kiss Porter, and just turn his brain off.

“Oh, I think I do.” Porter stood so close, his fingertips brushing the back of Morgans hand.

Don't say it. Don't fucking say it, he thought, but the words came anyway. “If we fuck, I'll know you.”

Porter's smile wavered just the way Morgan knew it would. “Isn’t that the point?”

“I don’t think it is for you. You’re charming, Porter, but in a way that makes people nervous. You get what you need but they know better than to expect more from you. You pick fights with people you think have charmed lives and then you let them win. You want to be the villain. Do you really want me to figure out why?” Morgan asked honestly, even though he knew the answer. No one wanted to be known that well, not really.

Porter wasn't smiling anymore and his touch had gone. He took a step back, eyes narrowed on Morgan like he couldn't figure out if he was being attacked. “Right…” Another step back. “You could have just said you weren't interested.” He turned and walked away.

Morgan watched him go. He wasn’t not interested, but he couldn't let someone walk into that either. He drained the cup in his hands, wincing at the burn but swallowing it down before going the other direction in the house.

-

Huxley walked down the long sidewalk with Gavin, the sound of the party growing louder the closer they got to it. He was excited to go, especially because Gavin was going and said they should go together. Last time they’d been at a party together had been sort of awkward, but that had been over a month ago and they were friends now.

“Looks like Asher is already there,” Gavin said, holding his phone to the side to show Huxley the screen.

A clip played of Asher turning in a full circle to show the party around him before throwing back a short and peeling laughter. Huxley smiled, spotting a bunch of the team in the room around him. “Cool.”

Gavin pocketed his phone and shoulder nudged into Huxley’s side. “If you don’t like the party we can always bail on it. I know this place that makes great pancakes…”

Huxley looked at him, beaming. “Oh yeah? Where?”

Gavin’s grin grew big. It sent chills up Huxley’s spine. “My place.”

Huxley exhaled a laugh. “What? Oh.” He blushed a little. Gavin was good with his words. He was fast and Hux still wasn’t sure why the artist liked hanging out with him, but he was happy he did. “Why wouldn’t I like the party?”

Gavin shrugged. “A lot of people don’t like parties. And some parties suck.” His hand brushed Huxley’s.

Huxley was starting to get used to the fluttering in his chest when Gavin was around. It was something excited but nervous. He knew Gavin was into casual things and there was nothing wrong with that, but Huxley wasn’t into casual. They could be friends. They could be friends who hugged and snuggled. Friends was amazing, but the worry that Gavin was after friends with benefits was becoming a constant tension in Huxley’s heart. He had to talk to him about it. He had to just say it. “Gav–”

“Gavin!” Someone called from the porch of the frat house and a course of echoes spread out from it, laughing and inviting them into the house.

Huxley smiled, loving the way the people responded to him. Gavin looked at him though, waiting for what he’d been about to say even with half a dozen people calling for his attention.

Huxley shook his head. “Let’s go,” he said. “I’ll tell you if I want to go and you tell me if you want to.”

Gavin grinned at that and took his hand, pulling him along into the party.

They eventually made it to a corner of the house with a bunch of familiar faces. Huxley blushed when they shouted his name in a chorus of excitement, not unlike Gavin had received at the front of the house.

Milo was at the table, being schooled in beer pong by his date.

“Oh shit, what happened to your face?” Gavin asked over the music and Huxley followed his attention to Darlin.

He frowned at the dark bruise under their eye, but even more so at the flash of panic on Darlin’s face, their gaze flicking from Gavin to Huxley and then to Asher across the room with David, cheering on the beer pong match. “You know me. Practice gets rough and I don’t slow down.”

Huxley blinked and then jerked back a step. “Wait, you mean when I tackled you?” he asked over the music, panic spiking his pulse. He was big and he always tried to be conscious of that, but practice was different and Darlin was no lightweight themself. Had he really knocked them that hard? How had he gotten to their eye? They had a helmet on. Fuck.

“No!” Darlin laughed, shaking their head. “What are you talking about? That was a love tap! You didn’t even knock me down.”

Huxley leaned forward to get a better look at them, gaze scanning for more bruises only to realize Darlin was layered up. That was normal though. “Dude, I’m so sorry.”

Darlin grabbed his shoulders, still smiling. “Stop! I swear it wasn’t you! And if it was, it would have been an accident. But it wasn’t. One hundred percent! We can pinky swear on it if you want.”

Huxley smiled a little, finding it hard to doubt that level of certainty. But still… their eye looked like it hurt.

Gavin tapped Darlin’s arm. “I’m going to go find us a couple drinks. I’ll grab you some ice,” he called over the music before slipping away.

As soon as he was gone, and before Huxley could ask more about their shiner, Darlin grinned at him. “Sooooo, you and Gav?”

Huxley stared back. “What about me and Gav?”

“You’re… Well… Aren’t you?”

“Aren’t we what?”

“Darlin, you’re up!” Asher called from the table.

Darlin groaned but let go of Hux. “This isn’t over! I will find out!” they said as they backed toward the beer pong set up.

-

Kody rounded the corner in time to spot Blake dropping a couple pills into a red solo cup.

“Oh, I didn’t see your bestie here tonight,” Kody practically cooed.

Blake huffed. “No. They stayed home. They’re not feeling well.”

“I wonder why…” Kody muttered, not wondering at all. Ever since Blake reconnected with his childhood friend, they'd never been quite well enough to go to any parties. Lucky them they had Blake to pick up their homework when they were too sick for class. “So, who’s the drink for?”

Blake tsked through teeth and shot a glare across the party. “Fucking Porter. He needs to be brought down a peg…I put something in his drink earlier, but I guess it didn’t take…” he sounded perplexed by that idea, like it definitely didn’t make sense.

“Not worried you might overdose him if you go again?”

Blake snorted. “No one can prove I had anything to do with it.”

Kody looked up, gesturing to himself.

Blake smiled. “No one’s going to believe you.”

Kody frowned. “Fuck you.” He looked at the cup and then smirked, snatching it up. “Then I’m taking this one. You can make another.”

Blake looked like he might argue for a second before his expression smoothed and he shrugged, grabbing another cup.

-

Gavin grabbed a beer from the bucket on the porch and went back inside, frowning at the sight of Kody and Blake together in the kitchen, mixing drinks.

He wove through the party, looking for Huxley, but finding Porter first. He stopped close to the other man and nudged a head back toward the kitchen just as Kody was snatching a cup from Blake and peeling off.. “You invited them?”

“I didn’t invite anyone. You know how these work,” Porter said, hand going naturally to Gavin’s waist.

“You know what he’s like,” Gavin complained.

Porter raised a brow and waited for Gavin to sigh. Of course he knew. “Honestly, I’m not even sure which one you’re talking about. They’re both creeps.” He turned his attention back to Gavin, smiling. “But it’s not like you to get bent out of shape about it. You okay, pretty boy?”

Gavin blinked and then relaxed. Kody had just gotten on his nerves the other day. “Yeah. Yeah, of course.”

Porter’s smile grew and he pulled Gavin closer, their hips together when they swayed. “You have plans tonight?”

Gavin took a drink from his beer and draped an arm across Porter’s shoulder, letting him sway them for a while more. “I do.”

Porter hummed. “The jock?”

The jock. Gavin nodded.

Porter let him go with a laugh. “Be careful, Gav. The harder you work for it, the more it’ll hurt.”

He raised an eyebrow at the other man. “I thought you were into a little pain?”

Porter grinned wolfishly, sinking away into the party. “Not that kind.”

Gavin laughed but nodded, working through the crowd that seemed to stop him at every chance. Normally he loved drifting through a crowd, from one familiar face to the next, but this time he just wanted to get back to Huxley. Honestly, he was trying to figure out how to talk to Hux about them… about their…friendship? Of all the relationships he’d had, this one was different and he wasn’t exactly sure what they were doing or what was on the table. Hux had said he was cool with flirting and friendly physical contact and Gavin had been happily taking advantage of that. It was going good. Going great. But he wasn’t sure if they were…more.

And Gavin didn’t usually need to know. His friendships usually came with sex and other than fetishes, there wasn’t a lot of conversation needed about the details.

He was realizing he needed to have a conversation with Hux about what they were doing. He just wasn’t sure how–

Gavin wasn’t sure he’d ever really been angry in his life until he looked across the party and saw Kody talking to Huxley.

No fucking way.

He wove his way through the crowd toward them, his heart pounding.

Kody had that sly smirk of his, and Hux… Hux was holding a red plastic cup he hadn’t had five minutes ago.

Gavin had only really known himself to be domineering in a bedroom and that had never been in search of pain. He liked to be in control. He liked to pin and push. But he was not a fighter.

Or so he thought.

He closed in on them just as Kody was pressing into Huxley’s space, managing to back the larger man against the wall. He touched Huxley’s hand and nudged the cup up toward his mouth.

Gavin lurched forward, slamming into Kody from the side to knock him away.

Huxley’s eyes widened in surprise, one hand out to catch Gavin like he’d tripped.

“What the fuck?” Kody snapped, righting himself and straightening his shirt.

Gavin took the cup out of Huxley’s hand and exchanged it for one of the beer bottles he’d grabbed them.. The big guy blinked in surprise.

Kody’s anger dissolved into something close to fear, eyes sweeping Gavin and the cup. “I…”

Gavin hadn’t known what he was thinking, why the cup had bothered him so much, until he saw that fucking look on Kody’s face. Like he was caught. Gavin held the cup out. “This is yours, right?”

Kody’s jaw ticked. Son of a bitch.

“Gav?” Huxley asked, big hand on his lower back.

He suspected the contact was meant to soothe but it only made his blood boil. Hux was so nice and this monster had actually tried to fuck with him?

Gavin was still holding the cup out. Still waiting. “Drink it,” he ground out the command.

Kody’s lip curled into a snarl. “What’s your problem?” He slapped the cup away, spilling it across the wall and pushing into the space. “Not enough ass in the building for you? You’ve already fucked this one, right? Give someone else a turn!”

Gavin felt a tremor in Huxley’s hand just before it left his back.

He shoved Kody in the chest, taking a step forward to force him farther from Hux. “I warned you.”

“What are you going to do, Gav? Blow me to death?”

“Hey,” Huxley snapped, surprising them both. “Don’t talk to him like that.”

Kody’s lip curled, attention turning from Gavin to Huxley. Gavin shook his head, hating it already–not wanting him even looking at Huxley, let alone dragging his gaze over him like that. “Oh, big guy–” he started, stepping to the side like he was going to move around Gavin, like he was going to close that distance, like there was any universe where Gavin could let that happen.

The beer he was still holding hit the floor, and Gavin was already moving, already throwing himself into Kody and driving him as far back and away as he could.

-

Fights were not uncommon at parties like these but this was definitely new.

David frowned at the scene, having been looking in time to see it start and now when Gavin threw a fist right into Kody’s face, knocking him back against a wall.

“Are those two fighting over Hux? He’s like… a head taller than both of them,” Arden asked curiously.

“So?” David asked, only taking his eyes off the fight long enough to glance at Huxley, still shocked.

“So, I think he can probably fight em both if he wanted to,” Arden added.

“I don’t think that’s what this is about…” And he wasn’t sure he could even imagine Hux in a fist fight. David put his beer down and started toward the fight, easily pulling people out of his way.

People were shouting and the two were on the floor now. David was more than a little surprised when Hux was there just ahead of him. They exchanged a glance and David nodded. Hux scooped up Gavin, hauling him off of Kody and back a few steps. Kody jumped up, spitting blood and furious, lunging for Gavin while he was open. David was there, palming his face back and then bending to shoulder him in the stomach and pick him up.

Asher peeled laughter, trailing them to the door to give Kody the boot.

“He started it!” Kody whined, trying to kick but David had an arm over the back of his thighs. This wasn’t his first time bouncing someone.

“Yeah…” Asher said from behind him. “No one is going to believe that, man. Even if he threw the first punch.”

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