The House

Chapter One

Liam was walking back home on city streets. It was about eight o'clock. 

The street was full and he considered calling an Uber, but he was in a daze. A completely depressed, sad, numbingly terrible daze.

He got stood up.

This wasn't the first time he got stood up, either.

He was so tired of this. He was so tired of dating, and that stupid app he was on constantly. He hated everyone right now. What was wrong with them? He gave everyone so much attention and he was getting nothing back.

The past few years had sucked for Liam. I mean, he was doing great in college and everything, but everything else had basically gone to shit with his personal life. 

He had come out in high school and everything was great -- his parents were fine with it, he ended up dating one of the really hot guys on the cheerleading team. The only guy. It was great. When he graduated, he and his ex, Ben, stayed together for another few months before Ben called it off. Said he was moving on, that they both were growing apart and that no one stays with their first. 

That was three years ago. He had tried multiple embarrassing times to be in another relationship after finally getting over Ben, but was stuck in this spiral of bad luck. 

He honestly didn't know what else to do.

He'd done everything.

Apps. Bars. The library on campus. Fuck, he even hit on his neighbor once... He wasn't even gay. He didn't talk to him anymore after that, whenever Liam caught him gardening outside and said hi. 

What was he doing? 

He thought about it a lot, his bad luck. Liam wasn't a bad looking guy, he worked hard to make sure... He was starting to think he wasn't 'the right type' for guys who were his type. That was his only explanation. He was short, fit but short, and knew he looked kind of young. Anyone he was attracted to seem to want someone that was...not him. 

About forty five minutes of sulking in the night air because he was too dramatic to call an Uber, he was home. 

He opened the door to his house and greeted his roommates -- Morgan, Ethan, and Julian. They were cool. He'd been rooming with them for the entirety of college and they had all gotten really close. They were his gay college possy, and Liam was thankful that he had a tight circle of friends despite the bad luck in his love life. He guessed things could be worse.

Ethan and Julian were actually together. They'd been together since high school, which Liam had brought up multiple times to Ben during one of their million arguments, not that it made a difference. Whatever. They were awesome together, was the point. They were so close. Liam wanted that. He loved those two.

Morgan was single...maybe? He wasn't sure, honestly. 

Morgan kind of got around, so he wasn't exactly single in that way... But he never called any of those guys his boyfriend. Liam didn't think badly of him for it, though he was kind of jealous at how easily Morgan could just have whoever he wanted... He was basically Liam's opposite. Morgan was just having fun. It suited his personality. He didn't really take much seriously -- except swimming. 

He was a big time swimmer, and he was really good. He totally looked like a swimmer too, with his dirty blonde hair and weird muscular yet angular frame. You could easily guess that he swam, and you'd be right. 

Liam had gone to practice with him lots of times, just messing around in the pool while Morgan did laps, and Liam had a lot of respect for how fast Morgan was in the water. They'd gotten pretty close too over the years, and Morgan felt more like his big brother even though they were the same age. He admired him. Also, he was hot.