The Anonymous Hookup: A heart-warming mm novella by Jax Calder

Author:Jax Calder [Calder, Jax]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-06-01T16:00:00+00:00

The next evening we’re hanging out at his place doing the Netflix component of our ‘Netflix and Chill’. Is it weird that I like the Netflix part of it almost as much as I like the Chill? Just the two of us together on the couch. Initially we kept to separate parts of the couch, but somehow that’s changed over the past three weeks and now at least one part of his body is always in contact with me.

Tonight, he’s got his arm casually draped around me as we watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine while I hassle him about his obvious crush on Andy Samberg, the actor who plays Jake Peralta.

“I just admire him for his ability to deliver those one-line zingers,” he says.

“Sure, it’s just about his zingers,” I say, and he chuckles.

His phone chimes, and he picks it up, making a face.

“Is it your mum again?” I ask.

“No, just work. I’ll be right back.”

He stands up. I hear him answer the phone in his deep voice, then the sound fades as he closes the door to the hallway.

I stare at the frozen faces on the screen, my mind churning.

Is it time to suggest moving past the anonymity thing? It was fun to start with, a reminder this isn’t a proper relationship, but I have an irrational craving to know about his life now. I want him to be able to vent to me about problems he’s having at work, like he talked to me about his mother.

It seems ridiculous that I know so many other things about him now, yet I’m ignorant of the fundamentals of his full name and what he does.

To distract myself from overthinking, I log on to the chess app to find I’ve received a series of messages from Charles Dickens over the past day.

Charles Dickens: It’s your move.

Then, three hours later…

Charles Dickens: YOUR MOVE!!!

Two hours later…

Charles Dickens: I’ve done some calculations and have determined that your response time has increased from 2 hours to 13 hours over the past three weeks. Don’t tell me this means you went out and found yourself a life??

I fire a quick message back. Maybe it just means that my brain is slowing down.

Charles Dickens isn’t online right now, but I make my move anyway. All going well, I might capture his rook out of that capital piece exchange.

I quickly type another message to Charles Dickens. Beat that buttercup.

The door to the hallway opens and Maybe Sam reappears.

“Sorry about that,” he says.

I quickly shut down the app and stash my phone in my pocket.

He follows the movement, one eyebrow quirking.

“Are you sexting someone?” He’s trying for a jovial tone, but it fails to launch.

My heart thumps. I don’t want to admit I’m playing online chess. Preston always gave me crap about it being an old man’s hobby.

Instead, I just go for another simple truth. “I haven’t looked in another guy’s direction since we started hooking up.”

His face relaxes. “Me neither.”

We stare at each other for a few heartbeats. Then he smiles and I smile back.

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