“...I went to Colony Seven...” Corrin responded, eyes still darting through his work.

“Oh really? What's it like there?”

“Rural… lots of farms. I guess it's peaceful…” Corrin said, sort of looking at him now.

“Oh, nice… must've been nice to get away from the city…”

“Yeah…”

They went straight back to not talking. Rory was still- or even more red in the face.

He looked at Corrin's face, his heart starting to pound.

Why is this happening now?!

Corrin turned his head, his eyes meeting Rory's.

“...Um… can you help me with this one?” Corrin asked, somewhat blushing.

Rory nodded, immediately shifting his eyes to Corrin's work. Without thinking he corrected the whole thing, not telling Corrin how he could fix it.

Oh… shit!

“...Did you fix the whole thing…?” Corrin asked, looking at Rory's scribbles covering his work.

“Ah- S-Sorry… wasn't t-thinking…” Rory mumbled sheepishly.

Corrin smiled a bit, picking up his pencil again.

“It's okay…”

Rory yawned, looking over the last bit of work in Corrin's notebook.

“All of it okay…?” Corrin asked.

Rory nodded, yawning again.

“...looks pretty good… but you’re still making some of the same mistakes... Have we been studying for three hours now…?”

Corrin looked passed Rory, seeing Rory's open backpack sitting on the ground.

“Are those lunches…?” Corrin whispered, more to himself than him.

Oh, shit forgot about those…

“Yeah… my mom made them for us. Sorta forgot about them,” Rory said honestly.

Corrin smiled again.

“That's nice of her…”

Rory reached down, grabbed them, and set them on the table.

“... we're not allowed to have food here…” Rory went on to say.

“It’s fine. I’ve brought food before, and they don’t care. In plus, most of the workers are robots anyway,” Corrin assured.

“Hmm… okay.”

Rory pulled out two large sandwiches, from the bags.

One was a simple tuna sandwich, while the other was a chicken sandwich, stuffed with tomatoes, jalapeno, and banana peppers, mayo, lettuce, and cheese.

Huh?! Why is this one so loaded?! Come on Mom! I'll just eat the tuna one then… I'm not even hungry...

Rory handed him the chicken sandwich, starting to unwrap his.

Corrin's inspected his, looking at the excessive amount of everything from the lettuce sticking out to several pieces of chicken shoved in.

Rory opened his mouth ready to take a bite.

“Wait.”

Rory paused, his mouth still wide open.

“Um… I can't eat meat since I'm Buddhist… so could I eat yours?” Corrin said, blushing.

“Oh… Yeah, of course.”

They switched sandwiches, although Rory was very reluctant to eat that sandwich.

Great. Now I'm stuck with this monster of a sandwich…

Rory looked inside of the lunch sacks to see if there was anything else he could eat. Instead, he just found a paper crumpled into the corner of the bag.

He picked it out, unfolding it:

Rory, I want you to eat the chicken sandwich. You never eat enough, or really at all, so try to eat it, okay? :)

Rory frowned upon reading the last word.

You've gotta be kidding me. She was totally plotting this…

Corrin glimpsed at Rory, his face clearly full of resentment for the sandwich.

“...Sorry. I didn't mean to take the sandwich you wanted…” he apologized, fingering his hair.

“You're fine. I'm just not that hungry, that's all,” Rory said, poking at the monster sandwich, “I don't eat much actually.”

“Well… don't starve yourself. It's not healthy…” Corrin told him, his tone soft.

Rory knew well that he should eat, but he never wanted to eat that much or even tried to actually get food; in simpler terms, he was lazy when it came to food.

“...I will don't worry…”

Rory's cheeks grew hotter, that anxious feeling kicking back in.

Dammit, not this again!

He bit into the sandwich, mayo, and tomato oozing into his mouth. He continued eating, trying hard not to wince the whole way through.

God. Mom should know that I hate mayo by now…

At the end of the study, the two walked out of the library, and on to the sun toasted sidewalk.

“So… which way are you heading?” Rory asked, trying to seem oblivious.

“To Ferris Station… I'm taking it down to Base Six,” he said, an eyebrow cocked.

“Yeah...me too.”

They walked side by side, making their way to the subway station in silence.

Maybe I should say something…?

“Your mom cooks well… the sandwich was good,” Corrin said, smiling a tad.

“...y-yeah she does…” Rory said, thrown off by Corrin speaking first, “...What about your mom?”

Corrin's smile became a line, his softened eyes returning to stone.

“... She's not really my mom…she wouldn't cook for me anyways. She doesn't- well… it's complicated…” Corrin said almost sullenly.

Rory could see Corrin's distaste in the topic. His gaze went completely dark, returning to that look he gave Rory during their first interaction.

Shit that was such a dick move…

“Sorry… I… shouldn't have asked.”

Corrin's intense expression didn't leave.

“...I didn't really…I...well… Nevermind…” Corrin muttered, trailing off.

The rest of the trip home was sour. Corrin didn't try to say anything, nor did Rory.

The face Corrin had was still petrified on to him.

While Rory held his breath the whole time, feeling vulnerable, and prone to making more mistakes.

They stepped off the train, and onto the subway platform.

They went up the stairs, coming out of the underground station.

Rory headed over to the bike rack. He scanned the selection of bikes, not seeing his bike anywhere.

What the-

There it was. The bike wheels were busted, and the chain was in shambles.

“You've got to be kidding me!” Rory screeched, ready to rip his hair out.

Corrin came over, seeing the wrecked bike. His eyes went wide.

“...Who could've done this?” Corrin wondered aloud, touching the broken bike.

“I don't know. But whoever it was is an asshole,” Rory piped, getting a hold of his bike, “I'll deal with this, later… let's just get home…”

Corrin nodded, following his lead.

Rory pulled his “bike” along on one side, as they strolled home with each other.

They came to their street. Corrin was about to part ways with Rory, suddenly stopping in his footsteps.

He turned back around to face Rory.

“...Rory.”

Rory shoved his bike into the alleyway that separated their houses, leaning it against the wall.

“Yeah…?” Rory replied, coming up to him.

“Look… be honest with me… Why are you… always there,” Corrin said, eyes prying into his.

Rory went red, his head starting to melt.

Shit! What am I supposed to say to that?

Corrin waited, his eyes not leaving.

I have to say something!

“Hey, it's not like it's on purpose… It just so happens that you live next to me, go to the same school, AND we coincidentally have two classes together… Maybe I want to be friends or something!” Rory sputtered, rattling off reason after reason breathlessly.

Corrin had to process of all it, pausing for a moment to give Rory an off-hand look.

“...Well… it's just that... you're always…” Corrin said, half smiling, “...Nevermind…”

He dropped the whole conversation. He gave a small wave goodbye, going straight into his house.

Rory stood there, eyes wide and cheeks fully flushed. He clenched his fists, biting his bottom lip.

What kind of reaction was that…?!

Vega chopped loudly as he went through his third bag of Cheetos.

“So how'd Project Corrin go today with your first official study session?” Vega began, sprawling out on the couch.

“...it was… I don't know…”

Just imagining the whole scenario made his brain want to explode. Talking about it would create an atomic bomb in his head.

He feigned his interest in the video game he played, gaze never leaving the screen.

“What? What went wrong? Tell me!” Vega nagged.

Blush accumulated on his face, the jittery nervousness coming back as well.

“Y-You'd just be an ass about it! Like hell I'm gonna tell you about it…” he hissed.

Vega let out a cackle, Cheeto dust puffing out of his mouth.

“Since when were you so sensitive?! I've known you since you were only three feet tall. You've done much more embarrassing shit in the past, trust me,” Vega said, in a teasing manner, “you can tell me… come on.”

Rory glowered at the screen, still endlessly spinning his joystick. He set down the controller, giving Vega “attention” now.

“...So you're trying to prove that you're not a sarcastic ass, and can just listen to someone without cynical comments?" Rory said, glaring at him as he devoured more Cheetos.

“Well can't guarantee all of your wishes... but I certainly can listen,” Vega said, putting on his convincing smolder, his teeth orange from the chips.

Rory grimaced at his smolder but gave in any way.

“... he's just a weird person. One second his smiling bit and being polite, while the next he's interrogating you with an icicle stare. He’s just so… outlandish! His reactions to things are so… different,” Rory vented his voice seemingly on edge.

“Well, at least you know now what he's like…”

“Yeah…”

“Because you're all observant you can just take what you know now about him, and use it to your advantage right?”

“I don't know! He's not like math where you can mess up once, learn from it, and ace the next assignment! It's hard when I get anxious around him…” he admitted, pinching the crease in between his eyebrows vexingly.

Vega remembered that Rory was anything but socially academic. The discouragement was written all of over his face.

“Hey… I don't approve of stalking, but it's still crazy to me that out of thin air you found out about Oasis. Just from getting weird vibes from a random boy,” he encouraged, “you're certainly up to the task of researching him, so just keep going with it.”

Rory wasn't fully convinced of his apparent social splendor. But felt at ease with Vega's reassurance.

“...Maybe you're… right.”

Vega came down from the couch, sitting right next to him. He wrapped an arm around his neck, rubbing his knuckle into his curly head playfully.

“You're totally new to the whole talking to people thing,” Vega pointed out, still fluffing out his hair.

“Oh shut up.”

Rory grinned with his dimples poking out; his smile sincere.

“I haven't seen you smile like that in ages. You used to be such a cute kid… where'd he go?” Vega jested, chuckling.

Rory snorted the smile still there.

“You're such an ass.”

“Surprised that you're not used to it by now, Rory.”

“Whatever…”

Nighttime washed over Colony Eight. The night watch scuttled out from their headquarters, starting to make their rounds.

Rory peered out. He watched as they sleuthed through the shadows, making sure all were in their homes at this curfew hour.

He thought back to the end of the study session when Corrin had asked him why he was “always… there”.

Rory could picture his rampant answer to the question, and his ashen face.

But more importantly, he remembered Corrin's strange reaction:

He smiled.

He struggled with his words, somewhat smiled at Rory as he did, then left without another word.

It's not like I can just tell him that I found out about Oasis, suddenly decided to research him, and wanted to be his “friend”! How messed up does that sound?! He’d definitely start hating me or worse...

The scene repeated in his head, making him want to swoon from the frustration.

He got into his bed, his eyesight starting to dim.

Rory went through the student-packed hallway, making his way to his physics class. He spotted Corrin going to his language arts class.

Corrin accidentally flat-tired a boy's shoe. He spun around, fiery in his eyes.

“Did you seriously just flat tire me, chink?!”

“I'm sorry…”

Corrin tried to get around him, the boy stepping into his path.

“Who do you think you are, huh?!”

He grabbed Corrin's collar, pushing him down to the ground.

Corrin started to cough, holding his chest. Sweat beads went down his head, as his coughs became more violent.

“That's what you get you piece of shit! What are you mental or something? What's keeping you on the ground, huh?” He berated, hunching over him like a giant.

“What's all of this about?!” Jasmine yelled over the bustle of students.

Jasmine put herself in front of him, Amara close by.

“Who do you think you are?” Jasmine barked, not holding back, “I don't tolerate bullying, Tark! You better back off now before I report your head high ass!”

The two kept bickering off, Jasmine having the upper hand. Amara crouched down, hoisting Corrin up.

“Are you okay?” Amara asked.

“I... I'm…”

He wheezed again, hacking out a strained cough.

“Do you need to go to the nurse's office?” She continued to ask.

“I'm... f-fine!” He stammered.

He started to stumble away, but Rory wasn't gonna let him get away that easily again.

Rory linked his hand to his elbow, gripping it tightly.

“Not this time. You're going to the nurse's office,” Rory said, pulling him along.

“H-Hey…”

Corrin hyperventilated and coughed, as Rory dragged him along. As they came towards the nurse's office, Corrin managed to break free of him.

“T-That’s… enough…”

The bell sounded for the period to begin, Rory standing in the middle of the empty hall. He looked around to make sure no hall monitors were around, then snuck up to the door of the nurse's office.

“...Do you feel okay, Corrin?” the nurse asked.

“...No… may... I-I go home?” Corrin stuttered.

“Let me check…”

The nurse went into another room, leaving Corrin to himself.

He immediately got out his com, dialing a number, and putting it to his ear.

“I-It happened again…” Corrin said, hand still against his chest, “...I may take the next few days off if it gets to t-that point… I have too…”

The nurse's footsteps could be heard around the corner, Corrin hung up jamming his com back into his pocket.

“You've used up all of your absences for this quarter Corrin… so are you fine with staying here the rest of the day?” The nurse made sure of.

“I'm fine with that…” Corrin said, his eyes staring at the slightly open doorway.

He saw Rory looking in. But the next second, his presence vanished a together.

“...Corrin?”

“Hmm…?”

“I was asking if you need any medicine or water.”

“Oh… I'm fine. Thanks…”

The nurse nodded, taking their leave.

Rory made it back to physics class. He explained the situation, then plopped into his seat.

“Is… Corrin okay?” Amara whispered, her tone somewhat hesitant.

Rory didn't hear her, continuing to blankly stare.

“...Rory?”

So that guy on the phone with Corrin was probably-

“Rory…?” Amara whispered again, poking his shoulder gently.

Huh?

“Ror-”

“Ms. Carter!”

Amara froze, her attention zapping back to Mr. Choi. His beady eyes shrunk, as he glared at her.

“S-Sorry Mr. Choi…” she said, her face red and her hands shaking.

“Don't do it again!”