Erik didn’t move as he heard the door. His eyes were fixated on Conner’s, his heart beating deeply, rhythmically. Conner’s face was burning against Erik’s hand, everything about his expression wanting.

As someone knocked for the second time, Erik got up, irritated. He pulled the door open, unsurprised to find their dorm supervisor.

“Is Conner here?” Mr. McIntyre asked, peering into the room, suspiciously.

Erik stepped aside to reveal a shy, embarrassed looking Conner.

“Why aren’t you in class?” he asked, harshly.

Conner looked up at Mr. McIntyre. “My leg was hurting a lot today, so I stayed home,” he said. His face looked so convincing even Erik almost believed him.

Mr. McIntyre looked between the two of them, careful adn suspicious. “As long as you’re both here… Feel better, Conner.” Before Mr. McIntyre had even left the room, he took out his phone, likely updating the dean that Conner was accounted for.

Erik grunted, closing the door aggressively. He took a deep breath, glancing back at Conner. “We should make sure Anthony and Jannet are alright,” he said, sitting back on the bed, slightly farther away from Conner. He opened the laptop before Conner could object, asking Anthony, “Hey sorry about that, how are things going on your end?”

“You assholes. Where the hell were you guys?” Anthony asked, then said, “We’re on our way back.”

“Sorry, our supervisor was checking on us.” It wasn’t entirely a lie.

Jannet looked into the camera worriedly. “Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, they didn’t suspect anything. Don’t worry. Did you find where the detonation happened?” Erik inquired, his eyes sliding towards Conner who was looking away from him.

“If you mean a giant black hole of ash, yeah we found it. Everything’s completely disintegrated. So, if something was there, it sure as hell is gone now.” Anthony grunted, walking back towards the closet to backtrack though the vent. “Look, we’re fine, we’ll meet you in the dining hall for dinner.”

“Sounds good. We’ll see you there, be safe.” Erik closed the laptop and placed it back on his desk. He braced his hands against the surface for a moment before turning towards Conner.

Conner was lying down, arms over his head. Erik felt a twinge of guilt as he sat on his own bed. He gritted his teeth, his jaw tensing as he took in a deep breath. He shouldn’t have touched his face, shouldn’t have looked at him like that.

“Are you okay?” Erik asked, his voice sounding gruffer than he had meant.

Conner’s voice was thick, his arm covering his eyes as he said, “You told me we would look at plants…”

Erik felt his mouth twitch into a smile. “We have lots of time before dinner. Is that what you want to do?”

Conner rolled away from him, his voice cracking as he whispered, “I just want to sleep. Wake me when it’s dinner.”

Erik felt his eyes widen slightly. His hand went from his knee to rest lightly over his mouth. Was Conner crying? He sounded strange and wouldn’t look at him. Erik debated on going over to him, asking him outright if he was upset.

After what had just happened, he thought against it.

Erik lay down on his own bed, watching Conner, wondering if he’d be able to tell if he really was crying. He felt his heart squeeze tightly as he remembered caressing Conner’s jaw, his large hazel eyes pleading with him.

He slammed his eyes shut, frowning as he rolled onto his back. Erik hadn’t realized what he’d been doing until he’d seen Conner’s reaction; it played through his mind, his heartbeat growing faster to the point it became unbearable.

All he had to do was not think about it. It was just an awkward lapse of judgement…

Erik felt his phone vibrate, shifting as he took it out of his pocket. He felt his stomach drop.

Erik gulped, putting down the phone.

He closed his eyes, rubbing his fingers together in a hope to erase the feeling of Conner’s skin, and the memory of—for a moment—wanting him.

~~~

Erik spotted Jannet waving across the dining hall.

He and Conner sat in front of her and Anthony with a sense of déjà vu. “Well, look who it is,” Anthony chided, smirking, “the useless bystanders.” Anthony’s face fell as he saw Conner wasn’t smiling.

Erik cleared his throat, “So, what’s the verdict?”

Anthony glanced over his shoulder before leaning in. “The verdict is that these ciphers definitely mean something. After cross-referencing between the two patterns, the numbers are in sets of eight numerals, followed by a letter. So, for example, 55777899C, that’s one, let's say, 'code'. A lot of these codes are the same on both patterns, but the order of them is completely different—and there are so many of them.”

“So, what does it mean?” Conner asked, sounding impatient, almost angry.

Anthony sighed deeply, “No idea.”

“Well, I guess it’s a start,” Conner snapped, shifting around his dinner with his fork. He didn’t eat anything.

Erik huffed, looking away. He knew that Conner was mad at him, though he felt it was unjustified. 

Anthony and Jannet exchanged a glance, their eyes going between Erik and Conner. “Is everything okay?” Jannet asked Conner.

Conner blinked up. He nodded slowly, then changed his mind and shook his head, standing. “No, you know what, I just really don’t feel well.”

Erik stood automatically, hand on his arm. “I’ll take you back—”

“No that’s fine.” Conner shrugged away from him, leaving Erik feeling anxious.

Jannet got up and made her way around the table. “Hey, I’ll walk with you” she said gently, a hand on Conner's back. She glanced over her shoulder at Anthony who looked worried.

Erik sat back down with his teeth gritted, his frustration evident on his face.

Anthony tapped the table, his blue eyes ice as he looked at Erik. “Did you do something I need to know about?” Anthony’s voice sounded like growl.

Erik shook his head sighing; his shoulders deflated. “No. I did nothing…that’s his problem.”

Anthony raised his brows, perhaps surprised that Erik would give him an honest answer. Anthony looked at his food, then away, a slight embarrassment on his face as he clued in to what Erik was saying. “Well…it’s not really any of my business.”

Erik sneered, raising a brow. “Don’t you make everything your business?”

Anthony grinned, shaking his head. “Not my friends’ personal lives.”

Erik brushed his bangs out his face. “So, about this cipher. You reckon you can crack it?” he asked, watching Anthony carefully.

Anthony shrugged, defeated. “Not with so little information. Whoever destroyed the science department knew what they were doing. I’ll look into it as much as I can, but I think, right now at least, we’re at a dead-end.”

Erik bit his lip nodding slowly as he contemplated this. “That’s too bad—”

“But something will turn up,” Anthony said, confident.

Erik felt his brows twitch. “You really think that?” he asked, his voice unconsciously having an edge to it.

Anthony grinned. “Are you kidding? Something always turns up. And when it does, we’re going to be ready for those bastards.”

Erik felt his pulse jump.

~~~

It was almost 2am.

It was easier to sneak out of his dorm than Erik had anticipated. Conner had been fast asleep, wrapped tightly in his quilts. Erik had paused only for a moment to remark on how peaceful he looked, his long lashes casting shadows over his freckled face.

Erik was dressed in black, though he knew he didn’t have to worry about the cameras; they were taken care of. His hand gripped the strap of his orange bag, the contents bumping into his back.

As he walked through the night out towards the supply shed, he could see a multicoloured glow illuminated through the open door.

His heart was pounding as he neared it. Though there was a freezing wind, Erik was sweating, his hands feeling slightly shaky.

He stepped into the shed, two tall figures standing there, waiting for him. They were dressed in black, their faces covered by black masks that had glowing lights in the shape of crosses over the eyes. Erik always felt uneasy as he looked at the mouths of the masks, the lights making them look stitched shut.

“Erik,” an auto-tuned, scrambled voice said deeply. “11420154A?”

Erik shook his head, looking between the blue and red lights of the masks. “Nothing. No one knows anything. But they’re watching for you to screw up again—”

The man in the red mask produced a knife from his pocket; it glinted like blood in the light. “Careful,” he said, looking menacing, “remember who you're speaking to.”

Erik looked at his feet, taking a deep breath. “They don’t know anything,” he repeated, quietly.

The man hesitated before he put away the knife.

It made no difference to how threatened Erik felt; he knew the knife was there, the man could draw it again. “We’re watching you,” the man said, stepping forward and bending down so that he was offensively close to Erik’s face.

Through the lights and shadow Erik caught a glimpse of human eyes, reminding him there was a person under the mask.

Erik nodded, trying to keep eye contact. “So are the faculty. So, don’t get too close if you want to pull this off.”

The man laughed, an eerie sound behind the scrambler. He straightened as he jerked his chin towards the door. “Answer my messages next time, so there's no confusion if we’re on the same page.”

"Fine," Erik snapped. 

Erik turned, leaving the shed. His heart was pounding in his ears as he felt the rush of blood. Though he knew his night wasn’t finished, he felt relieved to walk away from the shed.

Whatever he was doing, they were not on the same page.