Erik could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket. He didn’t need to check it to know who was calling.

He looked at Conner who was busy inputting notes about cryptography into his tablet.

“Hey,” Erik said, getting up from the study carrel, “I’ll be right back.” He could feel how every nerve in his body was on edge.

Conner looked up at him. He smiled as he said, “Alright. I’ll watch your stuff.”

Erik’s pulse suddenly became painful as he saw Conner’s expression. “Thanks,” he said quickly, before rushing out into the hall. He found a quiet alcove where he took out his phone, returning the call he’d missed.

They picked up almost immediately. “Erik,” the deep, scrambled voice said, calmly, “you didn’t reply to my message—”

“I’m busy!” His hand was a clenched fist at his side, his knuckles turning white. “I have homework to do. Something maybe I wouldn’t be so far behind on if I wasn’t covering your ass all the time!” Erik was anything but calm as he hissed, “You can’t just call me while I’m at school! People might—”

“You mean Conner Voss might become suspicious?”

Erik froze, feeling the blood drain out of his face. His heart stopped, rendering him speechless.

The man on the other end laughed darkly. “You spend an awful lot of time with him.”

His face fell, hands shaking as he thought of Conner. “He has nothing to do with this.”

“No?” The man asked, his voice dangerous and sarcastic. “The boy who will inherit all of Prime Industries has nothing to do with this? You hit your head?”

The image of Conner tied up and bleeding flashed though his mind. His eyes stung for a split second, his throat tight. Erik’s fist loosened, he closed his eyes. “What do you want?” Erik snapped.

While Erik knew nothing about the man he was speaking to, they knew everything about him. He was already in too deep, but, he couldn’t let them get to Conner.

The deep auto-tuned voice sneered. “I want you to watch him. He cannot, under any circumstances, find the key to the encryption. Understand?”

Erik gulped. “If you want me to watch him, I can’t leave school after curfew.”

There was a pause.

Erik held his breath, waiting for a response.

The man hung-up, leaving Erik without an answer.

~~~

Conner looked at the time on Erik’s laptop screen. He checked over his shoulder, again, wondering when Erik was coming back. He felt himself grin, his whole face lighting up as he watched Erik take long, fast strides towards him.

“Hey, sorry about that,” Erik said, sounding out of breath.

“That’s okay.” Conner smiled, expecting him to sit down.

Erik gathered his books and laptop, stuffing them into his bag. He looked at Conner through his bangs, something off about his face. Before Conner could ask if something was wrong, Erik said, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Now?” Conner asked, surprised.

Erik nodded, swallowing hard. “Yeah, we can cross the park to the entrance hall. There’s that café there, let’s go get a coffee or something.”

Conner blushed slightly. “Okay,” he breathed. Conner hurriedly packed up his things, sliding on his bag over his shoulder. He looked at the stack of books he’d taken for research. “I should probably put these back—”

“Leave them,” Erik said, taking Conner’s hand as he pulled him towards the door.

Conner blushed. He remembered when there had been the fire, Erik pulling him through the hall. Here, Erik’s hand was warm, his fingers lacing through his own. He walked quickly, but there wasn’t the same sense of urgency as the night of the fire… This was different.

As soon as they were outside, making their way to the entrance hall in the main campus, Erik slowed down, taking a deep breath.

Conner glanced at where they were still holding hands, wondering if Erik realized it. Conner gritted his teeth as they walked towards the steps. He went to pull his hand loose from Erik’s when Erik gripped it tighter, not looking at him.

It was only a split second before he let it go, shoving both hands into his pockets.

Conner felt stunned, his face burning. He rubbed his hands together, blowing into them for warmth before he also hid them inside his jacket. He’d have to remind himself to bring mittens and a scarf tomorrow.

There was an awkward silence as they descended the steps, side by side; a cold wind chilled them.

“I’m looking forward to a hot chocolate,” Conner muttered.

There was a sense of relief when Erik smirked, looking at him. “Someone has a sweet tooth.” His face was red, but Conner couldn’t tell if it was embarrassment or the cold. 

Was he kidding himself by thinking Erik looked nervous?

Conner blushed. “Um, I like hot chocolate more than coffee,” he said, trying not to make eye contact with Erik, “but I’m not sure if I like sweet over savoury in general.”

Erik smiled to himself. “Cake or a sandwich?”

Conner laughed, shivering. “Who wouldn’t choose cake?”

“I don’t know,” Erik said, laughing in puff of cold air, “Maybe you just missed out on a gourmet sandwich and got some dry, crappy cake.” 

“How did you turn this into a trick question?” Conner laughed, glancing at Erik. Though Erik was smiling, Conner couldn’t help noticing how it didn’t reach his eyes. Conner reached out, gripping the sleeve of his jacket. “Erik, you know you can talk to me,” he said.

He didn’t look at Conner, but he didn’t shrug him off either. “There’s nothing wrong, really.”

Conner wasn’t sure he believed him.

They barely spoke the rest of the walk, just making comments on how cold it was and the different classwork they’d had. Conner couldn’t help but wonder what he’d do next year without Erik at school.

When they reached the café it was busy, both having to wait several moments to order. Conner was relieved when they managed to grab a booth. It made it feel a little more intimate. 

Conner sat with his coat around his hips, feeling the mug warm his hands.

Erik let out a small snicker as he watched Conner from across the table. “That is a lot of whipped cream.”

Conner looked at the heap of fluff, sprinkled with cinnamon. He scooped some up in his spoon, offering it to Erik. He gulped, timidly asking, “Do you want some?”

Conner’s heart stuttered as Erik leaned over the table, eating off the spoon that was still in Conner’s hand. His stomach dropped as he watched Erik lick his lips, sitting back down. Conner looked down at the spoon. He was suddenly irrationally jealous of it.

Erik—who didn’t seem to notice how Conner was now hiding behind his hand—sipped his coffee, saying, “You want to go somewhere this weekend?”

Conner couldn’t look at him. His heart was hammering so loudly, his hands slightly shaking with nerves. He wondered what would happen if he tried to nonchalantly take a drink of his hot chocolate. He was sure he'd either spill it all over himself, or choke. 

“Like where?” Conner asked.

Erik shrugged, leaning back into the booth. “We could go into town. There’s a bus on Saturdays, right? We could do some shopping, sight seeing, that kind of stuff.”

Conner gripped the mug with both hands, disappointed at how quickly the whipped cream had melted. He wasn’t really believing what he was hearing. Erik, wanting to go somewhere off campus with him? He looked up to Erik’s gaze, catching him like a magnet.

“So?” Erik asked, clarifying, “Would you want to?”

Conner shivered, looking around to see if the other chatting students were paying attention. He lowered his voice, leaning in slightly as he asked, “Just…you and me?”

Erik smiled, “You want to bring Anthony and Jannet, too?”

Conner gulped, shaking his head. “I want to know if you were just asking me.”

Erik laughed, “Yeah. Just you. Is that bad? I though we were friends, now…”

Conner felt Erik’s words puncture him, a sudden stab of guilt gnawing at him. He should have told Erik that he didn’t want to just be friends…been honest with him. He thought it was obvious how he felt, but maybe—to Erik—it wasn’t.

He’d done his best to push past the moment in their dorm when he’d almost kissed him. Initially he’d been upset, but it wasn’t Erik’s fault. Still, would it hurt more after all this time hoping; all these mixed signals? Did he have any chance?

He’d never want to lie to Erik. 

“I…” Conner started, biting his tongue. He looked at Erik, taking in a deep breath. He wanted to hope, at least for a little longer. “Yeah, let’s do that this weekend. It will be fun.”

Erik grinned. “Great! I'm going to get something to eat. You want something?”

“I'm okay, thanks,” Conner said, quietly. He watched Erik get up, going to stand back in line. 

Maybe next time Conner would find the strength to tell him... That all he wanted was to hold Erik’s hand, and not have to wonder what it meant.