Hugo's beard was growing out. It was darker than his blonde mop of hair and as a result, looked strange on his face. But he had slept through his alarm and shaving it off would make him late for class.

His father had already left for work by the time he finally made it into the kitchen. His first class was in less than half an hour and the train was in a few minutes. With no time to eat breakfast, his stomach rumbled loudly, but it would have to wait until after class.

He got halfway to the station when he realised he'd forgotten to grab his headphones before he left. There wasn't enough time to go back and them. He wanted to scream and slam his hands against the nearest wall. His music was the only thing that could keep him calm when he was on the packed train.

He bolted up the stairs two at a time as the sound of the train horn sounded. His breath came out in short sharp pants as he ran, but it was too late. As he reached the platform, the train doors closed and it began to pull away from the platform. Bored eyes started at him from the windows as he watched, panting loudly.

He ran a hand through his hair, the next train wasn't for another twenty minutes and by the time it got to the university station, he'd be late. He didn't want all those eyes on him when he walked into the hall. They would stare at him like he was something disgusting. He hated it so much.

There was only one thing he could do. He pulled out his phone and stared at it, debating whether or not he should do it. He didn't want to bother her, she would be busy getting to class, but he wouldn't make it in time if he didn't. With a nervous hiss of breath, he brought up his scarce messages with Renee and typed something out.

Hugo: Hey I missed my train. I hate to be a pain, but would you be able to give me a lift to class?

Renee: Yeah of course. Which station? I'll be there as quickly as I can

It was as though she'd been waiting for him to text her, she replied so fast. He told her which station he was stranded at and moved down to the pick-up area to wait for her. Renee was there in a little over ten minutes, pulling up with a large grin on her face and Stefan in the passenger seat.

"Hey, dork," Renee said when he opened the door to the back seat. "Nice beard." He couldn't tell if it was a joke or not.

"Thank you," he signed, making sure his face looked questioning. He gave Stefan a little wave smiled when he waved back. "I'm sorry to be a pain, I just didn't want to be late."

Renee shrugged and pulled out from the curb. "We'll be a little bit late because we've got to drop Stefan off first, but not too late, I promise," she said. It was better than showing up halfway through the lesson like he would have if he caught the train.

"Thank you," he repeated.

"Wait, I can't see what you're saying. Stefan, translate," Renee ordered. Of course, she was driving. It was one of the few times speaking in sign language became a pain.

Stefan huffed out a small laugh. "He just said thank you," he said in his deep voice. "It's okay, I have the same issue when I can't be bothered turning on my hearing aids."

Hugo frowned, his brow crinkling. "You don't always use them?" he asked.

"Nah, sometimes sound is annoying, you know," he said and nudged Renee in the shoulder. "Especially when this one is nattering away at me for hours."

"Fuck off," Renee said. Hugo laughed his silent laugh at the pair. They had such a close friendship, they would have been friends for years.

"How long have you two known each other?" he asked. They were probably things Renee would have told him if she actually remembered to tell people about each other. Stefan apparently knew nothing about him except that he and Renee did the same course. He didn't mind it, but he wished she had so he was able to talk to him a little easier. His little knowledge wasn't helping his nerves at all.

Stefan turned to look at him, the smallest of smiles on his face. "Since I was about twelve, I think," he answered.

"Oh, yeah! That whole thing! He was so annoying when we met," Renee said, glancing at him in the rear-view mirror. Hugo looked out the window at the unfamiliar streets. "So, the only person that could talk to him was his aid in school. I wanted to be his friend so I went and learned sign language. I didn’t want to deal with all the translating.

"During the term break, I went and studied like crazy so I could talk to him, and when we got back to school, the little shit had gotten his hearing aids and could hear me. All my effort went to waste because he didn't even bother to tell me he was getting them!" Any other time he would have thought she was annoyed with him, but there was amusement in her voice.

"Yes, but you love me," Stefan said, a big grin on his face, bigger than the smiles he'd been giving Hugo.

"Pfft, sure," Renee said as they pulled up outside an unfamiliar building. "Out you get. Have fun, I'll see you tonight."

"Alright, mum, calm down," Stefan replied, opening the door and stepping out of the car. "See you, Hugo." Floundering, Hugo struggled to give him another little wave before he disappeared into the building.

Renee turned in her seat to face him. "You do look good with a beard, by the way, I wasn't joking around before," she said. "I know it seemed like I was, but I wasn't."

He gave her a smile, relief flooding through him. He hated his beard, but if Renee said it looked good, then maybe it did. "Thank you," he repeated one final time, genuine this time. "For the lift too."

"Ah, it's fine," she said with a wave of her hand. "I know the feeling. I used to catch those stupid trains all the time before I got my license. They're a pain. You ever need a lift, just let me know."

"It's a little out of the way isn't it?" Renee still hadn't pulled away from the curb. She couldn't. There was no way she could concentrate on the road and what he was saying at the same time.

She shook her head. "Nah, not really. I have to go through your town so I can take Stefan to uni. His car broke down so I've been driving him the last week or so," she explained and finally turned the car away. "But if we don't get going now, we're going to be really late."

The car drive to their university was silent bar Renee's yells at other awful drivers on the road. Hugo's usual anxiety when it came to being in a car filled him again. It never went away. Other drivers terrified him so much. It used to be worse, but he'd slowly gotten better because he knew he had to. Most of the time he was able to ignore it.

He couldn't always avoid travelling in a car and for the first year or so his father went out of his way to make sure they travelled any other way but a car, but then he'd given up and forced him in one despite the panic attacks. He hated his father a little because of it, but it wasn't for his forcefulness, he would never be able to travel in a car again.

He closed his eyes, tired and bored, for the entirety of the trip. At one point, Renee put on the radio and sang along with the god-awful songs that came on. He ran his hand down his beard and huffed at it. Maybe he would shave when he got home or maybe he would leave it. He had time to figure it out.

"Hey," Renee called to him as the car slowed to a stop in the busy university parking lot. "We're here. Are you alright?"

He nodded at her. "Not the biggest fan of cars," he told her and ripped the belt from its buckle. He stretched his arms high above his head when he got out and tried to ignore the worried look on Renee's face. "I'm fine, I promise." Anything but a smile looked foreign on her and he wanted to fix it.

"Well, if you think you'll be able to deal with another car trip, Stefan and I are going out with a few friends tonight," she said, the smile finally creeping in again. "You could come with, or I could just take you home."

He was surprised to find that a part of him wanted to. "Where to?"

"Just a restaurant," she said. "There won’t be too many people there, I promise. The tables are all spread out so you won’t have to worry about it being too crowded, alright?"

They walked from the car down the thin path towards their lecture hall. He checked the time on his phone. The lecture had just started, they would be a little bit late, but he couldn’t complain too much.

He frowned down at the weeds that grew between the cracks in the pavement. "I could come for a couple of hours, but I have work this afternoon," he finally replied.

Renee grinned at him as they passed through the doors of the campus building. The lecture hall was just beyond. "What time do you finish?" There was a big grin on her face.

"Six."

"Cool, cool, I'll come to pick you up. We're meeting at around seven, okay?" she said. He nodded to her, smiled at her, and she beamed back at him once again. He never could resist the cheerfulness on his face. Going out with her tonight would give him another chance to talk to Stefan, who didn't seem as aloof in the car as he had the first time they'd met.

They wandered in the lecture hall with barely a glance from their lecturer and took the first available seats. He concentrated as much as he could on the lesson. It was getting close to their final assessments. But his mind wandered to what would happen later on that night. He should have asked more questions. How many people would there be? How long would he be there for? But it was too late now.

Renee wouldn't have invited him if she thought he couldn't handle it. He would be fine. If he needed to go outside for a little while, he could. Renee would look after him. She and Stefan would translate for him if they needed to. He doubted he would talk that much, but even listening could be fun. He'd try his hardest to have a good time.