Jake swore under his breath, his eyes watering as pain exploded across his cheeks. They hadn’t gone for his face this much last semester. The crunch his nose had made let him know it was definitely broken and he wasn’t confident enough to set it himself. Especially not one-handed. 

“Loser.” The group that had stopped him began walking away, but someone still called back over their shoulder as they left. 

He’d learned not to taunt back, no matter how easy of a target they made themselves. They would just come back and overpower him again. 

Waiting for his head to stop spinning, he weighed his options. He got to his knees, wobbling a little as he went. Using the wall to keep his balance, he left a sticky trail of bloody fingerprints on the beige paint. Finally getting to his feet, he slowly made his way to the nurses office. 

They didn’t like him there, but there was no way he could afford an E.R. visit at the moment and the Mage Doc would literally laugh in his face if he went there. So he dragged himself to the campus nurse, face and pride both heavily bruised by the time he left. 

Checking his phone for the time, Jake swore again. He’d missed his Lit class. That was his favorite class this semester. Unwilling to think about why it was his favorite, he brushed the thought off quickly. He didn’t want to miss his next class as well, so he hurried back to his dorm to change out of his bloodied clothes. If Damien had been worried before, he was going to freak out next time he saw Jake. 

————————

Nice and early, Jake was sitting in his normal spot in the Lit classroom when he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. His heart echoed in his chest and he was surprised at how much he cared what Damien thought. Forcing himself not to glance up when the steps paused, he heard Damien inhale sharply. 

“Hey,” Jake said, aiming for nonchalant. It came out a little flat.

“You missed class last week,” Damien stated quietly as he sat down.

Jake braved a tiny glance, finding Damien staring intently at the desk.

“Part of college is skipping,” Jake tried to joke but froze when Damien turned to peer at him. It was Jake’s turn to drop his gaze, the look of concern too much for him to take. 

He knew his face looked rough – his broken nose had ensured both eyes were bruised and he had some road rash on his cheek. To top it off, a badly split lip that had needed several stitches completed the zombie-in-January look. But, other than his face being an open target this semester, this was about normal for him now. 

“I was worried about you,” Damien finally admitted, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen between them. “Now I can see it was with good reason.” 

Finally making eye contact, Jake’s brows pulled together. “Why do you care?” he asked, barely whispering as he voiced the question that had been endlessly circling around in his brain. 

Damien looked ill. “How could I not?” He sounded horrified as he gestured back at Jake. 

“You’d be the first,” Jake mumbled.

Closing his eyes, Damien placed his head on the desk.

“Are you... okay?” Jake asked hesitantly, eying the people that entered the classroom in distrust.

Damien’s eyes flashed to his face, even as Jake pressed himself against the wall. He only sat up when the professor walked in, giving a weak smile and thumbs up. Class had barely started when Jake found a note pushed toward him like the week before. 

Want to go get coffee this weekend? 

Coffee. With someone. That had been the last thing he’d expected and his heart rate picked up. He’d been anticipating another interrogation after the last time. This... This seemed downright scary. 

     Sure.

Carla’s Coffee? Saturday?

Swallowing back his fear, Jake thought over his options. Carla’s was always swarming with magic users and had proven to be unsafe for him.

     How about Redband Coffee Co. at 10am?

The smile he received from Damien lit up his whole face and Jake let out the air he’d been unconsciously holding in his lungs. 

Sounds great.

Before Jake could write anything else, Damien grabbed the paper back, jotting something down quickly and pushing it back. 

It was Damien’s phone number. 

Jake could only hope the fire burning his face wasn’t too obvious as he grinned down at his textbook.