“Hm?” Unconsciously assuming it was someone he knew, Lucas turned and smiled vaguely in the direction of the voice. But as soon as he caught the flash of ice-blue, he stiffened, smile frozen half-formed on his lips.

“Ah, sorry. That’s your name, isn’t it?” Clearly seeing his shock, Hanael chuckled apologetically. “We’re in the same 8 AM class, I sat behind you. Saw you having a real good nap.”

“Uh…” Caught between the choice of politely introducing himself or telling the man that he was giving off real creepy vibes, Lucas eyed the stranger warily in confusion.

“Er, so…” Perhaps sensing his second thought, Hanael’s grin became sheepish. “Since we’re in the same class, would you like to go for coffee? My treat.”

Free drinks… Shifting the weight of his groceries, Lucas pushed away his habit of immediately replying with a polite yes, and instead glanced around. “Where’s the girl you were with?”

“Oh, Mary…?” Hanael glanced off to the side, too. “She met up with some friends and went off to her next class.”

Shifting his groceries again and feeling a sting in his hands, Lucas awkwardly tried again to hint at a rejection. “Uh… I’m carrying a lot of stuff, so…”

Hanael’s expression brightened and he straightened hastily, reaching forward. “Oh yeah, sorry. Let me help you with that –”

What? No way, I’m not about to let a stranger take my groceries for me – “Oh, thanks.” Lucas cursed himself inwardly as he allowed Hanael to pull his bags away. He stood there for a stunned moment, wondering what in the world he was doing, until Hanael straightened again and cast him a warm grin.

“Let’s not go far, then. How about the café around the corner?”

Lapsing into his old habits again, Lucas nodded obediently. He only regained some semblance of consciousness when Hanael turned and began to walk off with all of his bags.

“Ah – hey –” Running after the man, Lucas flailed both hands at the bags. “You didn’t need to take all of them!”

“It’s okay.” Hanael chuckled and pulled the bag away from him. “You looked really tired. Besides, it’s not that heavy.”

Not that heavy…? All that milk and pop…? Lucas threw the man’s broad shoulders and lean arms a disgruntled look, then fell into step resignedly beside him. Whatever you say, Hercules.

Already, a few passersby were glancing over with curious stares and raised brows… two guys walking together, but one of them carrying everything. He averted his gaze in embarrassment. Ugh, why do I always end up like this…

In a silence that felt extremely awkward to Lucas, but apparently completely comfortable to the smiling Hanael, they turned the corner and headed for the coffee shop’s door. It had been propped open, and Hanael paused with a gesture for him to go first.

But you’re the one with the heavy stuff. Nodding grudgingly, Lucas brushed pass, then glanced back at Hanael and hastily announced. “I’ll get us drinks. You find a seat. What do you want?”

“Huh? But I said I’d treat –”

“What do you want?” Lucas repeated firmly, deciding to maintain at least a little bit of pride as he withdrew his wallet.

“Ah, then I’ll get a Blonde Americano –”

“Kay.” Turning away abruptly, Lucas went and lined up, glad to have an excuse to look away from Hanael and his ice blue eyes.

His brain was still a little too dead to comprehend the situation, and his body still a little too exhausted. But vaguely, Lucas thought that if he’d been properly awake and alert, his heart would probably be pounding like crazy. Because damn – he’d vaguely seen it last night, and sort-of thought it earlier, but now that they’d actually had a few minutes of close-up time, that weirdo was really, really, really, hot. As Lucas stared up at the chocolate-coloured panels where the menu had been written in light blue font, he thought of the man’s face. Maybe it was his darker skin, long lashes, and heavy eyelids that made his blue eyes appear so strikingly diamond-like…

Pausing to half-consciously order, Lucas then stood off to the side to wait for the drinks. He spotted Hanael sitting at a small table by the windows, and realized it might make sense to wait there together – but his limbs had anchored him to his current spot. At the very least, Hanael didn’t seem to notice his uncontrolled staring – the man had taken out his phone, and appeared to be idly scrolling through something. Pale sunlight from the window slipped into the loose collar of his white shirt and illuminated the dark contours of his collarbone. As Lucas inevitably followed the rays of light down into the man’s cleavage, he remembered the impact from earlier – and what it had felt like to sink his face into that warm, sweet, firm flesh…

“A Blonde Americano and steamed milk with honey, for Lucas?”

Sanity, Lucas. Sanity. Shaking himself, Lucas grabbed his drinks from the counter and walked stiffly over to the table. It’s only been a few weeks since you’ve returned to civilization. Don’t go chasing after every human you see, now.

“Haha, sorry…” Hanael tucked his phone away and offered Lucas an apologetic laugh as his drink was placed in front of him. “I dragged you out here and ended up being treated by you, too. Would you like me to pay you back?”

Taking a seat, Lucas puffed on the small opening of his hot drink and averted his gaze. “Nah. You carried my stuff.”

Probably noticing the slight grumble in his voice, Hanael smiled sheepishly. “Ah, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Hanael.”

I’ve heard. Lucas nodded curtly, but continued to stare out the window. If he saw Hanael’s face now – if he stared into the man’s icy blue eyes up close – he was going to have some trouble in his pants, and that would definitely be the end of his sanity.

“… Sorry if I came onto you a little strongly, I know we’ve just met.”

Hanael’s laugh sounded a little nervous, now. Feeling guilty for letting his hostility become so obvious, Lucas turned his head and spared the man’s hands a glance. Hanael was holding his drink with one hand, and leaning over the table against his other. He was wearing a plain weaved leather bracelet around his right wrist, and an expensive-looking gold watch around his left wrist.

“Well, at least you’re aware of it…” his half-conscious self muttered out loud without thinking. As Lucas abruptly realized his rudeness and began to flush, Hanael let out a relieved chuckle.

“I’m a transfer student from out of town,” he began to explain. “So I’m trying to make new friends every day.”

And that’s why you were with all those different women? Lucas raised an eyebrow, but managed to stop himself from saying those exact words. “So the girl from earlier, she’s one of those new friends?”

“Aha, yup.”

Hmm, it didn’t seem like you were aiming to be just their ‘friends’… But again, Lucas pressed his lips firmly together and simply nodded. It was silent for a while, and out of curiosity Lucas made the mistake of peeking at the man’s face. Hanael was gazing down at his coffee with a soft look in his blue eyes… it was a gentle, fond look. What a waste, to have such beauty be directed at a cup of inanimate dark fluid…

Clearing his thoughts hastily, Lucas crossed his legs and broke the silence with whatever he could think of. “How did you know my name? Did you seriously wait outside the grocery store for me?”

Ack, a tad too direct, don’t you think? He winced immediately after, but it was too late.

“Oh… yeah. It does sound kinda strange when you say it like that …” Hanael lowered his gaze and chuckled abashedly. “Actually, I heard about you from Rose…”

Suddenly, everything made much more sense. Relaxing, Lucas sighed and took a deep sip of his milk. The creamy warmth bubbled down his throat and settled soothingly in his stomach. “Ah… okay. I see.” Blinking up at the man, he tried to frame the handsome weirdo as simply another one of Rose’s friends. “How’d you meet her?” Not the same way you met those other girls, I hope?

“I joined the Humans of PGU club,” Hanael explained, seeming to brighten now that Lucas was less wary. “We talked a lot at the icebreaker meeting. She had a lot to say about you, and I read some of her articles.”

“Ah, yeah, haha…” Lucas glanced out the window and chuckled forlornly. Had he mentioned that Rose liked to interview flashy, weird people? Well, it seemed like he fit that criteria, too. Because of a long chain of articles that Rose had written about him last year, Lucas – and inevitably, Avery – had become somewhat well-known within campus. This wasn’t the first time that Lucas had been called out by a passing student, but he’d never actually been invited out to coffee like this. “I get that a bit…”

“They were really well-written.” There was barely-concealed enthusiasm in Hanael’s voice now as he planted both hands on the table and beamed fervently at Lucas. “You’re a second year now in Intrapersonal Computing, right? Me too! We probably have other classes together.”

“Yeah, probably. IPC’s schedule is pretty inflexible…” Lucas hoped he was saying something normal-sounding, because internally his brain was raging against itself. Have this handsome weirdo with those sexy creepy vibes in more of his classes…? What chaos that would be for his heart…

“Oh, here. This is my schedule.” Lucas blinked and saw that Hanael had pushed his phone over the table, with a picture of his timetable. At first glance, that pattern looked exactly like his… but Hanael pulled it back before he could actually confirm anything. “Can we exchange numbers? Or do you have any social media accounts? I’d love to become closer – ah.” Hanael paused and looked over apologetically. “Am I coming across too strongly again?”

“… A bit.” Lucas chuckled and gestured for Hanael’s phone. “But it’s okay.” It’s okay, since you’re a walking tower of eye candy.

The man’s eyes widened and all but glowed with adoration as he passed his phone over. Struggling to pretend he couldn’t see any of it, Lucas added himself to the man’s social media contacts and then passed it back.

There’s nothing wrong with making a new friend once in a while, he tried to tell himself as he returned Hanael’s broad grin with a twitchy smile of his own. Guys like this, they probably lose interest just as quickly as they gain it, anyway.

“Hey, thanks, you know.” Grasping his phone as though it were suddenly precious, Hanael chuckled warmly. “You’re not going to believe me but I’m pretty shy. I was really nervous when I asked you out.”

Ask me what now? Suppressing the upwards twitch of his eyebrow, Lucas instead smiled back. “Yeah, you’re right, I don’t believe you.”

“Haha! You’re just as nice as Rose says – oh…?” As Hanael’s laugh trailed off into a curious huff, Lucas followed the man’s gaze and looked over his shoulder to see a familiar head of glossy honey-brown hair walking towards him.

“Yo.” Coming to a stop matter-of-factly behind Lucas’s desk, Avery lifted his cup of coffee in a gesture of hello and blinked curiously at Hanael. “Who’s this?”

“This is Hanael, he’s a friend of Rose… er, Hanael, this is Avery, my roommate.” Lucas gestured between the two of them and shrank back their equally unashamed stares. How could they gawk so openly at each other like that...? He was starting to get embarrassed for them. “Avery… didn’t you have that honours meeting…?” Glancing at the clock on the wall, Lucas realized with a start that it was already past ten.

“Yeah, it ended. I came for a coffee.” Avery shrugged and then gave him a weird look. “Didn’t think you’d still be here. Shouldn’t you be passed out in bed?”

“Good question…” Lucas cast Hanael a sideways look.

“Well, finish up whatever you’re doing here,” Avery declared briskly as he bent over to grab some of their groceries. “We should rest. We still got night shift today and then we gotta head out for that company retreat tomorrow morning.”

Aware of Hanael’s fascinated stare, Lucas cast Avery a warning look. We’re not supposed to talk about that! But Avery just shrugged. Sighing defeatedly, Lucas glanced over and offered Hanael a forlorn smile. “Well, guess I should head out then. It was nice meeting you.”

“Ah – yeah.” Blinking, Hanael met his gaze and replied with a sparkling ice-blue smile that glimmered all the way into Lucas’s heart. “Let’s go out again. Next time I’ll definitely pay.”

“Haha, sure thing.” Getting up, Lucas picked up the remaining grocery bags and turned his back. “Cya.”

“Bye, Lucas!”

The echo of his enthusiastically-spoken name lingered between them as they left the coffee shop. It was silent at first, but Lucas awaited the questions tensely. By the time Avery finally spoke, they had already reached the central campus fountain.

“That guy, he’s really just Rose’s friend?” Avery’s voice was nonchalant, but Lucas could hear the concern in his thoughts.

“I dunno. Don’t worry, though. I’ll be careful.”

“Hmm… sure you will.” Avery’s voice became wry, and Lucas glanced over with an indignant chuckle.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

Avery chuckled for a moment, but only a moment. As the hill began to slope downwards towards Ponderosa Commons, his expression faded into a serious frown. “I’m serious, Lucas. If anything goes wrong because of what happened with Rose, our lives will be changed forever.”

“… Yeah.” Sighing heavily, Lucas closed his eyes. The bag straps suddenly felt a lot more painful against his fingers… “I know.”

“… Well, it’s just a reminder.” Avery took a deep breath and concluded airily, “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Haha, yeah…” As Lucas forced himself to mimic Avery’s dismissive tone, his stomach interrupted them with an obnoxious gurgle. Avery promptly muffled a scoff, and Lucas decided to rush ahead to hide his red face. “S-Shut up! I haven’t eaten in ages!”

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, wait up.” Avery caught up to him hastily. “I’ll make you some real good noodles when we get back. Three eggs, kay?”

“Oh, Avery…” Voice turning into a dramatic whine, Lucas turned to his friend with tears of gratitude in his eyes. Avery’s expression promptly crumpled back into unimpressed nonchalance as he turned away.

“Don’t make me take it back.”

Chuckling, Lucas closed his eyes and smiled to himself. “I won’t, I won’t…”