Leo wasn’t particular about his food. He ate whatever would give him enough calories to keep going with little exception. He would cook for himself on occasion, but that required effort, cleaning, and was only occasionally edible. So the standard Hillside Commons University dining worked fine for him. The dining and event center had two floors. The second floor was just a long hallway and event room space.. Along this hall were two person tables. Most students dined on the first floor, where they could push tables together, move chairs, and use booths. Leo kept to the second floor where students usually decided to study rather than eat.

It was Thursday, his busiest day of classes. He was enjoying a custom wrap for dinner. He barely had time between his class that ended at 5:45pm and a night class coming up at 7:00pm twenty minutes across campus. He didn’t have many choices, even on the upper level at this hour, but he found an agreeable, out of the way, table in the corner of the long hallway.

He was halfway done with his meal and listening to music when a skinny, pale boy decidedly plopped his tray down loudly. “Hello there,” he said with cheer. He sat down without an invitation. “What’s your name?”

Leo answered automatically without removing his earbuds. He then proceeded to ignore the new boy. Leo had very little time left to entertain some guy who thought he could just sit down at his table (though in theory, he most definitely can. It’s just rude). Leo was not having it.

Undaunted by Lionel keeping his earphones in, the boy asked, “Ever hear the one about the lion and the tiger?” He took a bite of his burger.

“No.” Please go away

He was still chewing. “I harvon’t eirther,” he swallowed audibly. “But my name is Richter.”

Leo gave up and removed his headphones. “Do I know you from somewhere?” The answer was no. Leo knew that. He’d never seen, heard of or wanted to know who Richter was, but maybe, just maybe, there was some reason he had for bothering him. Perhaps he’s in one of his classes and he forgot his face, or maybe he’s someone from high school or....

“Nope. I just saw you looking all morose over here and thought ‘hey, I should go sit with this poor fellow. It’s the second week. Why not?’”

“This is my normal face.”

Richter’s laughter burst out of his throat. “So you’re a jokester.”

“No. I’m not.”

“That was hilarious.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nope. You’re a Class C act.”

“Class C....”

“Oh too much of an insult?”

“Ugh. Can you just leave me alone?”

Leo would have loved to have a little time to check over his work, but he’d be lucky to finish his meal before he had to go to his next class. This guy just would not take a verbal foot in the face. His face felt hot.

Richter guessed it. “You’re blushing, aren’t you. I can’t really tell, but that expression is so adorably angry, you must be. There’s no way you’d be this cute if you weren’t.”

There was no way out of this. This guy was incorrigible. Leo could only think of one thing. “So...what do you want out of me?”

“Let's act like normal people getting dinner.”

Leo raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Richter smiled, and tilted his head. “Let's be friends.”

This man is a fool. No one’s asked that in a long while, Leo thought. Friends? It was the most absurd and asinine concept to imagine for him. The ends of Lionel’s lips curved ever so slightly. That was weird, why would that happen? Leo saw Richter grin in return, so he scoffed, hoping beyond hope that Richter would take it as demeaning instead of an invitation of friendship.

Richter laughed anyway. “Glad to meet you, Leo. Is that short for something? Are you a lion”

Richter really was dim. “Lionel. I am not a lion. I Cannot say this feeling is mutual.”

“That’s badass. Who gave you that one?”

“Who do you think?!”

“A lion.”

“You’re hopeless.”

Richter kept Leo sitting there up until Leo forcibly insisted by slamming his tray, picking up his backpack, leaning forward and shout-whispering that he definitely needed to sprint to class now. He was sure to take down Leo’s phone number, even though he kept insisting just to give his school email. He threatened to follow him to class if he didn’t. Leo resigned his number to him, muttering that the email is supposed to work. Richter wasn’t sure if he actually preferred email over text messaging.

Of course, it made sense. Anyone wanting to contact Leo via a call or text message that wasn’t on a business arrangement was likely to be in the danger zone of whatever Leo’s force was. That’s how it was outlined in that article and that’s how Richter thought of it at least: a force. Richter knew exactly what being Leo’s friend could do for him. He took out his phone. He texted Guess who - Richter. That would torment Leo for a while.

He sighed, and went to lean over the railing of the second floor. The open space beyond it showed the main dining areas. Students were mingling and eating their dinners happily. All of the chatter could be heard at once from his spot, yet no one on the first floor could hear him or decided to look up. Without Leo, nobody else was dining on the second floor. They were fastidiously studying with earbuds in. He quickly estimated the height difference. It was too bad no one looked up casually anymore.

His phone buzzed. His face twitched and his body shivered. Send me your class schedule. It was Leo. Richter had already predicted this. Lionel was predictably selfish. He wanted to see if he could garner any use out of Richter. Funny guy. Playing with him ought to be fun for awhile, Richter thought. As long as Richter didn’t break his tool too quickly, everything should work out fine.