Once Logan was inside his home and greeted by his grandmother, he went upstairs to his room and called Ian. 

“Logan?” Ian asked when he picked up the phone.

“Hi Ian,” Logan said as he undressed himself, leaving his clothes scattered on the floor. “Are you free next Tuesday?” Logan said, leaving the phone on the bed as he looked through his closet. 

“I have class in the morning but afterwards I’m free, why?” Ian asked. “We can talk later if you want, you sound busy,” Ian said as he heard the noises Logan was making as he looked through his closet. 

“What? No, no. I’m not busy I’m just looking for something,” Logan said, looking towards the phone on his bed not noticing the box that was going to fall from the top of his closet. 

“That's what busy is,” Ian said. “Are you okay? What was that noise?” Ian asked after he heard the noise the box made when it fell to the floor. 

“Is nothing a box just fell to the floor,” Logan said as he put the box on the closet again. “Then I’ll see you next Tuesday after your classes,” Logan said. “By the way, when is that?” Logan asked, noticing that he didn’t know when Ian finished his classes.

“Around 3pm,” Ian answered. “Why do you want to meet up?” Ian asked, noticing that Logan hadn’t told him yet.

“To plan Kyle’s birthday,” Logan said as if it was obvious. “And tell Max too,” Logan said before hanging up, not letting Ian get another word in.

“Where did I put it?” Logan said as he dressed himself and tied his hair up in a ponytail. “Could it be?” He thought to himself as he left his room and went into his studio. As he rummaged through boxes that were around he heard his grandmother call him to go have dinner. “I’m going!” Logan shouted from his studio as he continued to rummage through the boxes. “Found it;” Logan thought excited as he stood up and left the studio to go to the kitchen. 

“What’s for dinner?” Logan asked his grandmother as he set up the table.

***

“You drove today?” Kyle asked as Logan walked towards the coffee shop door to open it.

“Is getting too cold to go walking around,” Logan said looking at Kyle from the corner of his eye. “Don’t you think?” Logan finished saying with a smile as he opened the door and walked into the coffee shop. 

“I guess you are right,” Kyle said. As Kyle walked behind Logan he noticed again the golden, cross shaped hairpin on the back of Logan’s head. 

“I can feel your eyes on my head,” Logan said as he put on his apron. “What do you want?” Logan asked as he helped Kyle put his on. 

“The hairpin, is it new?” Kyle asked after mouthing a thanks to Logan. 

“Technically, no,” Logan said as he put his hand on the hairpin to take it off. “It was my mother’s, I just haven’t really used it until now,” Logan said, a tinge of melancholy in his voice, as he showed the hairpin to Kyle before putting it on again. “Why?” Logan asked curiously. 

“Nothing, I just saw it last week and I wanted to ask,” Kyle said sheepishly as he tried to look away from Logan.

“You saw it last week,” Logan thought out loud. “It seems like you observe me very carefully,” Logan started to say. “If I didn’t know better I’d think that you have feelings for me,” Logan said in a serious tone. “Romantic feelings,” Logan explained further. 

“Wha-, no, no, I jus-,” Kyle started to stutter as a faint blush crept up his cheeks. 

“I didn’t know you saw me like that Kyle, I, I don’t know what to say,” Logan said shyly. “A relationship between a boss and his subordinate is not a good look,” Logan said, not able to contain his laugh anymore.

“What!?” Kyle exclaimed as he blushed more. 

“I was joking, I should’ve taken a picture of your face,” Logan said in between laughs.

“How funny,” Kyle said, annoyed, once his blushing settled down. 

“Come on, don’t get angry at me,” Logan begged. “I just enjoy teasing you,” Logan explained with a faint chuckle at the end. 

“Okay,” Kyle said as he dropped the annoyed act.

As the two friends prepared to open the coffee shop an enjoyable atmosphere was created by the faint sound of the clattering of mugs and plates clashing together.

“It was her favorite,” Logan said after a few minutes of comfortable silence, a tinge of sadness in his voice as he reminisced about his mother. “She’d be happy that you noticed, so I’m happy too,” Logan said with a sad smile on his face. “Thanks,” Logan said faintly as he looked at Kyle. Kyle noticed the glow of unshed tears on Logan’s hazel eyes. 

“It’s a very pretty hairpin,” Kyle said, not knowing how to comfort his friend. 

“Right?” Logan said with a faint chuckle as he sorted out the pastries’ display. “By the way, today I’ll be leaving early,” Logan said, not wanting to leave the atmosphere with a heavy feeling.

“What? Why?” Kyle asked, surprised.

“Because I have a life?” Logan said with a fake offended tone. “I just have a thing to do, don’t worry,” Logan explained after seeing Kyle’s worried face. “So try to not miss me too much, okay?” Logan said before going to the back to get more pastries.

“I won’t,” Kyle said, not so sure that Logan had heard him but deep inside him he knew that without Logan the coffee shop would feel a bit lonely, just a bit.

***

“Hi, sorry for making you wait,” Logan said to Ian and Max once he reached the front of the library. 

“Don’t worry, we just got here,” Max reassured Logan as they started to walk towards a park nearby the campus. 

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Ian asked Logan as the three of them sat down on a bench.

“The thirty-one is Kyle’s birthday and I thought it may be nice if we could do something for him,” Logan said.

“The thirty-one? Isn’t that Halloween? How oddly fitting,” Max said with a faint laugh at the end.

“Aren’t you worried that Kyle might want to do something with other friends that he had known for a longer time than us?” Ian asked.

“No, not at all, in all this time I haven’t seen him with another human being or send a message or take a call, it's like he doesn’t know anyone,” Logan explained his lack of worry. 

“I’m sure you are just exaggerating,” Max said.”So what have you thought?” Max asked.

“I was thinking that I could bake a cake and we could eat it when we finish work, something lowkey to show him our appreciation,” Logan said, looking towards Ian and Max waiting for their approval. 

“That works for me,” Ian said, shortly afterwards Max agreed too.

“Shouldn’t we give him a gift?” Max asked, looking towards Logan. “What do you think that he would like?” Max asked.

“I have no idea,” Logan said sheepishly.

“Aren’t you two the closest among the four of us?” Ian remarked.

“Yes, but he’s not the most open person ever,” Logan said as he crossed his arms and pretended that he was annoyed with Kyle’s personality. “He’s actually a very difficult man to get to know,” Logan said to which Ian and Max could only agree. 

“Maybe we could talk about that another day,” Max suggested.

“Good idea, we could scramble our brains all day and all night and still have nothing,” Logan complained. “I’ll try finding out what he likes or if he has hobbies or something,” Logan said.

“You do that, in the meantime we’ll think of a gift that he would like regardless of his tastes,” Ian said as Max got up. 

“Text me if you come up with something, I have to go back to work,” Max said as he left the park, leaving Logan and Ian alone.

“What if we do a Halloween themed party, I’m sure I still have decorations at home from when I was little,” Logan said.

“No, that’d be too childish,” Ian quickly dismissed the idea, making Logan pout. 

“If you say so, but if we don’t come up with a better idea that can be our back-up plan,” Logan said as he looked for inspiration for a Halloween themed party on his phone.

“Then I’ll make sure we don’t need a back-up plan,” Ian said as he snatched Logan’s phone from his hands to make him stop looking at pictures of Halloween themed parties.

“Then you think of something,” Logan said as he tried to grab his phone from Ian. “Hey! Let go,” Logan complained. Ian simply laughed at his friend.

***

“You didn’t drive today?” Kyle asked as he came into the coffee shop. Logan today had come in earlier than him. “And why does it seem that you’ve been here for hours?” Kyle asked as he put on his apron with Logan’s help.

“No, yesterday was an exception, as I already said I enjoy sharing a ride with you,” Logan said as he recalled a conversation from a few weeks prior. “And I, indeed, have been here for a couple of hours,” Logan admitted tiredly.

“Why?” Kyle asked as Logan sat down on the chair that they had behind the counter.

“The owner couldn’t bake all the goods for today so she asked me to come in sooner and do it, and because I’m a very diligent manager I came, she also said something about a rise but that’s not really important,” Logan explained and chuckled at his last remark as he grabbed a cupcake that came out wrong and ate it. “And because I baked it I get to eat the ones that are not nice enough, you want one?” Logan said as he grabbed another deformed cupcake. 

Kyle chuckled and grabbed the deformed cupcake from Logan’s hand. “I didn’t know you could bake,” Kyle said after eating said cupcake and realizing that it tasted amazing.

“I have a few tricks I haven’t shared yet,” Logan said teasingly as he made a cup of tea for himself. 

“Are you even allowed to do that?” Kyle asked as he saw Logan prepare his own breakfast totally carefree. 

“I guess so, I came in at five in the morning. I haven't have breakfast yet,” Logan complained. “Would you be a good subordinate and set up shop while I recover my strengths?” Logan said as he ate more deformed baked goods. 

“I’m starting to think you made them look bad on purpose so you could eat them,” Kyle said as he started to do what Logan had told him.

“Is that an accusation I’m hearing?” Logan said, faking offense, with his mouth full.

“Eat before you speak,” Kyle told him as if he was talking to a little kid.

“Whatever you say dad,” Logan said jokingly as he rolled his eyes. “Talking about hidden talents, do you do things or you just simply exist,” Logan asked as he looked for more damaged goods, when he realized that there wasn’t anymore left he let out a disappointed sigh.

“What do you mean?” Kyle asked. 

“Do you have hobbies or something? You know I paint and now you know I bake too, so I was wondering if you have some interests or something,” Logan said as he put his cup on the sink. “Or do you just exist for the sake of existing?” Logan asked teasingly.

“Do you really want to know?” Kyle asked as he raised an eyebrow.

“With the tone you are saying it I may not want to, perhaps you are part of some drug cartel and I didn’t know,” Logan said with fake concern. “That’d explain your sketchy look,” Logan admitted.

“Sketchy look?” Kyle asked curiously. 

“Yes, I already told you that you are big and at first glance you look intimidating, so it’d make sense if you were a hitman or something,” Logan explained.

“I’m not anything like that, stop thinking weird things,” Kyle said as he playfully punched Logan on the shoulder.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Logan complained.

“And is going to remain unanswered,” Kyle said as he went to put the open sign.

***

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

Proverbs 27:17