Neil slides his arm through the jacket sleeve, tugging on the front collar to make it sit more comfortably. Hefting his backpack off the floor and onto his shoulder, something plows into his stomach. The sudden force of it makes him stumble, his upper back slamming into the front door. Just as soon as the weight hits him it lifts and his fingers curl around his abdomen only to meet the crinkle of plastic.

“Dinah, what-?!” He trails off as he looks down at the large zip lock bag in his arms. “What the..."

“Safety precautions,” she answers blearily, gesturing at the bag filled to bursting with different items.

Dinah stands in the entryway in rumpled pajamas with a head of wildly knotted hair. Lilting to one side, missing a slipper, and one eye struggling to stay open, she somehow manages to look immovable. A part of him believes that even a freight train couldn’t knock her over right now. She attempts to perch a fist on her hip only for it to slide off twice, eventually ignoring it and continuing to speak in grumbled syllables.

“You never know what kinda crazies are out there.” She opts to cross her arms over her chest this time. “Nothing in there should get you pulled over at the airport, though, so don’t worry.”

“What did you put in here that I have to worry about getting caught in TSA?” His nose crinkles as he holds the bag up to his face. Sheets of paper towels cushioning the inside walls block out the majority of its contents but he makes out the corner of a hand sanitizer bottle, which… looks harmless enough.

“I just said you wouldn’t get pulled over.”

“No you said ‘shouldn’t.’”

“Oh whatever, same thing.” She waves him off and Neil rolls his eyes.

He holds the bag in one hand while using the other to pull his backpack around and rest it on his front, zipping it open. There’s a space between his laptop and a couple of notebooks that he deems good enough and wedges the supplies in place. The atrociously loud crinkling and shuffling sounds makes his teeth grind just a bit.

“So you won’t entertain the idea of crocodiles, but everything else is fair game?” He snickers, zipping up his backpack and swinging it onto his back, adjusting the straps so it feels more secure. She clicks her tongue at him.

“Because you’re more likely to find muggers than crocodiles in a city, Neil. Besides, you are incapable of reading a room, even if the vibe were to slap you in the face with a panini.” Dinah sweeps her gaze over him and pauses, squinting at something around his neck. He glances down as she reaches out to fuss with his shirt collar. “And to top it off, you’re a beta, so you won’t know if an alpha’s pissed at you until it’s too late.”

“Panini- what are you talking about? I don’t need to smell pheromones to tell someone wants to hit me, I’m plenty observant. And you’re a beta too, so that doesn’t work as an excuse- will you stop-” He reaches up to push away her hand only for her to move from the shirt to his hair, rearranging the strands around to her satisfaction.

A sigh of exasperation leaves him when he finally catches both of her wrists in his grip. Pulling them away he snorts at the sleepy, pinched look she gives him, displeased at being interrupted in her fussing.

“Stop that. What are you, my mom?” He chuckles when her hands begin to twist, no longer trying to fret over him but with a new goal to bat at his face. “I mean, your posture looks more like a grandmother’s than a mom’s so maybe you are a grandma.”

“Shut. Shut up, you stupid… stupid head!”

“Wow, that one was real creative.”

“Say whatever you want, you’d be living in a dumpster right now if it weren’t for me.” Dinah sticks her tongue out at him as Neil finally lets go of her wrists. Though she takes the opportunity to snap her arm out and flick his forehead with the coordination of someone, looking seconds away from collapse, shouldn’t have. Neil yelps and presses a palm to the spot where he’s been struck. “Now go, get out of my apartment before I kick you out.”

Neil only laughs lightly at the shooing motions she makes at him. The handle of his suitcase clicks when he pulls it up and he turns to open the door, tossing her a look of amusement from over his shoulder.

“I promise to come back safe and unscathed. I’ll even bring you back a souvenir.” His eyes soften minutely which Dinah somehow manages to catch and reflects back at him. “Thanks. For the concern.”

“Oh… whatever. You better bring me back something cool. Be careful, and have fun.” She shoots him a pair of finger guns and a poor attempt at a wink. He takes his hand off the door knob to shoot one back, opening the door and pushing his suitcase out into the hallway.

“Will do. You should go back to bed, by the way. You look like you’re going to keel over.” Neil snickers at the sound of Dinah blowing a raspberry in retaliation, waving without turning to look at her and shutting the door behind him.

The second the door shuts with a solid click, followed by a deeper, little thunk, signaling that she locked the door, Neil begins to make his way down the hall and toward the elevators. With each step he makes, the traces of amusement slowly dissolve from his face and a new tension coils within his muscles.

Pressure builds at the front of his skull and in his shoulders with each second that ticks by. Waiting for the elevator feels far too long and the actual ride down feels too short. It echoes out a sharp 'ding' when he reaches the ground floor and he steps out into the main lobby area, his gait unsteady but determined.

He’s actually going on the trip. His advisor had been ecstatic when he made the call. Just in time too, as the trip was set for only a week after he decided to empty his apartment and flee to Dinah’s place. Away from the memories of Kash. Maybe that’s what this trip is, an opportunity to be farther than just a few miles from Kash. After all, a couple miles is nothing in comparison to a couple hundred thousand miles.

Neil shakes the thought from his head, taking note of his scheduled Uber parked outside. This is a chance to network and guarantee an internship or working opportunity after college. Nothing more, nothing less. It’ll be good for him. He still hasn't found anything he's interested in fully pursuing yet. And, it’s not often he gets to go out and see how his degree will be used in the real world, see the environment and experience it himself. Yeah, this is going to go just fine. Better than fine, even.

The trip to the airport goes well enough. Few words pass between the driver and himself, making it a mostly quiet ride. The majority of his time is spent staring out the window and at the blur of trees and passing cars, mind numb to everything else. It’s not long until he arrives at his terminal and sends off his Uber with a tip and a wave.

Walking through the clear doors that part for him, he heads over to the kiosk and works on getting his bag checked. As he secures the tag to the handle of his suitcase, the phone tucked into his pocket starts to buzz. He can’t help the way his eyes roll, already preparing to talk to Dinah who’s likely now awake enough to tell him about something or other he forgot to bring.

He rolls his suitcase over to have it sent out, reaching into his pocket and tapping the green answer button. He presses the phone to his ear and the teasing smile playing at his lips sours as a voice that was decidedly not Dinah’s chimes in from the other side.

“Hey hey!” Neil flinches and the lady weighing his bag takes one look at his expression and immediately tries to avoid eye contact all together. “I was just thinking about you and wanted to check in. I haven’t seen you since, ah, jeez. Since a few weeks ago at the cafe. Has it really been that long?”

“Time flies.” He hands the lady his card to pay for the bag and tries to grin, though it comes off more like he’s baring his teeth. “Just busy with the usual stuff.”

“Yeah, I know. Look, I wanted to apologize again for back then. You know I would never make a mistake like that if I was... more mentally present.”

Does he know that? What, at this point, does he actually know about Kash? After that day he found himself learning so many things about him, things he never even considered beforehand. Because, the Kash that he knew was a devoted boyfriend that would never cheat. And if this Kash is the opposite of that, then... Neil really doesn't know much about him at all.

“Mhm.” Neil nods at the lady and takes his card back, sliding it into his wallet and begins making his way over to TSA. “I know.”

“Okay, just making sure you, uh… where are you right now? It’s a little hard to hear you.” Kash asks as Neil squeezes through a particularly large group of people going the opposite direction.

“My government professor decided to schedule a lecture for extra credit and it hasn’t started yet. It looks like more students showed up than I thought, but he’s a tough grader so it checks out.” Neil lies flatly, getting in line and readjusting the straps on his shoulders, trying not to fiddle with them.

“Oh! Well, good luck then. Do you want to meet up when you’re done?” The voice on the other end is optimistic, but it makes his stomach twist and roll. Neil has to bite down on his lip to keep himself from outright growling.

“Can’t. I have work after this. One of my coworkers couldn’t make it so I’m covering for them.” He doesn’t miss the irony of his excuse. Because if only he’d told Kash this exact same thing earlier, he may never have witnessed his betrayal. The world is funny like that.

“Looks like you’ve got a lot going on.” There’s a quiet chuckle that makes something sour and burning pop and bubble up in Neil’s throat. “Will you still have all that stuff going on this Saturday?”

Humor drips from Kash’s words and, to his own surprise, Neil finds a grin crawling onto his face. Not because of the little joke or silly tone, however. A sudden urge to laugh catches in his throat and he smothers it before he can let it escape. Right, Saturday. Kash’s birthday, which they’d planned to spend together. Kash’s birthday that Neil is most definitely not going to be there to celebrate.

“Probably not, I’ll have to see.” Neil approaches the employees checking boarding passes and IDs, using his free hand to pull his wallet back out in preparation. “Hey, the professor just came in so I have to go.”

“Dang, but I wanted to talk to you some more!” Neil hums noncommittally at the exaggerated whine. “I guess I’ll let you go. See you Saturday then!”

“See you.” Without waiting for any further response, Neil hangs up and shoves the phone back in his pocket. He digs out his boarding pass from the side of his bag and hands it to the TSA worker when he makes it up to the booth. The smile lingers on his face as he gets let through.

He’ll be celebrating something a bit different this Saturday.