The next few days flew by quickly, with Julien trying with all his might to avoid Andrew since Saturday, luckily it wasn’t too hard.

If the other man made food, he would wait until he’d gone out to walk the dog to eat. If Julien needed to study, he would lock himself in his room and skulk out when it was dark. Andrew didn’t seem all that keen on going upstairs, for that, he was grateful.

Unfortunately, the man hadn’t extended that grace to his study, turning it into a makeshift bedroom soon after their return.

Frustrated, Julien had the man begin clearing out the cornermost room, only providing his help when the man was—presumably—asleep. With the man seemingly distracted by the task, Julien attempted his first escape, in hopes of visiting the imported flower exhibit a few streets down.

Unfortunately, he was caught before even making it out the door.

They did end up at the exhibit, but Julien was no longer in the mood. 

It made a rather odd sight at the exhibit, a lanky young man with a sour expression emanating “Don’t talk to me” energy, and the other a hulking behemoth standing close by with an impassive face, so still he almost didn’t seem alive.

As Julien's frustruations grew, the number of plants in his apartment grew as well, healthier than ever.

There were a few other attempts as well, but he had yet to see success. Julien realized pretty quickly that escaping when the man was clearing the storage or walking the dog was impossible.

So just yesterday, he waited for the man to fall asleep before skulking out and attempting to leave.

The relief he felt when the cool night air hit his skin was immense.

He quickly texted Nevaeah and let her know he was finally free and that they could meet tomorrow.

He didn’t really want the two of them to meet.

His plan was to room somewhere and pull up to the library the next day, and so, he got a room and slept easy, knowing he could finally enjoy his time without a hawk following him out the door.

What he didn’t realize was that Andrew was no mere hawk, he was a bloodhound.

Imagine the fright Julien had when he opened the door to his hotel room, only to find Andrew standing right outside, a glass container full of steaming hot food in hand, and a toothbrush.

But Julien was already slated to meet Nevaeah at the library.

So there they were, Julien sitting across from her focused squarely on his book, and her peeking over his shoulder at the imposing man standing close by.

“Is he the one you were talking about?”

She smiled, waving at Andrew. He gave her a small wave back.

“I knew my radar was on point, he’s better looking than I thought he’d be.”

Andrew shot them a quick glance but continued to remain impassive.

“Don’t look at him.”

She lifted a brow and turned her attention to Julien.

“Is he gonna keep standing there, or is he gonna sit down?”

“I don’t know.”

He looked up from his book and jabbed her hand with the back of his pen.

“Ow!”

She yipped, and was immediately silenced by a person sitting nearby that gave her the stink eye.

She slapped her hands over her mouth.

“What was that for!?”

She whisper-yelled from behind her hands and was met with another look.

“Stop paying attention to him and focus.”

Julien hissed out. He was already in a foul mood from being caught this morning, and now that the two of them had met, he couldn’t help but feel like he’d lost something.

“Why are we doing this right now?”

“We have an exam soon.”

“3 weeks isn’t soon at all.”

She grumbled, rubbing the back of her hand and shooting daggers his way.

“2 weeks.”

She rolled her eyes.

“We couldn’t have done this at your house?”

Nevaeah reluctantly picked up a pencil and pouted as she finally opened up her own notebook.

“No…”

I didn’t want him to see you.

“He’s co-opted my study as a makeshift bedroom.”

“Heh.”

“Don’t laugh.”

“King Julien’s mighty palace has been encroached by an even mightier dragon.”

Julien put his pencil down and sighed.

This wasn’t going to be a very productive session.

“He’s more like Cerberus if anything.”

He leaned in, whispering like he was telling a secret.

“Just when I think I can enjoy some time out alone he’s right there before I can even say ‘success!’ But I have a genius idea.”

Nevaeah looked unconvinced.

“Usually when you say something like that it’s the exact opposite of ‘genius.’”

“Don’t be such a doubter.”

He made a mischievous face.

“It may not have worked the first few times, but this time, I have the element of surprise.”

No use crying over spilt milk right? Now that things had turned out this way, it was time to execute a new escape.

“And you’ve tried your plan, how many times before?”

She scrunched her brows, still doubtful.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Surely, with his partner-in-crime, this time—for sure—it was going to work.

He got up from his seat and rounded the table before placing one hand on her shoulder and the other beside her phone. He leaned down so that he was close to her ear.

“What are you planning?”

She looked at him skeptically.

“Just play along with me, hm?”

He grabbed her pencil with his left hand and wrote something in her notebook.

“Get ready to run.”

“What—“

Before she could finish, he practically lifts her out of the seat, grabs her arm, and books it out of the library with her in tow. 

Once they’re out of the building she yells out—

“My stuff!”

“Don’t worry, that conscientious fuck would never leave our stuff behind! Just run!”

Even if he tried to follow them, he couldn’t possibly guess where they were going.

“My phone!”

“I have it. Less talking, more running!”

He took them through a convoluted path, they went from building to building, knocking into one or two people on the way. Nevaeah would apologize and Julien would drag her away.

They ran until Julien could practically taste the sweet sweet candy of victory on his tongue.

“Ha! We lost him!”

They were crouched behind a statue in the public park around his apartment complex, and Julien was smiling with childlike glee.

They do say the best hiding spots are right under the lights.

At least I think that’s how that phrase goes.

He turned around to look at Nevaeah who was as blue in the face as her hair and as out of breath as a fish out of water.

He patted her back soothingly and she looked at him with resentment.

“I’m, ugh, I’m about as fit as I am, huu, tall Jules.”

She looked up from her crouched position and her face instantly shifted. Not paying any attention, Julien stood up and pulled her up with him.

“Just hang on for a second longer,”

He turned around and started walking while looking over his shoulder.

“We just need to get to my motorcycle and we can go wherever we—oof.”

He nearly tripped over himself as he crashed into something hard.

“What was–”

His face turned pale.

It was him.

Andrew's hands steadied him, preventing him from falling over and he stared at him with those blank eyes of his. He didn’t even look winded.

Julien was too stunned to speak.

“Careful.”

Andrew released him and let out a huff.

“You almost hurt yourself.”

There was almost a flicker of something in his eyes, but it was gone before he could pin it down. If Julien didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought it was entertainment, if only because his face was slightly…brighter? Than usual.

Julien wasn’t sure where he got that idea from though.

Maybe I’m finally putting that ‘learning from automatons’ booklet to good use.

Julien glanced at the stone statues then quickly backed off from the man and hid behind Nevaeah.

However useless it was for a young man of 183 cm to hide behind someone that was a mere 158.

Nevaeah glanced at her pathetic shadow and put a hand to her hip. Ready to defend her cowardly friend.

No matter how out of breath she still was.

Andrew looked at Nevaeah,

“You left your things.”

He took one of the two bags hanging off his shoulders and held it out for her.

“...Thanks.”

She threw another look at Julien as though he were a naughty child. As if to say; look at this nice man, and you’re giving him so much trouble.

But Julien refused to give in. He shook his head. He just wanted to be left alone. Or at the very least, choose his own company.

How’d he even get here so fast?

Was he being tracked?

“Can’t you just, I don’t know, not follow me? The scariest thing in this city is a papercut.”

Andrew looked him dead in the eye.

“No.”

Julien squeezed his eyes shut.

So much for a relaxing Thanksgiving break.

Nevaeah looked at Julien with pity.

Andrew spoke to Nevaeah.

“You’re going with him?”

She looked at Julien in confusion.

Julien crossed his arms and moved between the two of them.

“He’s asking if you’re coming to my sister’s tomorrow.”

Julien’s expression soured.

“He’s driving.”

She nodded slowly.

Taking that as affirmation, Andrew stared at Julien until the young man began to slowly follow behind him into the apartment.

Julien frowned like a baby seal trapped in front of a polar bear.

“See you tomorrow.”

Nevaeah blinked at the retreating pair, then muttered,

‘Yup. Definitely Cerberus.’