The thing was, how could he not fall for it?

When Takumi first saw Julian, Takumi was mentally in a dark place. Being in that class helped him see the light. Not only did it reawaken his love for anything art, but it also helped him realize that he was good at something. In that dark place, Julian was the bearer of a torch. And that was when his name planted itself into Takumi's brain; among notes from his classes that he spent nights memorizing, the periodic table, and numbers, there was Julian 'Jules' Armes, 27 years old, an artist, and a God.

Takumi was grateful that the talk with Mervyn sobered him up from this… feelings.

Because why did he think he could even try with someone like that? So, how did anyone, let alone dumb, inexperienced college students, become so delusional as to even ask him out?

"So, are you going to continue doing 'Painting for Beginners'?"

Takumi blinked at the question given to him by his academic supervisor. Mrs. Horvat was looking at his academic sheet on her tablet.

"Umm".

"I think it'll be good for you. Take it as a distraction from the stress. I hear you're into drawing," she added.

'Well, drawing and painting are two separate things', he'd like to say, but instead he nodded, "Yes, I'm thinking of continuing".

"Good. Hopefully, you'll be back to your previous course in no time. You'll be fine by the next semester".

He wondered about that. He hadn't thought about his progress with school lately. All that was left for him was to finish his lab project and the comprehensive exam. He should be set for graduation afterwards, if only he hadn't crashed out.

"So, what was it about when you told me you were thinking of quitting the painting course?" His supervisor pressed. Takumi felt the blush creeping into his face.

He thought he would have to quit the class after confessing.

But, of course, his conversation with Mervyn reminded him he was worrying for nothing. "I think you have nothing to worry about," He remembered Mervyn saying, "Everyone asked Jules out and that seemed to change nothing. He treated everyone the same, still".

"It was nothing," Takumi responded, "I thought it would be too much of a distraction".

"It's not always a bad thing to distract oneself. Consider it a vacation from your daily grind, you'll be back feeling better and more productive. I believe after this semester, you'll be back with your progress, feeling better than ever. You'll be graduating a little late, but you'll graduate nonetheless," She smiled, "You are one of our best in your year, so I'm looking forward to your return".

She seemed not to realize how much her words felt like a burden rather than an encouragement. Takumi still thanked her before he left. He had a counseling session at the Faculty of Psychology soon.

It was a 20-minute long walk to the Faculty of Psychology. The route would take him past The School of Art, which he frequented every Monday for Julian's class. Walking past it, he wondered if the artist was in there at that moment – maybe teaching art students and getting along with them better than the students from STEM.

As he thought that, he saw him.

Jules was in the middle of moving about a dozen of large canvases to 2 large trolleys from a van, alone, but it didn't take long for a group of students to approach him and strike up a conversation. Takumi lifted the hood of his hoodie to cover his head in the hope of not being recognized as he walked past.

"Oh, you're here! Thank God you're here!"

For a split second, Takumi thought Jules was speaking to someone else, only to realize he was pointing at him.

"You guys can go back to class. I'll be right there soon," Jules told off the group of students around him with a shooing motion.

"Five minutes late, Jules?" One of them asked just as they were turning around to the general direction of their classroom.

"Yep. You can't be later than me!" He turned to Takumi once they had all dispersed, tilting his head at the hoodie, "What's with the hoodie?"

Before Takumi knew it, his hood was pushed back and he was now facing Jules head-on; thankfully, he had his mask on. His fingers brushed against Takumi's hair and ear. "There, better, isn't it?" Jules' smile was sweet, "Help me, would you?"

Takumi had many chances to refuse. He could tell him he had an appointment in about 30 minutes, or he could even tell him he had no business in the School of Art at the moment; yet he didn't. Instead, he willfully loaded one trolley with canvases and took it upon himself to push it all the way to the classroom he'd go to for Julian's class.

Julian had gone ahead for class, so when Emma, who was standing outside the classroom, saw Takumi, she looked surprised. "Oh, it's you!" She opened the door to the classroom behind her, "He's inside".

Takumi wordlessly went in with the full trolley, all of which were artworks levels ahead of his own painting class. When he entered, multiple heads with varying hair colors turned. They were all colorfully dressed, all so unique, all seemingly so loud with personality – all like they belonged in the same box as Julian Armes. This had to be the class he was teaching art students.

Unlike his class, they were all over the place. Some were sitting far in the back, some were sitting on the floor, some on their desk (and not the chair). Each of them had a large canvas with them and a lot more tools in their arsenal. And in the center of the class, stood a half-naked male model who was only covered by one thin fabric.

Takumi, in his plain faded jeans and hoodie, looked so out of place.

"Takumi! Thank you," he saw Jules walking towards him from a circle of students. He stopped right by Takumi's side and murmured close to him, perhaps because of the noise in the room, "Put them in that corner, will you? Thanks again". As Takumi was about to do it, he felt a brush against his waist and heard the soft but barely missed, "Good boy".

Takumi almost paused in his step, but pushed on until he reached that corner and set all the canvases aside. It was when he finished that task that he finally faced Jules while he was still with his crowd of students. "You're done? Come here and take a seat," Jules pointed at Emma's usual seat by the desk, the one right next to his own, "By the way, this is Takumi, he's from my other class. He's studying chemistry".

The art students, despite their intimidating looks, were all quite nice about having him. All of them said a quick hello; one guy who dressed like a goth even waved a little and said, "Hey, cool hoodie," before they all proceeded to barrage Jules with questions about their assignment.

Takumi scratched the back of his head awkwardly before clearing his throat, "Uh, I have to leave".

That was when Jules' whole attention diverted to him, "You're leaving? Why?" At Takumi's confused face, he added, "Emma can stand outside, just sit here".

He wondered if this had anything to do with his confession or if Jules behaved like this to all of his students. "When a Prime seems to pay you a special kind of attention, most likely they're not," Mervyn's words played in his head like a recording, "Don't get it over to your head".

He stopped by the exit. "I got counselling in…," He took a quick look at the giant clock on the wall, part of the building's older architecture, "10 minutes".

Even Emma was taken aback to see him outside, "You're not staying?" She asked, like it was the natural course for him to stay, "You know, someone is going to make a move on him after class".

She said that like Takumi was meant to do something about it.

"Good luck for them, I guess?" He told her. She threw both her hands in devastation, to which Takumi shook his head in confusion, "What would you like me to say?"

Without any further words, he jogged to the neighboring faculty for his appointment; all the while, Mervyn's voice repeated that same sentence over and over again:

"Don't get it over to your head".