“Can we get this over with?” Elias asked in a grumble, running his slender fingers through his silken, black hair. 

That was all he had to say? Ryan wondered about what to do, too baffled to think. So he was rude, after all, arrogant, and only cared about himself? 

Ryan wasn’t all that angry about it, though, not when Elias came rushing into the room with all these rolled papers, with all the work he’d spent his time on, and with paint still tainting his face and his fingers. 

“We were supposed to meet an hour ago,” Ryan said, gulping, as Elias didn’t even look at him. Once again, it felt like he was talking straight into a wall. “I’d love to help you, but I only rented the room for an hour, and I have a lab in thirty minutes I really have to attend.”

“You said at 1 is perfect for you.”

“It was … It’s 2 pm, now.” That’s not fair, is it? I wasn’t the one who was late. 

Elias sighed, and continued avoiding Ryan completely. “Well, it can’t be done, then.” Already, as if he was more in a hurry than Ryan was, he reached for all his rolled papers and wrapped his arm around them, struggling to carry them all. 

“Wait,” Ryan whispered.

“What now?” It came back all the snappier, making Ryan flinch in surprise. “I’m busy.”

“Well, I …” Ryan licked over his lips, as they’d dried out completely with how nervous he was, and with an ever so slight tremble in his fingers, he reached for the cheat sheet he’d printed. 

Now, with Ryan looking down into his backpack, he could feel Elias’ burning gaze right on him, burning dark holes right through his soul, but as soon as he lifted his head, Elias’ eyes were as avoidant as ever. 

“You said your exam is this week, so I made you this cheat sheet. Maybe it helps you, if you want to study by yourself?” Ryan handed the sheet over, only for Elias to stare at it with an irked expression, eyelid twitching in response.

With his hands and arms completely packed with art supplied and endless papers, Elias stared up, finally looking into Ryan’s eyes. “Are you dense, or what?” 

“Uh—“ Ryan began stuttering right away, flinching the sheet right back into his own hands. “I, uh, thought, um—“ 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. I really don’t give a shit. Just … put it in my backpack,” he hissed, turning right around, back now facing Ryan. 

His back, and his covered neck, and his ears, and Ryan gulped, jitters dominating him as he approached, zipping open the bag. He folded his cheat sheet just once, peeked inside the bag, and found more pens, pencils, erasers of all kinds, and unused brushes inside. A sketchbook, and more loose, sketched-on papers. 

Nothing but art dominated his backpack, and now, Ryan slipped his calculus cheat sheet right between them, zipping it shut all the quicker, but he remained there, staring down at Elias neck-long hair that hid his skin away from Ryan, melting into the turtleneck of the same color. 

Even on his ear, there was paint, Ryan noticed. And on that little area behind his ear … a tattoo, half-hidden behind silky strands of hair, appearing so soft to the touch now that he was up close to it. 

The tattoo intrigued Ryan, and he tilted his head to the side to try and identify this tiny, miniature tattoo. It was a treble clef of musical notations, but Ryan didn’t know enough about music to know what it meant. He simply recognized the swirly sign, hidden away so neatly behind Elias’ ear. 

Elias flinched so hard, it even forced Ryan to jerk back. He snatched away his own fingers, the very fingers that had reached for Elias without him wanting to do so, moved all on their own, and touched Elias right in the back of his ear, where he seemed to be so sensitive, given that extreme response.

His hand reached up to his ear, hiding it away from Ryan, and in the process, half his rolled papers dropped to the ground, spreading all across the study room. Luckily, since they were bound by elastic bands, they didn’t spread far, and remained in their rolled positions, only a few folds and crinkles appearing on some unfortunate corners.

“What are you doing?” His hiss was aggressive, and Ryan, puppy-eyed, had no idea how to defend himself. 

“P-Paint!” Excuses, he made up all the quicker. He had reached for the tattoo, sure, but there definitely was dried paint on Elias’ ear. “You—You have a little bit of paint there. And, um, right there, on your jaw.” 

Elias’ fingers dropped onto his face, hiding it away from Ryan. An annoyed sigh followed, and Ryan was quick to rummage through his own backpack for some tissues he had, and some sanitizer he always had with him, so he could always clean his hands after hands-on work in the labs. 

With a hopeful smile on his face, Ryan slid the items over to Elias atop the desk, who accepted rather reluctantly, and went on to clean his face and ear in a rush, and also his hands, but not all of the dried paint came off in one, clean sweep, needing more of the alcoholic sanitizer than Ryan expected. 

But he continued on smiling, nonetheless. 

Right after, Ryan dropped to his knees, and picked up all the papers before Elias could even react, only for him to want to snatch them out of Ryan’s much bigger arms.

“Who do you think you are? Don’t touch my stuff.” 

“I can carry them for you,” Ryan mumbled, holding onto them as tightly as he could without squashing them, but tight enough so Elias wouldn’t just yank them back. 

And he wouldn’t dare to try, his paintings too precious to him. Elias wouldn’t want even the slightest rip in these papers, which is exactly why he was so worried, as if Ryan had taken hold of his very own children. 

He’s a total control freak, isn’t he? The way Elias glared at the papers, making sure Ryan didn’t apply too much pressure; he didn’t let them out of his sight even for a fraction of a second. 

“Maybe I don’t want you to,” Elias buzzed, but Ryan remained steady on his feet, and his arms wrapped around all of Elias’ art. Their eyes met, as if it was a staring contest between the two, and whoever gave in first would be the loser. 

Ryan didn’t even blink, completely taken in by those dark eyes Elias had, completely swallowed up inside of them; but he didn’t get to enjoy the view for long. 

Elias let out a sigh, his hands clenched to trembling fists, and he turned his head down and away, breaking any and all eye contact between the two. 

I won, Ryan thought to himself, not necessarily understanding the reason why. 

“Where do you need them?” he asked, joyful about it all.

Elias clicked his tongue, but now, his velvety voice had none of the sharpness from before. “Tsk. Just … my car.” 

Elias let him carry it across the parking lot, but the air around was too tense to speak a single word, and through the silence, Ryan’s thoughts began to dominate him, instead, bringing a shamed blush all over him. 

What was I thinking, reaching for his tattoo like that? And in such a sensitive spot behind Elias’ ear, at that.