“Ughhhh…” Aiden groaned as he flopped over on his bed.

Margo looked at him with a thin eyebrow cocked as they chewed on their boba straw. “Okay drama queen, cool it,” they chided.

“I can’t. Don’t wanna,” he whined.

He looked at his best friend before he rubbed his eyes, smudging his glasses in the process. Margo had re-dyed their hair over the weekend, it was now a vibrant teal. The asymmetrical bob accented their round face and fit perfectly with the massive hoop earrings they’d decided to wear for no good reason on a Monday.

The weekend had gone by too fast. Aiden hadn’t seen Damien since his neighbor left on Sunday morning with an apology for falling asleep on his floor. Aiden urged him take the leftover fried chicken, and made him to promise he’d knock if he needed anything. Damien promised he would. Once he was gone, Aiden immediately switched gears and started trying to get caught up on his animation final now that he was set for the week with his new chapter scheduled. Things seemed to be going smoothly, then reality hit him like a ton of bricks.

He hadn’t expected his professor to drop another project on them, but it made sense. He’d completely forgotten about the senior art exhibit. Even though his degree was in animation he was required to create something to show off alongside his peers. It had completely slipped his mind—as had the autumn maker’s market—which was why Margo had followed him home. They’d decided it would be wise to collaborate to save both of their sanities.

Still, it threw off his schedule again and he was livid. He’d have to come up with something before his shift at the convenience store rolled around so he could ponder while on the clock as he was so apt to do, but all he wanted to do was nap.

That was a lie. All he wanted to do was hang out with Damien. The hot goth with the sweet smile had him in a chokehold.

“How about a lenticular?” Margo suggested, wiggling their hand to mimic the motion that came alongside the print style.

“That was what I was thinking, something with your watercolor landscapes and my character designs? Lean into our skillsets. Is that too basic, though?” Aiden asked.

“Not if we get creative with it.”

“I’ll have to think on it, my brain is mush right now.”

He pressed the heel of his palm into his eye and groaned. Margo continue to chew on their boba straw until the plastic cracked but stopped when a knock on the door pulled them both from their post-class slump.

“Aiden, are you home?”

Aiden shot up. “Hot goth,” he whisper-yelled.

Margo smirked and waved him along.

Aiden scrambled off of his bed and wandered over to the door, he opened it and smiled.

“Hi, Damien, what’s up?” Aiden asked with a goofy grin.

Damien held up the leftovers. “I don’t have a way to warm this up. Thankfully the last person who lived in the unit left the fridge but I forgot about the heating part.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s not helpful, is it? Come on in.” Aiden stepped to the side. “Damien, this is the infamous Margo, the one who did my tattoo and my best friend. Margo, this is Damien, he just moved in.”

Margo waved. “’Sup.”

“Hello, your art is beautiful. You’re quite talented,” Damien said as he walked to the microwave.

Margo smirked even wider as Aiden spun to look at them.

‘British!’ Margo mouthed.

‘I know!’ Aiden replied before biting his lip and turning back to Damien who was sleepily inputing a cook time. “Are you sleeping well? You look tired.”

“I suppose I’m still jet-lagged,” Damien replied with a smile.

“I have to go to work at the store downstairs in a bit, you can always come down and get some energy drinks if you need them. We also have coffee, it’s not good but it works,” Aiden said. “Or, you know, I have an energy drink in the fridge you can take. But also you might need sleep. So a tea? Or some melatonin?”

“I might take you up on the tea later tonight, mate. Thanks. Did you have class today?”

“Yeah, it was my short day. Usually I go straight to work after I’m done but not on Mondays. We had a new project get dropped on us so we were brainstorming.”

“Sounds like a long day.”

“It’s not bad… Are you sure you’re okay? You look a little red in the face.”

Margo cleared their throat then pretended they’d inhaled their boba on accident while throwing Aiden a look that said he was overdoing it and needed to cool it with the flirty-nervous-anxious-worrying questions. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Damien who had turned back to him with that soft smile. Standing this close, Aiden could definitively confirm that he did, in fact, have fangs—or really pointy canines.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Damien whispered.

“I’m sorry, but you’re doing good. Give yourself some time,” Aiden replied quietly.

Damien nodded as the microwave beeped. Aiden offered Damien a paper plate, some paper towels, and a ginger ale to take with him before his new neighbor left. The artist watched him go with a dreamy expression. The door clicked shut behind him.

“Oh, you’ve got it bad,” Margo teased.

“I know, I can’t help it,” Aiden whined. He lifted his hands. “Can’t get distracted, we need to draft and brainstorm. With our one combined brain cell I’m sure we can come up with something. I’m already behind, I need to be productive so let’s get productive.”

“And there’s the Aiden I know.” Margo laughed as they stood. They walked over to their backpack and pulled out their notebook. “But hey, best friend teasing aside, you should like… let yourself enjoy it.”

“It?”

“Him. This is the first time in all of the years I’ve known you that you’ve not been a laser-focused overachiever. You switched up your schedule for him, you’re blushing, you’re excited, so like… maybe lean into that. You work too hard, you deserve to have some fun.”

Aiden set his hands on his hips. “Not when we have deadlines.”

“Okay, then let’s kick this deadline’s ass and let you get back to your fun.”

Aiden rubbed the back of his neck again. His eyes shifted to his door again, selfishly wishing that Damien would knock. No! No! He couldn’t get distracted, he needed to ace this final. Then he could be a lovestruck mess. That was for Friday Aiden to worry about. Monday Aiden needed to work, so he was going to work even if it broke his heart.