“I think Damien is weird,” Aiden said as he stabbed the lid of his strawberry matcha boba with the massive straw. The bobas bounced inside as he spun the flavors together.

“I thought you liked him?” Margo questioned.

“No, I do, but I think something is weird about him.”

“Like?”

“I can’t quite put my finger on it but he feels… supernatural.”

Margo snort-laughed. “Moving pretty fast into the ‘he’s a literal angel’ territory, aren’t we?”

“No, no, I mean like… I don’ know… sometimes his eyes look red. He has fangs, a weird smoke hangs around him at times but he doesn’t smell like tobacco, and his skin gets really red and really hot.”

“So like… you think he’s a demon?”

“I think he’s definitely a demon. It’s the only explanation.”

Margo looked at him with a pierced eyebrow raised. “You’re an idiot.”

Aiden groaned. He slid down in the booth and sighed heavily as he repeatedly stabbed the boba pearls in the bottom of his cup. He knew it sounded ridiculous but he couldn’t figure out any other explanation. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense, and he was too neurodivergent to not hyper fixate on it.

They’d opted to meet up to discuss their plans for their collaborative project before heading to class. Both of them were worn down from the weather, the lengthy power outage, and Margo’s drive back from the concert in the rain. Neither of them wanted to really try and use brain power after class. The storm had caused a lot of damage and power didn’t get restored until well into the morning hours. Damien had crashed pretty hard on Aiden’s bed while the movie was winding down, and it forced the artist to sleep on the floor, but he hadn’t the heart to wake his new neighbor. Damien was still in his apartment, he’d left him there to sleep off the anxiety with a note that he’d be back in a few hours once his class was over and they could go shopping to make sure he actually had the things he needed to function and live. Something told him Damien probably wouldn’t be awake by then, but he didn’t mind. He knew what panic attacks like that could do to someone, and Damien needed the rest. He’d also looked adorable clutching Aiden’s ramen cup plushie as he snored.

“I know that’s like, your thing, but projecting your weird horny man obsession—”

“Please don’t call it that,” Aiden groaned. 

“Your men with horns obsession onto your hot new neighbor is pushing boundaries.”

“I… yeah, you’re right. It’s just odd. He seems inhuman and nothing else makes sense.”

“He could just be one of those dudes who runs hot and gets really flushed, and maybe he uses scented tobacco and has fake fangs. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation, now stop being weird and help me with this project. You brought your sketches, right?”

“Yeah, hopefully my laptop has charged enough.”

Aiden woke his device up. He hadn’t had the chance to charge it with the power being out. Thankfully they’d nabbed a booth with plugs, and he’d been waiting for it to get enough juice to not crash once he pulled up his drawing program. It required a lot of power, and while he needed to upgrade his equipment he was also fickle enough to want to wait until a device literally exploded before investing in a new one. Once he was able to get into his files, he pulled up a few thumbnail sketches and showed them to his bestie.

“I think I like the jogging energy, less running and more casual,” Margo noted as they pointed to one of the sketches that had a more whimsical and free-flowing vibe to the pose.

“I had the same thought. The running angle would probably get us in trouble for promoting a mindset of ‘rushing through the school year’ or some nonsense,” Aiden replied.

“Bruh, that’s so real.”

They both laughed.

“Your character designs are super good. She’s adorable,” Margo said as they looked at the sketch.

“Thanks, I feel like I’m getting the hang of anatomy in motion. I spent so long working on animals I forgot that humans were a thing I needed to learn how to draw. Thankfully I’m a quick learner, though,” he said before he picked his boba back up. His phone vibrated in his hoodie pocket so he pulled it out and looked at the message. To his great surprise, it was Damien. He hadn’t expected him to be awake just yet but he was happy to hear from him nonetheless.

Aiden smiled. His excitement must have shown on his face because Margo gave him a light kick in the shin. He hissed at them.

“You’re gross,” Margo said, sticking their tongue out.

“Not all of us are aroace badasses who don’t need no man… or woman… or them, Go-Go,” Aiden replied with a longing sigh. “Some of us are born to yearn.”

“Yearn elsewhere, it’s gross.”

Aiden chuckled. He didn’t stop smiling, though. It didn’t matter if Damien did end up being a demon, he was crushing too hard to care.