Adrian stood in front of the girl, whose clothes were in disarray, using his body as a human shield.

"Take your time getting dressed. This is a friend of mine. He won't hurt you."
He knew Lucas and was certain he wouldn't harm her.

"Shall we meet another time?"

The girl nodded slightly and, with fear in her eyes, turned her hazy, drunken gaze toward Lucas.

"Don't be afraid," Adrian repeated to her once more.

Damn, seriously?

"It was nice to meet you."

"Very nice."

As a farewell, Adrian gently brushed her lips with a kiss and watched her until she turned the corner of the building.
All this time, Lucas had been watching the scene, feeling pathetic and powerless. Every smooth movement Adrian made, every word he spoke, annoyed him. He couldn't have imagined that someone else's closeness could trigger such an uncontrollable storm of emotions within him.
When the girl finally disappeared around the corner, Adrian exhaled heavily and turned around. Although his gaze still slid past the guy, the blood in Lucas's temples pounded even louder. Adrian slowly picked up his glasses from the ground.

"I'm sorry. Does it hurt?" Lucas's voice sounded unusually quiet.

Adrian ignored the question. He tried to put on his glasses, but feeling a wobble in the frames, he took them off. The man exhaled, turned around, intending to walk in the same direction the girl had headed a minute ago.

"Where are you going? Wait!"

Lucas tried to start a normal conversation, but instead of coherent words, only a muffled irritation escaped his throat. Deep down, he already regretted hitting Adrian. 

Damn, this wasn't just an ex: it was a professor who could easily report him to the university administration. On top of that, Adrian knew way too much about Lucas's wild bisexual life (ironically, Lucas was actually worried about his reputation, considering how impulsive and foolish he was acting).

But on the outside, the guy kept his cool, staring intently at the receding figure. Maybe he should just give up. He'd had more than enough humiliation for one day. How could he even continue the conversation after something like that? But something clicked inside Lucas. He couldn't just let this go; the pent-up tension demanded an outlet.

He lunged after the man, trying to grab his shoulder. But he was too late. Adrian spun around with lightning speed, seized the initiative himself, gripped Lucas's forearms tightly, and slammed him against the wall with a dull thud.

A dull wave of pain swept through Lucas's body, and his eyes went blurry for a second. No sooner had he begun to come to his senses than he caught Adrian's heavy, ragged breathing. Opening his eyes, he met a narrowed, chilling gaze. The man's nostrils flared with suppressed rage, and his lips were pressed tightly together. For a moment, Lucas cursed himself and every power in heaven for ever deciding to get involved with this man.

"Lucas, what do you think you're doing?" Adrian's voice was quiet, but that only made the question more terrifying.

Lucas hesitated, at a loss for words. The man, unwilling to wait for a well-thought-out excuse, pressed down on his shoulders even harder.

"I…" Lucas exhaled. "I don't know."

"Oh, you don't know?" A quiet, dangerous smirk curled up at the corners of Adrian's mouth. "Why don't you go back to fucking that girl, Mia? Huh? Yeah? Huh? Don't you dare shut the fuck up! Why the hell are you coming at me? When the hell are you going to leave me alone?"

Lucas hadn't expected to see such open irritation in him.

Me? Coming on to you? Don't flatter yourself.

What was even stranger: Adrian didn't smell of alcohol, only his usual, rich, and all-too-familiar cologne. Lucas's thoughts tangled into a knot.

"What? Do you really enjoy provoking people like this?" Adrian snapped, and without giving Lucas a chance to answer, continued.

"We stopped being sex partners by mutual agreement. Can't you just leave me alone?"

"I... I..." Lucas mumbled.

"'I, I'!" Adrian mimicked him with a venomous sneer. "What 'you'? What do you want from me?" 
 Adrian dangerously closed the distance between them. He leaned right up to the guy's ear and hissed.

"Get lost."

The thoughts in Lucas's head instantly tangled into a tight knot again. An irrational, clinging fear gripped him. He didn't understand what exactly he was afraid of: this suffocating closeness, the cold anger, or his own vulnerability, but his heart betrayed him, pounding somewhere in his throat.

"Do you really think I'm a child?" he suddenly blurted out, and his own voice sounded pitiful and thin.
Lucas's ears betrayed him, flushing a deep red. 

Idiot, moron, what the hell are you talking about? the thought raced through his mind in a panic. You’re just an idiot, go jump off a cliff!

Adrian stepped back, looking at him with undisguised bewilderment, which immediately gave way to a dull irritation.

“Again? What’s your deal with this ‘kid’? Ugh!” he exhaled in exasperation.
He abruptly shoved Lucas away and took two wide steps back, as if physical contact with the guy had become unbearable to him. His hands darted to his pockets in search of a pack of cigarettes, but, failing to find the coveted paper, he kicked a cobblestone lying at his feet with a muffled curse.

Lucas, having received no direct answer, was ready to sink through the earth with shame. But his wounded pride stung even more.

Adrian took a deep breath of the cool air, trying to calm the trembling in his hands, and looked at the guy from under his brow.

"Fine. If I honestly say that you’re not a kid and that I was wrong... will you finally leave me alone?"

"And say that I have the best dick."

"What the fuck?"

"..."

A heavy, awkward silence hung between them. Lucas looked up again. Yes, for the umpteenth time, he confirmed to himself with a pang of longing: Adrian was damn handsome, with a perfect, toned physique that perfectly matched his type. Gathering his courage and licking his parched lips, Lucas decided to change the subject, figuring the man’s worst anger had already passed. 

He was terrified that Adrian would simply turn around and walk away, leaving him alone with this chaos.

“I heard that you and I are going to the Olympics in another state. Is that true?” Lucas’s voice wavered, but he held his gaze.

In response, Adrian kicked another rock with double the force, and it bounced off the wall with a loud thud, leaving a whitish scratch on the concrete.

“I’m doing everything I can to avoid the trip,” he snapped. “But even if I do go, don’t get your hopes up: we won’t be alone there.” A light, almost sarcastic smirk touched his lips.

“There will be a lot of us.”

Lucas exhaled quietly in disappointment, feeling everything inside him tighten.

“And who’s going with us?”

“Hmm. Two professors and two students. Kate and… Noah. First-year students from your faculty.”

“NOAH?!” Lucas blurted out, and his voice carried such a mixture of horror, jealousy, and genuine shock that he was startled by his own candid reaction.