“Pleaaaaaase,” Aiden whined.

“Dude, stop being weird,” Margo warned, poking him in the forehead with the pointy end of their boba straw.

“But, but, but!” Aiden continued to whine.

“I don’t mind,” Tommy—one of Aiden’s other friends and the most laid-back of the group—said with a shrug. “No guarantees, obviously, but I don’t mind asking Billy about it. I know her class load increase has made it hard to keep up the record store, and with her dad in the hospital they do need help.”

“You’re the best. He’s weird but he’s like so into this idea and I think it would be good for him,” Aiden replied.

“You say that as if anything about the record shop is normal, man,” Tommy replied with a pierced raised eyebrow. “I legit don’t think they’ll care much. Might not be too many hours but having the flexibility aspect would be appealing.”

“I owe you. He’s like a lost puppy, he’s so aimless and while I really enjoy having him around he’s throwing my schedule off a bit too much. And I can’t keep buying him everything, I’m not made of money,” Aiden replied. He snatched up the boba straw that Margo kept poking him with and stabbed the lid of his taro milk tea.

“You’ve got it so bad,” Tommy teased him.

“It’s pitiful,” Margo added with a smirk.

Aiden stuck out his tongue in response. “Just be chill when he gets here, okay?”

“We’ll behave,” Margo promised, but Aiden wasn’t sure he believed them.

As he went to reply, the door to the boba shop opened and Damien walked in.

Tommy not-so-subtly whistled. “Oh, I get it now.”

Aiden kicked him in the shin before he waved down Damien. The happy-go-lucky newcomer walked over, slipping his hands into the pocket of his hoodie.

“Hi! I’m Damien,” Damien introduced himself.

“We know,” both Tommy and Margo said in unison.

Aiden groaned. “Do you know what you want to order?” he asked Damien.

“No, I haven’t had boba before, we just got those milk teas that one time and I liked it but I want something new. What should I try?” Damien asked.

“With how much you like fruity stuff I’d recommend the strawberry sesame.”

Damien nodded and excused himself to go order. Both Tommy and Margo watched him leave before turning their eyes toward Aiden. Aiden sent them a threatening look as he sipped his drink before he saved his document and shut his laptop so he wouldn’t wear down the battery.

The students had class in a few hours, but they all wanted to get together for some boba and dinner since it would probably be a late night. Aiden worried Damien wouldn’t eat if he didn’t invite him, and since he’d be at the library until it closed following the end of the lectures he wouldn’t see his new neighbor at all if he didn’t offer for Damien to join them. He also had a feeling Damien would like his friends, so introductions were overdue. The last thing either of them needed was a co-dependent relationship, and something told Aiden that Damien’s social battery was big. Integrating him into the group would be beneficial for everyone.

Once Damien got his drink, he slid into the booth next to Aiden with a shy smile. Aiden introduced Tommy and Margo, reminding him that Margo was a watercolor specialist and Tommy was a sculptor who had been working on a massive piece for his final. He also mentioned that Tommy’s girlfriend Billy was the daughter of the record store owner. Damien had briefly met her when he’d first visited and picked up that Sleep Token album. The third friend in Aiden’s group, who Damien had yet to meet, was a photographer named Raine who was currently out of town but was scheduled to come back at the end of the month.

The four of them had been friends since freshmen year, and all of them enjoyed the fact that they were in different majors since it kept things interesting. They learned a lot about the wider world of art from each other. Everyone wore streetwear and oversized accessories, bright colors and a lot of layers, hung out at places like the comic store and record shop over other local hotspots, and liked being the outcast group. Damien fit in perfectly.

“Are you into the arts, Damien?” Tommy asked as he took a scrunchie from Margo.

He started bundling up his locs to get them out of the way so he wouldn’t drag them through the sticky frosting on his mochi donut. He’d done that more times than Aiden could count on one hand. Once Tommy set his sights on those donuts it was game over for the poor pastries, he practically inhaled them. 

One time Tommy had spent the entire class block with neon purple frosting stuck to his hair, and it ended up inspiring him to bleach and dye it in his sophomore year—alongside purchasing some donut themed gages for his ears. He leaned into it, and the funky colors and kawaii-vibes fit his aesthetic. It was a pivotal point in the sculptor’s life on his college self-discovery journey, but it was also a massive pain to get the glue-like frosting out of his hair so everyone nagged him to be more careful since none of them wanted to listen to him whine about it.

Thinking back on the bright purple hair dye bottles that Tommy had all over his dorm caused Aiden to turn his gaze to Damien’s own vibrant hair, and he found himself staring again.

“I like music, and I’m not too bad at making it, I don’t think. I appreciate things like comics and cool paintings, but I’m not overly familiar with the technical side of things like the difference between mediums and eras of art styles. I’m open to learning, though,” Damien replied.

“What kind of music?” Margo asked.

“I play guitar but I make mostly experimental stuff. I realized I could use things like the trains or the sounds of storms and knocking on doors, dripping faucets and the like, to create rhythms that I put to guitar and vocals. It’s… weird, I guess, but it’s fun. It requires a lot of math and timing to get right,” Damien replied.

“So like, synthetic beats and artpop?” Tommy asked.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Damien said with a nod.

“Oh, yeah, Billy is gonna love you,” Tommy replied with a nod. “She’s all about that weird experimental music, too. She takes some of the old, warped vinyls that come in and can’t be sold an uses the weird ways they play as backing tracks for her own stuff.”

Damien lit up. Aiden turned to Tommy with a smile, he was appreciative of his friends helping get Damien integrated into their world. As the artist settled into his seat, he couldn’t help but crack a smile when Damien’s leg brushed his own. He cut his eyes toward his new neighbor who was still talking to Tommy. For a brief second, Damien turned his eyes to Aiden as if to let him know he was aware, and he didn’t move his leg away after. It made Aiden feel all sorts of warm fuzzies, butterflies, heart racing, gooey nonsense, and he didn’t mind one bit.