Eventually, the four of them ended up together again, sharing a table at a Japanese restaurant.

"Sukiyaki is better when you eat it together, right?" Yan said, glancing at Gama.

"Yeah, you're right," Gama agreed.

Sky added onions, green onions, napa cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, tofu, and shirataki noodles to the iron pot. Tera tasted the broth, then immediately cracked an egg into his bowl and whisked it. The other three casually added soy sauce and chili to theirs.

"How does it taste? I want to try some too," Yan asked Sky.

The four of them sat side by side, with Yan next to Sky and Tera next to Gama.

Once everything was cooked, Sky picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks and fed it to Yan.

"I want some too," Tera said, holding his chopsticks out toward Gama.

"Here."

Tera offered him the bowl of beaten egg.

Gama tried to pick up a piece of meat, but it kept slipping off his chopsticks. He finally gave up, grabbed a shiitake mushroom instead, dipped it into the egg, and fed it to Tera.

"Wasn't it supposed to be meat? Can't you pick it up?" Tera asked before picking up a piece of meat and feeding it to Gama.

"I can't," Gama admitted. He'd already tried several times.

Tera decided to teach him. He took Gama's hand and guided his fingers.

"Try it like this. Hold them here."

But the broth splashed onto Gama's shirt.

Tera immediately grabbed some tissues.

"See? Now my shirt's wet," Gama complained.

Tera started wiping his shirt for him.

Sky watched them before suddenly looking at Yan.

"Ow. I got some on me too."

"Seriously? Wipe it yourself."

Yan tossed two tissues at him.

****

After eating, they decided to watch a movie.

Gama wanted a romantic moment, so he picked the movie himself.

And, yep.

It was a horror movie.

He had already imagined Tera screaming, grabbing onto him, and holding his hand. He even imagined the theater being nearly empty so they could sit in the corner and maybe steal a kiss.

"Two more tickets," Yan said, following them.

Gama clicked his tongue.

They sat according to their tickets, with Yan and Tera between Sky and Gama.

As soon as the movie started, they immediately grabbed their respective Omegas and flipped each other off.

At first, Gama thought everything was going according to plan.

He looked over at Yan, who buried his face against Sky's chest whenever a jumpscare appeared. Sky had plenty of freedom to rub his back and kiss his hair.

Meanwhile, Gama...

"Aaaaah!"

Tera squeezed his hand so hard it felt like his bones were about to crack.

Gama tried putting an arm around him, but Tera couldn't sit still. Gama ended up getting smacked in the chin by Tera's head. He winced, and before he could recover, Tera suddenly grabbed his hair and bit his arm.

By the time they left the theater, Gama looked like he'd just survived a war.

He tried to catch his breath.

This was going to haunt him for the rest of his life.

His shirt had even been torn from Tera pulling on it.

"I'm not apologizing!" Tera declared, staring at Gama's shredded shirt.

"I didn't ask you to apologize," Gama said as he took off the ruined shirt, leaving himself in nothing but a white tank top.

"Brutal," Yan commented.

Tera grumbled before taking off his own jacket and putting it on Gama.

"I—"

He stopped.

He wanted to apologize, but he was embarrassed.

He was embarrassed, but he didn't want to apologize.

He wanted to say sorry, but he was too embarrassed to actually say it.

Tera had no idea what to do with himself.

"No! I'm not apologizing!"

He suddenly ran away.

"Hey! I don't even care about the shirt, Tera!"

Gama tried to chase after him, but the crowd kept getting in his way.

"He's definitely embarrassed," Gama muttered, running a hand through his hair.

****

The date didn't last very long.

Even so, Gama stayed behind while Sky and Yan went back to the dorm first to check on things.

[Tera's already in his room.]

Sky's message popped up.

Gama was still wearing Tera's jacket. He lifted the collar and breathed in his scent.

It was strangely calming, almost like aromatherapy.

Gama smiled.

But the next day, Tera started avoiding him.

He spent all of Sunday hiding in his room, only coming out to grab food from the cafeteria.

Then Monday came.

"Tera."

Gama blocked Tera's path as he was about to enter the classroom.

Tera lowered his head.

Gama crouched down in front of him and looked up, trying to see whether he'd been crying.

Instead, Tera just crossed his eyes at him.

During class, Tera was unusually quiet. He paid attention to the lesson and didn't look around. He wouldn't even show his face to Gama.

But something caught Gama's attention during lunch.

There was a table reserved specifically for him, with food waiting on top.

Gama chuckled.

"Rice cakes? He remembered?"

He took a bite.

He knew he would never forget the taste.

When he opened his locker, something else caught him off guard.

Candy and nuts came tumbling out.

"Ooh... someone's got a secret admirer."

His classmates teased him.

Gama grinned.

He actually liked this.

He picked up one of the candies and gave it a sniff.

Then he glanced toward someone sitting at a desk.

Tera's ears were bright red.

Unfortunately, as soon as class ended, Tera ran straight back to the dorm instead of staying for his extra classes, like sports and art.

Gama soon returned to his own room too. His friends had commented that his bag looked unusually full, so he frowned and opened it to check.

Thud.

Gama stared into the bag, completely speechless.

Half a dozen identical T-shirts spilled out. Every single one had been damaged from Tera pulling on them.

Then several pieces of paper fell out, each one carrying a single letter.

S. O. R. R. Y.

"Sorry?"

Gama stared at the letters.

"He really has way too much pride," he muttered, amused.

****

[I was worried something happened to you, why, why, sor—]

Delete.

Tera stared at his phone.

[I'm sor— pip pip... Are you okay? I already replaced your shirt.]

Delete.

He deleted that one too.

Tera groaned in frustration and rolled around on his bed.

"Do I seriously have to practice this?"

He tried saying the letters together.

"S... O..."

Then the two R's.

"R... R..."

And finally—

"Y..."

But somehow, putting the whole word together felt ridiculously difficult.

He even seemed to forget where the letters were on the keyboard after typing S and O.

[Fuck you. Go to hell.]

Ping.

Gama almost burst out laughing when he saw the message.

"Hahahaha!"

"What's wrong with him?" one of his friends whispered.

"Maybe he's lost his mind?" another replied.

Gama decided to tease him and called Tera.

Tera answered.

"H-hello... s... o... r... r... y..."

"I really don't mind, Tera," Gama said, trying to reassure him. "I accept that side of you. And thanks for the jacket."

"Oh, and you're actually pretty romantic."

"Those carnations you gave me... the meaning behind them is beautiful. I didn't know every flower had its own meaning."

"Don't give up on me, okay?"

Tera's voice was barely above a whisper.