Mars was at a loss of what to do. Mel had cried himself to sleep in his arms a few hours earlier and Mars had carried him to his bed, Rover stayed with him until Mars went to sleep himself and joined him like he did every night. Morning arrived much quicker than Mars wanted it with Rover licking his face, then dashing about the apartment.

"What are you doing bud?" He found Rover pawing at the kitchen garbage can, which was odd considering he'd emptied it the evening before. Inside were the clothes Melvin had been wearing last night, as well as other things that seemed way too expensive to simply throw out… that didn't bode well.

He went to check on his friend, but was cut short by the sound of the shower as he passed the bathroom door. Usually he wouldn't think twice about Mel showering first thing in the morning, but Mel would never throw away clothes he had just bought not even a month prior. Mars started walking back to his room but was frozen in the hallway as he spotted Mel's childhood plush turtle abandoned on his bed, he never left it lying around where Rover could get to it on accident. Mars kept trying to figure out what the missing pieces were and disliking every scenario his mind came up with more than the previous one.

His phone blaring his brother's ringtone from his nightstand interrupted his spiraling thoughts.

"Hey Jules…" Mars answered the call, mind still stuck on the problem at hand.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Jules replied by way of hello, concern bleeding into his voice immediately.

"I, no, yeah, I'm okay." Mars peaked out of his room to make sure Mel was still in the bathroom before closing his door. "I think something bad happened to Mel, and I don't know how to help him? Or if I should do anything at all? Like, he says nothing happened but I know it's bullshit." He worked himself up remembering the state Mel had been in when he found him, how he had cried himself to sleep and how he had kept whimpering and shaking in his arms as he held him before taking him to his bed.

"Well first of all, you're not gonna get anywhere with him until you calm down, you know what mama always said to do if one of our girl friends went through something like what I'm imagining happened." Jules reasoned with him, a voice calm that would never betray that under the surface Mars's brother was probably just as angry as he was. Although his brother and roommate had not met yet, Jules knew how important Mel had become to Mars in the months since they started living together, and not only that but his big brother was fiercely empathetic towards anyone experiencing hurt of any kind. Something that, ironically, got his own heart broken on more than one occasion.

"'Just be there for them and support them on whatever decision they take.'" Mars recalled. "Yeah, I can't do that. I need to help him somehow."

"Don't make it about yourself Mars." Jules warned. "If something did happen then what he needs is to have his choices respected."

"What if he makes the dumbest possible choice?"

"Then give him space and maybe try to rationalize a better choice with him. From what you've told me he's a very altruistic person, maybe helping him see that a different path helps more people other than himself will help him."

"I hate it when you're right." Mars groaned.

"You're welcome." Jules chuckled. "So, I'm guessing dinner at the restaurant is a no-go?"

"I don't know if he'll be up for it. Did you need the truck?"

"No, I can get there on the metro. You keep it, just in case." Jules replied and Mars could tell he wanted to say something else, but knew better than to push his older brother. "Keep me posted?"

"Yeah, okay. Thanks for checking in Juju." Mars said and they bid each other goodbye.

Mars then heard the bathroom door open and Mel's door close with a quiet click, waiting a few minutes for Mel to get dressed and see if he would come out on his own. When it became clear he wouldn't, Mars changed into street clothes and knocked on Mel's door, hearing a mumbled reply he opened it. Mel was sitting at his desk, seemingly writing something on his planner, except the page it was open in was from last week.

"How are you doing?" He ventured with a wince Mel couldn't see.

"Fucking peachy," Mel replied, "I'm kind of busy right now Mars, what do you need?"

"I was just checking in on you… after last night."

"Nothing happened last night." Mel snapped back immediately and Mars resisted the urge to groan. Denial never helped anything.

"Okay… then… since it's a boring Sunday with nobody on campus why don't we go to the clinic?" Mars chimed, trying and failing to keep his words from dipping sarcasm, it got Mel to turn to face him.

"To do what, Marcellus?"

"Hey, we're active and attractive men, it's only responsible to get a check up every now and then." Mars's stomach was in a knot as he feigned nonchalance. Forget the fact that the most action he'd gotten in the last couple of months was a handy at a party from a pretty girl with a flat ass. He still chalked up the dry spell to the fact that there were holidays followed by a school break. "Come on, I don't remember the last time I got tested, plus we can pass by the cafeteria and bring Nox some French toast or something."

Mel bit his bottom lip, Mars could tell appealing to public safety was a good hook but making it about Mel helping his friends, even if it was to keep them company and feed them cafeteria food, was the sinker.

"Fine, but only cause I know they probably forgot to pack food again." Mel sighed after an endless minute and got up, walking to his closet to look for sportswear. "Let's walk to campus and go for a run after."

"Bet, let me grab my sneakers and Rover's stuff." Mars didn't point out how Mel had just finished taking a shower. 

They walked silently to the campus clinic, Mars letting Mel take over Rover's leash when Rover kept tripping him with it as he circled him excitedly. Sunday mornings on campus were slow affairs, it didn’t matter that the central cafeteria was open to service since seven to accommodate student athletes, there was barely ever a soul to be seen before the clock marked ten. The further you got from it and the athletics complex the emptier it got. Mars grabbed Rover and put him in the pet pocket of his hoodie when they made it to the central building so they could get to-go boxes from the cafeteria, unsurprisingly it was mostly empty except for a few early risers and hungover stragglers.

Mars was in the middle of filling a large coffee cup when he saw, or thought he saw a flash of blond curls in his peripheral vision. It had been like that all week, always turning to look a moment too late or something of the like, to the point where he thought he had been imagining her. In this moment, however, he was on a mission, he couldn't get sidetracked by whether or not he was actively losing his mind to the memory of a girl he only ever saw once. So, he met up with Mel while he waited for an omelette and the three of them made it to the campus clinic in record time. Nox was half asleep over their notes, cheek in one had and pen frozen in an unreadable script in the other at the reception desk.

"Morning Nox!" Mars beamed as Mel placed his box close enough to their face so they could smell its contents.

The exhausted graduate student was startled awake by Mars' voice, sour face turning amicable as they registered both who was talking to them and the delicious smell of comfort food.

"Marcellus, Melvin and Rover," Nox noted and turned to look at the time, "what in the world could possibly have you here this early on a Sunday?"

"Besides bringing you food, caffeine and making sure you don't get fired for sleeping on duty?" Mel listed with his free hand.

"Resting my eyes briefly." Nox corrected and pointed their pen at Mel. "And you do that whenever you want to gossip so cut the crap."

"Hey, can't two roommates bring their healthcare provider friend some food out of the goodness of their heart? That's cold dude." Mars feigned offense and when Nox just stared at him, he laughed. "Fine, fine. I was just telling Mel we should come in for a check up since it's been a while for the both of us, and you know, make a whole bro-date out of it by bringing you food after you take our blood and stuff."

"There are so many words in that sentence I never want to hear in sequence again, I don't even know where to start." Nox groaned, pinching their nose bridge.

"Second that." Mel cringed but Mars could see the hint of a smile tugging at the shorter man's lips.

"Let's get you sorted before my French toast gets soggy." Nox said and buzzed them through to the back, where the exam rooms and psychology offices were. 

When they got to the closest exam room Mel sat down on the patient chair, handing over his student ID to Nox, who promptly tapped his identification number and pulled Mel's history while Mars sat on the extra chair and idly played with Rover's fur.

"Let's do a full panel since it's been a while, vitamins and all that jazz too." Nox muttered, mostly to himself, not noticing that Mel wasn't paying much attention and was startled when the label printer came to life. "Dude, if you're this skittish without caffeine you might want to cut back a bit today." Nox chuckled and Mel pretended to find it funny as their senior glued stickers to vials. "Alright, roll up your sleeve so I can get your vitals and blood."

Mel looked at Mars and he could tell that he was wondering if Mars had already seen the bruises on his wrists. He had. He wouldn't have batted an eye at them, usually, as more than once had Mel boasted about marks left on his body, acting like they were trophies from his sexcapades. But knowing how shaken up Mel had been by whatever had happened between him and Fucking Brad had Mars' blood boiling at seeing them once again. Mars couldn't tell if Nox had noticed the cracks on Mel's poker face, but they acted as if nothing was amiss and continued making conversation with them.

"So what have you lot been up to?" Nox asked as he fitted Mel with a blood pressure sleeve.

"Mars hallucinated himself a girlfriend." Mel smirked.

"Dude I'm telling you she's real. Uriel was the one who told me her name." Mars groaned. They had had this conversation plenty of times throughout the week. "Just because I can't find her online, it doesn't mean she isn't real."

"Maybe you should go back and ask Uriel to give you her information, you know, like a proper stalker." Nox joked, Mel laughed and when Mars avoided meeting his eyes, Nox exclaimed. "Marcellus! Tell me you did not."

"I did not." Mars complied, sheepish smile tugging at his lips.

"Oh no it's better, he has a whole plan, tell them Mars." Mel was tearing up from how hard he was laughing, taking a deep breath and holding it when Nox told him to so he could find and poke a vein. Mars groaned and waited until Mel was all squared away before speaking.

"It's not a plan, it was just a random idea." Mars started as Nox finished up with Mel's arm, band-aid and cotton ball already in place so he stood up so him and Mars switched seats, Rover was still napping in his pocket.

"If you think I'm letting you off that chair before I know whether you're planning to terrorize some poor girl, you're sorely mistaken." Nox said as he started taking his vitals, making Mel burst out laughing again.

"I was just thinking maybe I could ask Uriel to schedule us close together again, then it could be like we met up by chance." Mars admitted, mostly to keep entertaining his roommate, while keenly aware of how bad it sounded.

"You're not beating the stalker allegations any time soon." Mel laughed.

They kept arguing the dubious purity of Mars's intentions when set alongside his plans to try to find the girl while Nox finished with Mars, labeled and stored the samples and ushered them out of the exam room and toward the courtyard at the back of the building, picking up the food they abandoned on the way. Their breath clouded in front of them as they sat at a picnic table, joining the steam escaping the coffee cups through the small hole in the lids.

"So, we're really not going to talk about why you decided to get tested all of a sudden." Nox deadpanned pointing a piece of French toast at the both of them.

"Because we're responsible adults?" Mars tried to intervene but Mel's expression had shut down again.

"Like he said." Mel replied, tugging his knee under his chin.

"Right. So all of a sudden you, of all people, developed a kink for being restrained and that ugly bruise on your neck is just a hickey." Nox continued prodding. Mars couldn't even be mad at them, this was precisely one of the reasons he insisted they came here, if Nox noticed it, they wouldn't let Mel simply brush it off.

"That's right, all fun and games. Now quit it." Mel said, stomping his foot back on the floor.

"I don't know any games that include running fifteen blocks barefoot in the middle of the night." Mars murmured without really meaning to.

"You know what, if I wanted to be double teamed I'd go on Grindr. So, fuck off, both of you." Mel exclaimed and took off running before either of them could stop him. Mars and Nox simply stared as he disappeared toward the campus exit.

"Don't tell me, he doesn't want me to know." Nox said, picking at the food in front of them then pushing it away.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to," Mars nudged the to-go box back towards Nox, nodding for them to eat it and they obliged. "He won't talk about it, at the very least I wanted to make sure he was fine physically."

"The fact that he can still run like that after giving so much blood probably means it's not as bad as it looks." Nox pondered. "I'll ask my friend in the lab to put a rush on your tests."

"Oh, mine don't matter that much, it was just an excuse to get him here."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say staying on top of your sexual health isn't important." Nox finished eating and stretched their limbs before standing. "Keep an eye on him and keep me posted, yeah?"

Mars nodded, watched as Nox made their way back to the health center and texted "I fucked up" to his brother just as Rover woke up from his nap.

"Wanna see if we catch up to Mel, buddy?" Mars asked him and Rover barked, gingerly jumping out of Mars's hoodie, waiting for his leash to be attached and for Mars to fall into step with him. "So much for not making it about him… or yourself. You're an idiot Mars." He sighed and tried letting the cold winter air clear his head.