By sunset the next day, Lucien was standing on a beach holding an oversized garbage bag and questioning every decision that had led him here.

The beach itself was beautiful enough to feel fake. Golden sunlight spilled across the ocean in long red-orange streaks while palm trees swayed slowly near the shoreline. The entire place looked like an expensive desktop wallpaper.

Lucien stopped walking for a second just to stare at it.

"So pretty," someone nearby said in Chinese.

Lucien turned his head in surprise.

A boy wearing glasses smiled at him politely. "We had class together before. I'm Chen Fang."

Lucien returned the smile automatically, though it stayed polite and distant. "Oh. Hi."

"You don't usually come to the international student events."

"Busy."

"Working?"

"Yeah."

"What city are you from?"

Lucien immediately wanted to leave the conversation.

Questions about home always felt dangerous now.

He wasn't actually the original Lucien. Every detail about "home" felt like borrowed information he had no right to speak about comfortably.

So instead, he lifted the trash bag slightly and said, "I should start cleaning."

Chen Fang smiled. "I'll help. I got assigned here too."

Fantastic.

Lucien started walking faster along the shoreline.

Unfortunately, Chen Fang followed him anyway.

And kept talking.

About classes.

About Chinese restaurants nearby.

About student groups.

Lucien answered mostly with short sounds while aggressively collecting bottles from the sand.

Apparently none of his social signals were strong enough to stop this conversation.

—

Farther down the beach, the boxing club was drinking beneath a giant white tent.

"Where's Leon?"

Joey pointed lazily toward the shoreline. "Brooding somewhere probably."

Several people laughed.

Then one of them paused.

"Wait."

Everyone turned.

Leon had stood up from his chair without explanation.

Joey followed his line of sight and immediately saw what had caught his attention.

A small dark-haired boy dragging a trash bag through the sand while another guy hovered nearby talking nonstop.

Joey's eyebrows climbed slowly.

"Oh," he muttered. "That's interesting."

Leon walked away without responding to anyone.

—

Lucien was reaching the limit of his patience.

Chen Fang was still talking.

How did this man have so many topics.

Lucien bent down aggressively to grab an empty bottle from the sand.

"Yu'an."

Lucien froze instantly.

That voice.

He looked up and saw Leon standing directly in front of him, tall and broad against the gold-red sunset.

For one horrifying second, relief flashed through Lucien's chest before his brain caught up and started screaming about how concerning that reaction was.

Leon looked down at the trash bag in his hands.

"What are you doing?"

Lucien lifted it slightly. "Volunteer work."

Without another word, Leon reached over and took the bag from him.

Lucien blinked in disbelief.

"Hey—wait—I need that."

"I'll do it."

"No, you won't."

Leon placed one large hand on top of Lucien's head and held him in place while casually taking the trash bag away.

Lucien reached toward it and completely failed because Leon's arms were unfairly long and this entire situation was blatant height discrimination.

"Leon."

"I said I'll do it."

"You can't just steal my volunteer labor."

"You should rest."

Lucien stared at him in disbelief while Chen Fang stared at both of them in obvious confusion.

Leon appeared not to care even slightly about either reaction and simply walked away carrying the trash bag like beach cleanup was some kind of military mission.

Lucien hurried after him immediately.

"Give it back."

Leon calmly stabbed an empty can with the trash picker and dropped it into the bag. "No."

"I need the academic credit."

"You'll still get it."

"That's not how volunteer systems work."

Leon continued walking along the beach. "You can go talk to your friend."

Lucien stopped walking entirely.

"What?"

"Your friend."

Lucien stared at him for several seconds before realization hit.

"Oh my God," he said slowly. "Are you jealous?"

Leon's hand paused very slightly.

Lucien's eyes widened immediately.

"You are."

"I'm not."

"That answer was way too fast."

Leon picked up another bottle aggressively. "You looked close."

"We absolutely did not."

"You were talking."

"He was talking. I was trying to survive."

Leon finally looked at him directly.

Lucien planted both hands on his hips and glared up at him.

"He is not my friend," he said firmly. "I met him thirty minutes ago and he's been emotionally exhausting me ever since."

Leon glanced back toward Chen Fang in the distance before looking at Lucien again.

"…Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

For the first time since Lucien met him, Leon actually looked slightly awkward.

Then he said quietly, "Sorry."

Lucien's irritation weakened immediately, which was honestly extremely annoying.

He sighed dramatically. "It's fine."

Leon still looked unconvinced.

Lucien finally muttered, "You can help me though."

Leon took another trash picker without comment.

The two of them started cleaning together while the sun sank lower across the water.

Lucien flattened bottles beneath his sneakers.

Leon picked them up and dropped them into the bag.

It became strangely efficient.

From farther down the beach, voices started rising from the boxing club tent.

"No fucking way."

"Is Leon Bolton picking up trash?"

"Who's the cute guy with him?"

"Move, idiot, I can't see."

Lucien pretended not to hear any of it even though his ears were burning.

He spotted another bottle, jogged over, and crushed it beneath his shoe.

Leon picked it up smoothly.

"You here with the boxing club?" Lucien asked.

Leon nodded. "Team dinner."

"That sounds horrible."

"It is."

Lucien snorted softly.

"Big fight coming up?"

"Yeah."

"Nervous?"

Actually, Leon wasn't nervous at all.

Fighting relaxed him. Always had.

The ring was simple. Honest.

People hit you or they didn't. No pretending.

But when he looked at Lucien standing beside him in the sunset light with sand on his sneakers and wind blowing through his hair, he still answered:

"A little."

Lucien's expression softened instantly.

"Well," he said awkwardly, "you'll win."

Leon watched him quietly.

Lucien kept talking too fast. "I mean obviously sports are unpredictable and weird things happen all the time, but you're really good. And even if you lose, that's okay too. Not okay okay. I'm not saying you should lose. I just mean—"

His English collapsed halfway through the sentence.

Lucien covered his face immediately.

"Oh my God."

Leon's eyes softened faintly.

"I know what you meant."

Lucien lowered his hands slowly.

Leon looked at him steadily. "I'll win."

The certainty in his voice should've sounded arrogant.

Instead it sounded comforting.

"Yu'an."

Lucien looked up.

"You'll come?"

"To the fight?"

Leon didn't answer because he didn't need to.

Lucien smiled slowly before curling one hand into a fist and holding it out toward him.

"I'll cheer for you."

Leon looked down at the tiny fist before raising his own much larger hand and bumping their knuckles together gently.

Warm skin.

Ocean wind.

Golden sunset.

Lucien grinned brightly.

"Good luck, Leon."

Leon looked at him for a long moment before replying quietly:

"Thanks."