Lucien didn't emerge from the cabin until dinner.

Most of the afternoon had disappeared while he repacked his bag, reorganized clothes he'd already folded twice, and stared at Leon's jacket for an embarrassingly long amount of time before finally stuffing it carefully into a paper bag.

Now he carried it into the dining room like evidence in a criminal investigation.

"I washed it already," he said as he handed it over.

Leon looked down at the bag for a moment before setting it beside his chair without opening it.

Something in his expression shifted briefly. Lucien couldn't tell if it was disappointment or annoyance or something worse.

Then it vanished.

"Boer's seafood chowder is good," Leon said instead. "You should eat before Joey steals everything."

Lucien sat down obediently with his bowl.

Across the table, Joey's eyes moved back and forth between them with the concentration of a man witnessing live television drama.

"So," he said eventually, "did you have fun this weekend?"

Lucien nodded.

"Yeah. A lot."

"Good," Joey said brightly. "Then we should all do another trip sometime."

He elbowed Leon directly in the ribs.

"Right, Leon?"

Lucien visibly tensed.

Leon noticed instantly.

Instead of answering, he reached over and filled Lucien's bowl again before asking casually, "Midterms coming up soon?"

Relief flashed across Lucien's face so fast it was almost painful to watch.

"Yeah," he said quickly. "Everything's getting busy."

"What classes?"

"Mostly econ."

Leon nodded once.

"If you need help, ask me."

Lucien blinked.

"You studied economics?"

"You sound surprised."

"I thought you only punched people professionally."

Leon laughed quietly under his breath.

"When I dropped you off last time, I saw the textbook in your hands."

The explanation came smoothly enough that Lucien accepted it immediately.

What Lucien didn't realize was that Leon remembered nearly everything about him automatically. The books he carried. The songs he hummed under his breath. Which foods he picked around first when he ate.

None of it required effort anymore.

"I'm usually free," Leon added casually. "Call whenever you need help."

Lucien looked up at him over the rim of his bowl.

His eyes always looked darker at night.

Too soft. Too trusting.

Leon had to stop himself from reaching over and touching his face right there at the table.

"Okay," Lucien said quietly. "Thank you."

Leon held his gaze for another second before smiling slightly.

"Anytime."

—

The team had training the next morning, so everybody left the ranch early.

Lucien looked barely alive.

He shuffled after Leon through the cold morning air carrying his backpack while half asleep, head drooping lower every few steps like gravity itself had personally targeted him.

Twice Leon had to stop walking because Lucien nearly walked directly into fence posts.

The urge to just pick him up again was overwhelming.

Unfortunately, Lucien now reacted to unexpected carrying attempts like a suspicious cat.

So Leon behaved.

Barely.

The second Lucien climbed into the passenger seat, he fell asleep again immediately.

Leon glanced over while starting the engine.

Sleeping Lucien was dangerous in an entirely different way.

Without the constant expressions and nervous reactions, he looked softer somehow. Defenseless. His mouth stayed slightly open while he slept, lashes resting dark against his cheeks beneath the morning light pouring through the windshield.

Leon's grip tightened once against the steering wheel.

His thoughts drifted somewhere they absolutely should not have.

If he leaned over right now and kissed him, Lucien would probably wake up confused first. Then horrified. Then stubbornly angry in that way he got whenever he felt cornered.

But Leon could already imagine exactly how it would happen.

Lucien trying to push him away while trapped against the seat.

Breathing harder every time Leon kissed him deeper.

Small hands gripping his shirt instead of actually escaping.

Leon dragged his attention back to the road before his imagination became genuinely criminal.

Beside him, Lucien slept peacefully through the entire psychological warfare session happening inches away.

At some point, the movement of the car and several cups of coffee finally caught up with him.

He woke slowly with a quiet groan and rubbed at his eyes.

"Leon," he mumbled sleepily, "I need a bathroom."

The words came out soft and unfocused from exhaustion.

Leon exhaled once through his nose.

Under different circumstances, hearing Lucien say that in that voice might've genuinely ruined him.

"There's a gas station ahead," he said evenly.

Lucien nodded and immediately started falling asleep again before they even parked.

The gas station bathroom looked aggressively terrible.

Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead.

One sink.

No stalls.

Zero privacy.

Probably at least three crimes committed there historically.

Lucien stood frozen inside the doorway reconsidering all his life choices.

Beside him, Leon had absolutely no hesitation whatsoever.

Which made sense.

Men like Leon probably didn't experience shame naturally.

Lucien tried very hard to focus on literally anything else while fumbling with his zipper.

Unfortunately, he accidentally glanced sideways.

And then his brain blue-screened completely.

Oh my God.

What the hell?

Was that legal?

How was that a real human situation?

Lucien forgot how to function for several full seconds.

Beside him, Leon looked over calmly.

"You okay over there?"

Lucien opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

Leon finished first, washed his hands, then leaned casually against the sink while watching Lucien remain frozen in visible distress.

"If you don't go now," he said mildly, "the next stop's pretty far."

Threat.

That was absolutely a threat.

Lucien nearly cried.

Unfortunately, biology won.

He squeezed his eyes shut, decided dignity was temporary, and handled his business as quickly as humanly possible.

Relief hit instantly.

Right up until Leon looked down once and said thoughtfully:

"Cute."

Lucien combusted.

Actually combusted.

He whipped around so fast he nearly injured himself.

"You can't say that!"

Leon looked completely serious.

"Why not?"

"That's not something people describe as cute!"

Leon considered this for a moment like he genuinely respected the debate.

Then, very calmly:

"Alright. Pretty, then."

Lucien nearly passed away in the parking lot.

The entire drive afterward became emotional recovery time.

He sat rigidly against the passenger seat while Leon drove beside him looking entirely too pleased with himself.

"It's normal where I'm from," Lucien muttered eventually in weak self-defense. "Average. Completely average."

"I understand."

"No, you don't."

Leon glanced sideways at him briefly before reaching over and poking Lucien's puffed-up cheek once with one finger.

"Okay," he said softly. "My mistake."

Then, after a pause:

"Very pretty though."

"SETH."

Leon laughed hard enough that he actually had to look away from the road for a second.

—

Once they returned to campus, life immediately became miserable again.

Midterms hit all at once.

Assignments multiplied like bacteria.

Lucien barely had time to work shifts at the pizza place anymore between classes and studying.

The weird part was that Leon still called him almost every day.

At first, Lucien kept waiting for the calls to feel awkward.

Instead they slowly became normal.

Sometimes they barely even talked. Leon would stay on the line while training, and Lucien would study at his desk with the phone beside him while flipping through textbooks and struggling through translated readings.

When Lucien got stuck, he'd ask questions out loud automatically.

Leon always answered.

Tonight, Lucien sat cross-legged on his bed surrounded by papers while Leon's breathing came through the speaker low and uneven between explanations.

Probably training again.

Lucien's brain supplied images against his will.

Sweat.

Boxing gloves.

Muscles flexing under black compression shirts.

"This part make sense?" Leon asked.

Lucien blinked.

He hadn't absorbed a single word.

"…Not really."

Leon laughed quietly.

The sound slid warm through the phone speaker and straight into Lucien's chest.

"Don't laugh," Lucien muttered. "I'm trying."

"You're doing fine."

"No, I'm definitely not."

"You want me to explain it in person instead?"

Lucien froze slightly.

There it was again.

That strange feeling every time Leon casually suggested spending time alone together.

"Uh… maybe later," Lucien said quickly. "I've been busy."

Leon didn't push.

"Alright."

Then he calmly explained the concept again from the beginning like rejection genuinely hadn't bothered him at all.

Which somehow bothered Lucien more.

After the call ended, Lucien collapsed backward across his bed with his textbook over his face.

Something about this whole situation felt suspicious.

Did friends really talk every day like this?

Maybe Western people did.

Maybe this was normal.

Still uncertain, Lucien called Jeremy for professional advice.

Unfortunately, Jeremy answered while very obviously doing something deeply inappropriate.

"What?" Jeremy gasped. "Phone calls? Why?"

"We study together."

"Oh my God," Jeremy said. "And what exactly is he getting out of this arrangement?"

"We're friends."

Jeremy made a noise that suggested he physically did not believe that sentence.

"Sweetheart," he said, clearly distracted again by his boyfriend in the background, "are you absolutely sure he knows you think this is friendship?"

Lucien sat upright.

"What does that mean?"

"It means no grown man calls another guy every single night to discuss economics unless he's either in love or clinically insane."

Some muffled movement happened on Jeremy's side.

"Hey, don't bite there—"

Lucien hung up instantly.

Then he screamed silently into his pillow for a full minute.

—

The next day, Lucien woke up around noon again because apparently his sleep schedule had surrendered completely.

The apartment fridge was empty except for expired yogurt and soy sauce packets, so he dragged himself to Walmart wearing an oversized hoodie and emotional exhaustion.

The second he entered the store, he remembered Halloween was next week.

Plastic pumpkins towered near the entrance beside fake skeletons and bags of candy.

Right.

That explained why his roommate had carried home two giant pumpkins yesterday like a man preparing ritual sacrifices.

Lucien considered buying decorations too.

Then he checked the prices and decided candy was spiritually sufficient.

He pushed the shopping cart farther into the store.

A hand landed lightly on the handle before he got very far.

Lucien looked up.

Leon stood there in a black coat smiling down at him like he'd been summoned directly from Lucien's recent emotional problems.

"…Oh."

"Hey."

They hadn't actually seen each other since leaving the ranch.

Only phone calls.

Only voices.

Only late-night conversations drifting through speakers.

Suddenly having Leon standing this close in real life again felt unfairly intense.

Especially after Jeremy's comments.

"Small world," Leon said.

"Yeah."

Lucien stared very hard at the shopping cart instead of Leon's mouth.

Leon stepped closer naturally.

"Buying groceries?"

"Mhm."

"You cooking tonight?"

"Trying to survive tonight."

That earned him a quiet laugh.

"I've been practicing Chinese food," Leon said casually. "You should come judge whether it's edible."

Lucien looked up.

"What?"

Leon's eyes stayed fixed on him.

"I need an honest opinion."

That should not have sounded as seductive as it did.

Lucien swallowed once.

Dangerous man.

Very dangerous man.

"…Okay," he said anyway.