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Chapter 4: Tuesday

Keanu had a Calculus exam on Tuesday afternoon, and after that, more to study for the next exams. Hunter also had a Calculus II exam in the afternoon as these extensive exams required more time to work with as they could spend the whole afternoon slowly answering the problems and making complicated calculations. Depending on the schedules and coincidences, Tuesday became the peak of the hardest exams for everyone that day. The campus was at its most quiet and an imaginary tumbleweed rolled freely by the salty wind.

Before afternoon, Keanu went to the cafeteria where he assumed and expected to see Sergio, Milagros, and Xavier together this time around. On Mondays and Wednesdays, he would lunch at eleven while Tuesdays and Thursdays at twelve, so somehow, he got it all figured out quickly after receiving his class schedules. Now that it had become the norm, Keanu did not mind switching between his group of friends and then the others at lunch as there was always something new to happen.

Keanu purchased his lunch and carried his chicken burger tray to a particular table. There he spotted a pair of coyotes and a green-fathered parrot.

“Hi, guys,” the wolf smiled, “what’s up.”

“Hi, Keanu.” Milagros kindly smiled and gestured to sit along with them. “How you’re doing?”

“Just fine,” Keanu sat down with his tray on the table, “we’re dealing a lot with the exams.”

“Ugh, same,” Sergio exasperated, “don’t bother asking.”

Xavier the parrot scoffed. “We’re all in a torture cell of extreme brain stimulants, pushing our knowledge neurons up to eleven.”

“Oh my, sorry to ask.” Keanu awkwardly chuckled. He knew they were being humorous. He opened his burger box with some fries. He opened a packet of mayonnaise for his chicken burger.

“Keanu, have you seen Hunter?” Milagros asked. “Yesterday, I saw him leaving campus very promptly in the afternoon. I was just going to catch up with him for a moment, but he told me he had other important plans.”

After swallowing one bite of his burger, Keanu replied, “I… don’t know really. But I know he’s now busy, too, with the exams and everything, you know. We hung out last weekend at my home. We won’t be seeing each other this week, so there’s that. I could text him later.”

“I texted him too, but he didn’t reply.”

“He had other plans, you say?”

“Yeah, that’s what he told me when I caught up with him, but he was in a hurry and took the tram.”

“Alright, I’ll check on him later…” He pulled out his phone to do something else now that he had time. Keanu already knew that Milagros, Sergio, and Xavier already had their own personal devices since they hung out enough to see them using them in front of Keanu. Xavier and Sergio had a laptop, and Milagros had her own tablet. They were naturally out of the list. He decided to text his other cousins, Norbert and Sarah.

“Sergio, did you publish that raffle prank you did last month?” Xavier asked.

“No, not yet. I didn’t have the time to edit it, I’ve been busy,” Sergio answered.

Keanu curiously asked as he put his phone down, “What prank did you do?”

“You weren’t there that afternoon, Keanu. I made a raffle of giving away the new PlayBox with a Chinese knockoff called ‘BoxPlay’ inside the boxes, people gathered around and picked a number within one hundred, and only fifty would win. It was too good to be true~.” Sergio laid back on the chair with arms behind his head with a smug. “I’m so proud of that one.”

Milagros added, “Once they came back to their dorms to open it and only to find out they were Chinese bootlegs… they all came back to Sergio’s dorm with mutilated and smashed consoles with nasty death threats in his doorstep, and I quote, ‘I hope you step on a Lego brick!’”

They all laughed.

“There were worse messages though, but yeah, they got so effing angry when they got their hands on it.”

Xavier said, “I still cannot believe you bought fifty fake boxes of PlayBoxes and another fifty knockoff consoles.”

“They were cheap, duh, about twenty fucking bucks, each online, but I got a discount if I bought fifty for half the price.”

Xavier as usual, gave him a resting bitch face. “I cannot believe you fooled fifty people by giving away a Chinese knockoff console.”

“They were first years, so of course they got fooled by me.” Sergio was still proud.

“You have a thousand followers and not one on this campus identified you as the prankster in their first year? How’s that possible?”

Sergio just shrugged. “If anyone doesn’t recognize me, well, kiss your gullible ass goodbye. Fooling first years are the best and easiest targets.”

“Pues claro, once you fooled them, they will remember you forever and follow you online.”

“Hey, at least the pranks are harmless.” Sergio shrugged.

“Even the harmless ones can become a villain’s arc.” Xavier broke his composure and laughed.

At least Keanu knew what not to do, and the last thing he wanted to do was a random raffle out on the public campus. He was not confident in giving it away to a stranger and confided in giving it to someone he was familiar with. He had the whole time in the world to find a suitable owner.

The rest of the lunch hour was delicious and relieved some stress before resuming for the next exams. Keanu reunited with some of his classmates for a short rehearsal before Calculus class began handing over the test. Keanu would not come back home until late in the evening.

…

Meanwhile, Hunter had his Calculus II exam and spent the night studying it laboriously and mentally and temporally threw his secondary but important mission out of his head. He spent all evening until midnight and satisfyingly called it night. Last night, his brain was swimming with thoughts struggling to settle down until it turned into a weird circus of mathematical problems and if he solved it, he could win a new tablet for his little brother. He was subconsciously grinning in his sleep and his tail wagged delightfully.

He had it in the bag and partially struggled to solve the calculations and gave a certain answer. Time went on, and Hunter finally finished with the final answer. He double-checked his answers before confidently handing the exam over to his professor, then walking away silently from the classroom, and half-ran out of the building. Arcade, here I come! He thought cheerily.

Hunter traveled on the tram and texted Sol, Xerxes, and Broderick, they were all coming to gather at Rexville Mall’s movie theater. He was surprised to meet them at the tram station when he arrived. It was good timing.

“Hi, guys!” Hunter grinned. “How’s it going?”

Hunter greeted his friends with bro hugs and casual handshakes. He was honestly glad they were willing to help him with his odd favor.

“Hunter!” the pink-scaled dragon cried. “What’s up!”

“Hiya, Hunt, long time no see,” the reindeer-man said.

“Nice to see you again, Hunt, what have you been up to?”

“Ah, you know, tough exam week.” Hunter shrugged. “I’m glad you guys came to help me out.”

“No problem, Hunt,” the leopard said, “anything for a friend.”

Hunter guided his friends to the mall’s movie theater arcade and explained his goals. The wolf explained his mission of winning a new Nebula Tab 10 from the challenging prize machines at the arcade for his little brother’s sixteenth birthday. They all brought some cash with them as Hunter instructed and hoped to increase the chances of winning a new tablet for River.

“Your little bro’s turning sixteen?” Sol said in a congratulatory way. “I remember he looked like a pup and a month later, he hit puberty and grew a number.”

“Yeah, he’s growing up so fast.” Hunter reminisced. He saw him growing up as a pup. He was five when River was born and remembered somehow vividly at the hospital while his mother recovered. Time sure flew away before Hunter knew it.

“So, just a Nebula Tab from a prize machine?” Broderick asked. “You know those machines are rigged, right? We could lose a huge fortune of our savings.”

“As long we have a turn and waste on three machines at the same time, we could potentially win a prize.” Hunter ball-fisted his hand in the air, trying to motivate himself optimistically with his friends.

After walking through the wide, crowded corridors of the mall, just right at the entrance of the movie theater was Rylan, cleaning the carpeted floor with an industrial vacuum cleaner.

“Hunter? You weren’t kidding when you said you were bringing some backup.”

“How’s our little homophobe~. How you’re doing?” Sol teasingly greeted him.

“Oh, cut it out.” Rylan hissed. “That’s now in the past.”

“Come on, guys, let’s go. Rylan is busy today.”

“Oh, by the way, Hunter,” the four turned back to him, “after you left, someone won a tablet.”

“What?” Hunter cried, ears standing up stiffened. “Which machines?”

“The Block Stacker, but we still have three tablets left in the back. You know you aren’t the only one trying to win one.”

“Aw, man, we better get going. Come on.” Hunter rushed to the arcade section. As usual, the place was almost deserted, but a few people were playing around without a care as it was Tuesday.

The three machines were now vacant after one rhino-man played the Key Master and won nothing from its tricky rigged tactics. The wolf, the leopard, the dragon, and the reindeer each exchanged their twenty-dollar bills into the token machine and collected eighty tokens in their pockets.

“Okay.” Hunter approached the three machines. “This time, I want one of you to play one of these machines until you finish sinking every token in your pocket.”

“I call the claw machine!” Broderick said with his hand up in the air and stepped forward to the claw machine.

“I have won some things in Key Master: I’ll take this one,” Sol said as he took over the second machine.

“What did you win before, Sol?” Hunter asked.

“Ah, a keychain for my cousin, it took five tries.” Sol began to insert four tokens to start the game.

Finally, Xerxes stood there and looked awkwardly at the Block Stacker. “So, how do you play that one?”

“You never played it before?”

“I was going for the claw machine, but Broderick beat me to it.”

“I’ll show you how, I’ll play first, okay?” The big pink dragon nodded. “Rylan doesn’t recommend me to play this one, but what are the chances?”

“Why not?”

“Because this one is the most rigged of them all.”

All Hunter could do was show how it was done as he inserted four tokens to start a session. As he explained, Xerxes visually learned and noted. It was not that hard from the looks of it but soon he watched how Hunter was struggling to keep up as he stacked the lighted blocks on the screen in the right spot without missing a single block over the edge. As it rose higher, and fewer and fewer blocks from four, three, two, and one, jumping left and right faster until Xerxes’ eyes spun at the flashing lights and saw the Game Over screen blaring highly. Hunter missed one block to reach the minor prizes.

“And there we go; think you could give it a try?”

“Sure, why not.” Xerxes shrugged and tried it out for himself. He added four tokens and started the game. The first row of blocks was easy, swinging left and right and pressing the button to stop. Then another row of four blocks danced around left and right but this time Xerxes had to stack them evenly without missing one block over the edge.

Hunter watched as it climbed, Xerxes missed one and two blocks and narrowed challengingly before he could reach the minor prizes. He was too focused to speak and let his friend take his time to learn better. This was his first time after all.

The swinging was getting faster, and he only had a single block after screwing up on his first try. Xerxes just gulped and pressed the button in vain, and the block just missed over the block below. Two blocks left to reach the minor prizes.

“So, you want the Greater Prizes?”

“Yeah, the Nebula Tablet if you make it to the top.”

“Sounds like a challenge.” Xerxes tried another round.

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you.” Hunter patted his buff shoulder and checked on Sol.

Sol was so focused that he didn’t notice Hunter coming after losing his round. “Oh, what the fuck, man! This shit is rigged. I never…”

Hunter clarified, “The major prizes are more rigged than the lesser prizes.”

“Really?” Sol though. He inserted another four tokens and started a new round. The plastic golden key began to move by Sol’s commands as it quickly ascended on the lesser prizes.”

“Sol, what are you doing?” Hunter said, confusedly.

“Just testing…” Sol focused and pressed the insert button.

The golden key pushed forward toward one of the first rows of lesser prizes and voila! It went right in!

Hunter was baffled and cried, “Dude! That could have been—”

“It’s just candy, Hunter, enough to cover the prize’s price tag.” Sol picked up a bag of gummy worms from the hatch.

“Aw, man, Sol, what if…”

“You know how these machines work, Hunter, stop fretting, we have enough tokens for this evening.” Sol put the bag of candy in his other pocket and started another round.

Hunter checked on Broderick. The reindeer had been measuring strategically on both sides of the glass to see better and to aim at the specific prize. The claw was dangling idly on standby before Broderick pressed the button to grab the same box Hunter had been struggling to grab.

“Oh, there it is!” Broderick smiled like a goofball, his short stubby tail wagging.

Hunter quickly jumped one step and watched as it grabbed the prize. It looked like a solid grab as all three prongs surrounded the item neatly. Then it ascended…

Broderick held his breath and shrieked. “Oh! There it goes!”

Hunter was mentally biting his nail claws at the tensing moment. Could this be?

“Come on, baby, come to daddy—FUUUUUUUCK!!!!” It slipped, fell, and bounced further back from its previous spot. “WHAT THE FUCK!” Broderick screamed. “WHAT. THE. FUCK!? Did you fucking see that?”

Hunter was speechless about what he saw and relived the extreme exaggeration of Broderick when they played video games online. He had always been the rage gamer when it came to hard challenges.

“Broderick, calm down.” Hunter had his hands in defense to ease him. “You still have plenty of tokens left, you have a chance.”

“Oh, right, I forgot…” The reindeer sheepishly calmed down before resuming another round.

Then a jolly victorious sound came from Xerxes’ Block Stacker. Hunter leaped next to him and saw the result. “Xerxes, did you make it?”

“Uh, sorry, Hunter, I accidentally stopped at the minor prizes instead of going forward.” Xerxes kneeled to the hatch to claim his prize. It was a pack of baseball cards.

Hunter sighed but did not give up. “It’s okay, Xerxes, you’re doing great.”

“Hey, Sol, does Topher like to collect baseball cards?” Xerxes shook the prize with his big hand.

“Uh, kinda?” Sol was too busy aligning the key into the top right corner of the tablet. “He loves baseball, but I never seen him collecting cards.”

Xerxes put it in his pocket and continued playing Block Stacker. He was getting a good handle on the game. He had won a minor prize, so it was something…

Broderick seemed the most tense, now he had to go on a longer trip with the claw to reach his main objective in a far corner. He moved the claw right over the empty box with the Nebula Tab printed on all sides, lying on top of a pack of gift cards. Broderick had his tongue out in focus and pressed the button to lower it down and it snatched.

“Come on, come on, grab it!”

The three prongs closed around the box, and one slipped right through a hoop under the box. When it rose in the air, Hunter and Broderick saw the rare sight of two prizes held together in one go. It was the pack of gift cards dangling by one string.

“Come on, come on, come on, come for me!” Broderick begged.

The claw was returning to its base but then the box fell off.

“NO!!!” Broderick cried with hands planted on his temples dramatically. Hunter made an uncomfortable face as it fell back into the ground, landing next to an empty box for a set of headphones.

The claw came back but it still brought something and dropped it on the hatch below. Broderick kneeled to claim it and pulled out the pack of gift cards.

Broderick inspected the pack and opened it. He said, “Well, does River be interested in gift cards? These aren’t so bad.”

“That depends, River hates gift cards. One time Aunt Lara gave him a House Depot gift card. Mom and Dad used it instead.”

“Uh, okay?” Who the fuck gives a kid a House Depot gift card? Broderick thought. He brushed that off and continued, “Well, there’s a ten percent off for video games, some restaurant chains, and a free 100 play points for Jake & Bumpers’.”

“Really? We’re celebrating his birthday there, maybe this gift isn’t so bad.”

Broderick gave him the gift cards. Hunter put it in the breast pocket of his shirt. “But do you still want the tablet?”

“Hell yeah, I still want to give him the best birthday present ever!”

Time went on as one of them gave Hunter a turn to play and win a prize, but their efforts were in vain. They had sunk their eighty tokens on all three machines as time passed on. It was all fruitless.

In the end, they came out of the arcade empty-handed, again, albeit with different prizes they won. Sol won a bag of gummy candies, Broderick a pack of gift cards, and Xerxes a pack of baseball cards. It was not much, but it was something.

“Sorry, we couldn’t win the tablet, Hunter,” Xerxes said as he rubbed the back of his head.

“It’s okay, guys, you all did your best,” Hunter said.

“If anything, maybe those gift cards would suffice,” Sol said.

“Maybe, but I want it to be special. He really needs a new tablet. I’m going back tomorrow to try again. Maybe I bring the others with me.”

“Dude, you’re bringing people over, since when?” Broderick asked.

“This is the first time with you guys, yesterday and Sunday I went solo, but I need more support.”

“I can’t do that tomorrow, Hunter, I have a shift, sorry,” Sol said.

“Me either,” Broderick apologized. “I have family preparations for Thanksgiving next week.”

“I have a date tomorrow,” Xerxes excused.

“You have a date?” Hunter said. “Who is it?”

“You don’t know her; I met her last summer. We’re actually getting serious.”

“Really? Cool, good luck on third base.” Sol gave him a thumbs-up and winked.

The old friends went their separate ways as Hunter took the tram back home and resumed his studies before his father chewed on him a new one. Though, it was nice to hang out with them like old times which Hunter smiled fondly with his brown-and-white tail swinging happily.

The tram dropped him on Oasis Boulevard Station where his home, the Emerald Tower, stood. After one elevator ride to the ninth floor, Hunter unlocked the door and hoped his father wouldn’t be sitting on the couch waiting for him…

“Hi, Hunter, welcome back.” A small relief, it was River once again in the living room, watching TV.

“What’s up, River, did you have a hard time at PE?”

“Nah, I’m fine, all we did was run today. My legs are killing me.” River rubbed his upper and lower legs as they felt heavy and by tomorrow, he would feel them sore. “Coach Herrera is a freaking beast.”

“Yeah,” Hunter joined up with him on the couch, “He chewed me out every time I was a bit cocky. I guiltily enjoyed the little punishment like running a dozen laps and pushups.” Hunter smiled shamelessly.

“Dude, I wouldn’t dare get near his bad side, he is freaking scary and tough.”

Hunter shrugged. “He was always all bark and no bite. He was my coach for—somehow—all four years in high school. I don’t remember the last time he snapped and sent someone to the principal for suspension or detention. He’s a good coach; you’ll have a great time with him.”

“Whatever. At least I have a blast in the locker room, we’re all running around naked and whipping each other’s butts with towels.” River laughed. “Is that how you learned you like guys?”

Hunter blushed as he relived his time when he was closeted. He did enjoy fooling around in the locker room in high school, but at first, he noticed and felt self-conscious and insecure when he embraced his first year. But thanks to his new group of friends who unknowingly made him feel safe and managed to control his inner lust masterfully while being surrounded by naked males.

Once he realized who he really was, he embraced it, but he wasn’t confident enough to come out. One thing he learned was to orient himself before acting. It took him a long time until his first year in university to develop a solid pair of balls to come out to his family and friends.

Hunter laughed and said, “Why? You like boys, too?”

“YUCK! No! That’s not what I meant!” River slapped him in the chest where the filled breast pocket was.

Hunter laughed, he barely felt anything more than a light thud. He rubbed lightly on his chest and said, “I’m joking, I’m joking.”

“Hey, what’s in your pocket?”

Hunter noticed the button of his breast pocket was opened and showed the colorful and fluorescent gift cards. Hunter rarely used his shirts with breast pockets since he usually put his phone and wallet in his pant pockets.

“Is that a pack of cigarettes?” River asked curiously.

“N-NO!” Hunter jumped from the couch and stood on both feet. “I-I mean, no, that’s uh…”

“What’s the commotion?” said another voice. It was the stern but curious tone of Dylan Montana coming into the living room in his usual home dress, a white T-shirt and black sweatpants.

River explained almost as if he were seven and blowing everyone’s cover, “Hunter got a pack of cigarettes.”

“It’s not cigarettes!” Hunter cried.

“Hunter, you know very well how harmful they are. Your mother would be angrier than I could muster.”

“They’re not cigarettes, Dad!” Hunter hastily pulled out the cards and showed them to him. “They’re gift cards!”

Dylan looked at the colorful cards and felt mentally relieved at the misunderstanding. He looked at his youngest son and said, “What did I tell you about jumping to conclusions, River?”

“Well, I didn’t get a better view. Sorry…”

Dylan turned to Hunter and asked, “Where did you get them?”

Hunter was cornered. He had no choice. Hunter’s ears folded. “Uh, I went out with my friends in the arcade and won them in the claw machine.”

Dylan was not impressed. “You know you have exams coming up.”

“Yes, and today I did well in Calculus today, and then…” Hunter had to white lie, “Sol called me to hang out today at the arcade and…” he sheepishly shrugged, “you know.”

Dylan sighed and before he was going to give him a serious lecture about celebrating too early while there were still exams coming up, Hunter interrupted him. “Can we talk in private for a moment, Dad?”

Dylan stopped and looked at his eldest son with pleading eyes and a finger on his lips, and his green eyes were indicating toward River.

Dylan rolled his eyes with a grunt and said, “Come with me.”

River watched his father taking Hunter into the corridor and mocked, “Hunter’s in trouble, nyah-nayh nayh-nayh nayh nayh~!”

“For crying out loud, River, grow up! You’re turning sixteen!” Hunter shouted.

River laughed and resumed watching TV.

At Hunter’s bedroom, Dylan was grumbling something under his breath, probably the unkept room looking messy. Hunter would deal with it later.

“What is it, Hunter?” his father inquired.

Hunter closed the door for privacy. “Dad, this is all a misunderstanding, the reason I was at the arcade was to get a present for River’s birthday.”

Dylan looked perplexed and somehow surprised. “What did you get?”

“Nothing yet, I lost this round, I’m trying to win a new Nebula tablet for River.”

“And what’s with the gift cards then?”

“Uh, that’s what my friend won in the claw machine and gave it to me.” He fiddled with the cards. “He almost got the prize, but it slipped off, and somehow got this instead.”

Hunter decided to explain the whole story so far from the beginning since Saturday, and how he spent his remaining budget from his summer job to win the new tablet from the prize machines which were infamously rigged. He spent Sunday and Monday playing alone and decided to bring his friends over to help him win the chances of the tablet if three played simultaneously. In the end, it was a failure.

“…and this is how I won these gift cards,” Hunter concluded.

Dylan was skeptical but listened. He sighed. “Ugh, Hunter, I really don’t know what to think of this.”

Hunter chuckled awkwardly. “I’m only doing this for River.”

“Then why a tablet? He has one, doesn’t he?”

“Well,” he shrugged, “his tablet is outdated and Rylan said it hasn’t been compatible with the up-to-date apps and other technical stuff, etc., just trust me, Dad, it’ll be worth it in the end.”

“So, how much does it cost?”

“It’s not that expensive but I’m underbudgeted…” Hunter sighed in shame as he looked around at his spending decorated in his bedroom.

Somehow, Dylan caught up in his body language. “I see, your mother said to buy River a gift under your budget, but I guess… you’re the type to do things in your own way… but are you planning to go there tomorrow?”

“Yes, but after I take the exams each day and come back here after one session. I’ll make it work, Dad.” Hunter raised his hands defensively as he explained he had not neglected his studies.

Dylan just blew an exasperating blow of air and pressed his fingers on his muzzle. “Er, I’ll let you be, Hunter, forget what happened earlier in the living room, and good luck with your quest.” He walked to the door to open it and said behind his shoulder, “And go back to study, young man. I want some good scores this semester.”

Better than being grounded for holding a pack of gift cards and mistake them for a pack of cigarettes. Hunter nodded and obeyed. “Yes, Dad.”

For now, his father did not forbid him from going to the arcade tomorrow, so he was safe for now. He was still going there tomorrow with friends again. He texted Xavier, Sergio, Milagros… and Keanu…

…

Robin called Joseph to say he was coming over to his dorm now that things were out of the way in the evening after dealing with Tuesday’s exams, and now they could settle down working on their social science essay.

Joseph stayed at the dorm building, Swordfish Three, on the third floor with a roommate but he was hanging out with friends in the common room on the ground floor. Robin lazily took the elevator but noticed how slow it ascended. Unlike his dorm building, Jellyfish Nine, its elevator was working faster with only six floors. He would never know.

Finally, the elevator opened after one mind-numbing eternal moment inside, Robin leaped out of the lifting machine and walked through the corridors. Good thing Joseph gave him the room number and sent him a picture of the door number 310 plate which was broken. Why? Apparently, a previous student had a fight with his roommate and punched the door so hard that it knocked off the plate number. The dent was still visible upon arrival. Robin had already heard wild stories in this university from student to student, so it was not surprising that he would find one in the least expected place. Let alone a dorm room.

Robin knocked on the door and not too long Joseph answered. Robin felt a nice relief as things were going smoothly, and nothing was getting in the way…

The young caracal was standing on the threshold, only in pale gray sweatpants and a white tank top.

Damn, boy, you’re hiding that under your baggy clothes!? Robin thought. For as long as he knew Joseph, he wore that ugly, baggy, brown hoodie. It looked somewhat mothballed but once he heard Keanu asking if Joseph considered buying a new hoodie, he said it was newly bought before he began his first semester and that his regular cleaning slowly began to look pale and worn out thanks to its brown color.

But now this was the first time Robin saw him without the hoodie, Joseph was quite athletic for someone with a slender build. A twunk? The exposed tawny-brown arms showed it, his compressing tank top showed off the cleavage of a contoured and defined chest, and his waist and abdomen, well, it was well hidden but could tell he was in good shape.

“Hi, Robin, just in time.” Joseph smiled.

That greeting was enough to shake off his stupor and said, “Hey, Joseph, what’s up.”

Robin and Joseph together worked on the essay. Robin filled him in on his progress which impressed Joseph, and now they could discuss what part Joseph could cover for the small project. They talked, analyzed, and researched online for good source materials.

It was not so bad really. Really, it was not so bad. It was a fresh breath of air when he got partnered with Joseph and sadly, he expected him to be something of a somewhat incompetent goofball when he first met him, especially when he saw him struggling and wasting his time looking for dates. But in the end, he was a fair student in Keanu’s architecture class. This was because Robin had to deal with annoying, terrible, and lazy students he had partnered with in the past which hindered him in progressing his projects and affected his grades. He hated that very much.

Just one essay meeting, and he found himself with an actual smarty-pants who actually used his brain properly!

But now Robin found himself feeling something familiar he had gone through before. It was lust. Robin mentally sighed, yes, he realized Joseph was quite attractive but only on the surface. What a pity. He stole a lot of peeks and glimpses as he stared and scanned around Joseph’s frame as he casually talked and discussed their essay. He tried to make up a peculiar shape between the caracal’s sweatpants’ crotch, but he could not as he obviously wore underwear. But he still could enjoy watching those tawny-brown arms casually flexing their biceps, triceps, and shoulders from the simplest gestures as Joseph talked.

Robin lazily responded with the uh-huhs, the yeses, and the noes as he somehow managed to go through a long lecture from Joseph without noticing he was staring at him dreamily. Guess, I’m the dumb one now, Robin thought. But it was all worth it in the end. Or maybe he’s kind of oblivious… or too dense to notice…? Oh shit, he better not, but hey, he’s in his own world now and I can watch him speak all night.

The session ended and they got it all covered for Friday.

Joseph stretched his arms up in the air. “Well, that should do it. You’re doing great.”

“Thanks, glad that’s out of the way.” Robin sighed in relief, not because of the partnered essay and the uncertainty on how it would turn out with an ill-fitted student but surviving in refraining from misbehaving and making a dumb move on Joseph for a quickie. He had done something like that before and got a C minor.

“We can discuss it more… uh, maybe tomorrow evening?” Joseph suggested.

“Yeah, that’ll work, uh, listen, sorry if I was being harsh on you earlier and yesterday. I don’t do well with certain people…”

“Huh?” Joseph shrugged and waved it off, “Oh, it’s okay, I’ve been told off way worse—heh.” He chuckled.

“I’m only saying this because, we’re now partners for this essay, and I don’t want to fail. I had been previously being paired up with inept students in the past and I usually work alone.”

“Yeah, I get it, I’ve been through with that too. I once did a science fair project, and I was the only one who did the whole job because I knew those three, I got paired with, were the worst and did nothing. Luckily, I showed my progress to my teacher, and I complained that the three were doing absolutely nothing and she let me do the whole project alone. I won that day.” He sounded very proud that day.

“You got lucky, I tried to cut ties, but my teachers always shook their heads. Middle school and high school were tough.” Robin exasperated his breath.

“Sorry to hear that. Was it Shoreline Middle and High schools?”

“Yup, those schools. I found out they were the worst-rated schools after graduation. Then I heard an embezzlement scandal and some other serious shit. I heard the former principal was arrested.”

“Oh, I remember that! It was all over the news! That’s how I learned they were the worst schools in Rexville City. Dude, you’re like a survivor.”

Robin scoffed at the compliment. “Maybe an ‘I survive the Shoreline Mid and High scandals!’ T-shirts should be in order.”

Both the raccoon and caracal laughed. They casually chatted a bit more until Joseph offered to play some video games with him, he did not mind for a short while and let out their frustrations against their opponents online. Fun times. Tonight, Joseph learned that Robin was not who he thought was. He could be a dick, yeah, but he found some depth and Robin proved he could be a decent guy when he could once you get to know him better as Keanu said.