Chapter Text
It was pouring rain outside, though the sound of it wasn’t actually as unnerving as it had seemed at first. Fluixon was all alone in his dorm room; Thomas had gone off somewhere with Micro a few hours ago, and Aculon hadn’t gone into details about exactly where. It wasn’t his concern.
If it weren’t for the clouds in the sky, the stars and the moon would have been clearly visible, their absence was a little disappointing. Flux sat at the kitchen table, finishing a cup of black tea that tasted slightly bitter. He was scrolling through his Twitter feed, not paying much attention to any of the posts. There really wasn’t anything particularly interesting there.
The past week had gone pretty smoothly; there hadn’t been much of a workload at the university, which made him very happy, and he now had twice as much free time.
His hand stopped scrolling through the feed when he saw a notification pop up at the top of his phone’s screen:
Hii fllx:)
Hpw are yoi??
Hellloio
Dude are you drunk
Ukhhh
Ofcouse no
Maybwwe a lilbit
How d u know
Fluixon sighed. Should he even bother dealing with someone who was drunk? Especially with Saps. This kind of interaction annoyed him, but he decided to continue the conversation anyway.
Your spelling doesn't look great yk
Damm
Why are you texting me
Mehhh
Cnn u opn the door
Pls
What
Wdym open the door
Oh
Oh god
Do not tell me you're behind my door
:D
You will be executed tomorrow i swear to god
What the hell is he even doing here? Flux muttered something under his breath as he opened the door to his dorm room. A smiling figure appeared before him, leaning against the hallway wall.
“Yo, Flux,” he said.
“For God’s sake, what are you even doing here at this hour? “You’re still drunk,” Fluixon muttered, stepping away from the doorway and gesturing for Saparata to come inside
“Ask Thomas,” Saps muttered, stepping over the threshold of the entryway. He’d been to Fluixon’s dorm before, so everything seemed familiar.
“What?”
“Ask Thomas,” he repeated, stumbling over his words. “He’ll probably… explain it better.”
Aculon said nothing, draping Theria’s arm over his shoulder and supporting him with his other hand.
“I can-”
“No.”
Saparata fell silent, letting Flux lead him. He probably really did know better; after all, his mind was clear right now. Saps chuckled quietly.
He led him to the room and sat him down on the bed. Theria saw Aculon sending one message after another to someone—that person was really in a tight spot.
Thomas
Thomas
Thomas
Thomas
Answer me rn.
Dude what happened
Ohh I should ask you what happened
What the fuck saps is doing here rn drunk
And why he's telling me you can explain tha
Ohhh
Okay i guess i can explain
So we were hanging out with micro in bar, and ykk saps got a little bit drunk
Maybe not a little bit as you can tell
That doesn't explain what he's doing here at all
Did you leave a drunk chud alone
I mean he was yapping a lot about you
“Ohh i want to see flux so bad” type shit
Or something like this
And you left him alone behind my door???
Not in fact alone, we were still in the corridor in case something happen
I dunno how you didn't see me
You two seemed cute together btw
I fucking hate you
And wdym he was talking about me a lot
Don't even ask bro
Flux this, flux that
I haven't heard your name so much in my entire life
He's called you a cutie btw ;)
What
Ok whatever I'm gonna kill you whenever you come back
Ok listen, we left him to you only cuz we know it's better for him
I don't want him to do something stupid outside
And you will definitely take care of him
You just don't have a choice
Whatever
Are you gonna come back before morning or
Nah I'm gonna stay with micro
Saps can sleep in my bed
Have fun with him
Fluixon sighed irritably, setting the phone down on the table.
“So,” he took a deep breath in and out to calm himself. “Thomas said you could sleep in his bed tonight.”
“Really?” he replied, sitting on the bed with his knees pulled up to his chest. “Your bed seemed more comfortable to me.”
“Whatever. Then I’ll sleep in his bed.”
Flux felt someone tug on his sweater sleeve, pulling him closer. He fell onto the bed, landing right beneath Theria’s head. They stared at each other in confusion for a few seconds before Saps spoke first:
“You know, your bed is big enough for two people,” he smiled.
“So what?”
He was left without an answer as he was pulled closer. His face was just a few centimeters from Saps’, they were lying face to face. It was awkward—very awkward.
“Of course, if you don’t mind.”
Flux didn’t answer, but he didn’t move away either. Saparata chuckled, looking straight at him. They spent a few minutes in silence, not a single word passed their lips.
Eventually, he heard soft snoring and felt the touch of warm hands wrapping tightly around him. How did Theria fall asleep so quickly? The light in the room was still on, but Aculon didn’t want to disturb his friend’s sleep by turning it off. He spent another half hour or so just lying there facing him before falling asleep.
The morning began with sunlight streaming onto Fluixon’s face. He got out of bed, rubbing his eyes sleepily. Saparata was no longer on the bed, so he decided to check the kitchen.
At the kitchen table, he saw the person he was looking for. Theria was sitting at the table, finishing a cup of coffee. Does he have the nerve to calmly drink coffee in someone else’s dorm room? Saps didn’t notice Aculon right away.
“Oh, good morning!” he exclaimed.
“Morning,” Fluixon replied listlessly. “Do you remember anything from yesterday?”
“I wouldn’t say so. I was actually surprised to see you when I woke up.”
“That’s not surprising. Hey, that’s actually my mug, you know—it’s kind of rude to touch things in someone else’s home.”
“Someone else’s? Sometimes I feel like Thomas thinks of me more as a neighbor—I’m here quite often.”
Flux sighed as he sat down in the chair across from Theria at the table. He gave him a brief summary of the previous evening. Saps listened attentively, giggling and nodding from time to time.
“Oh god,” he laughed. “Why did Thomas decide to leave me in your care?”
“He said you talked a lot about me. I don’t know the specifics, though.”
“Oh, that sounds just like me.”
“Really? Do you talk a lot about me?”
“Maybe sometimes,” he smiled slyly. “In a good way, of course. Though I wouldn’t say a lot, but believe me, no fewer times than you give me flowers.”
“So, that means often,” Fluixon smiled back.
“All right, maybe often.”
They both laughed, Saparata always managed to make Flux laugh—all it took was a few words.
Fluixon saw a message from Snowbird on his phone. He was surprised, since Snow usually didn’t message him privately, but mostly in Conspiracy chat.
Flux
I wanna talk to you
He froze for a moment, it was the last thing he expected.
“Flux, are you okay? You look like something impossible has happened.”
“Yeah,” he said shortly.
What happened
Are you free today at 6 pm or at least later
I guess
Why do you want to talk
You'll find out
Do you know any quiet places to meet at
Uhh
Waterfront
There's not many people here
Ok so I'll see you there
Why
Hello?
Snowbird u can't leave me on seen
This chud. Fluixon sighed as he set his phone aside. What the hell does Snow want from him? And why couldn’t he just say it—why all this secrecy?
“Are you sure everything’s okay?”
“I’m sure, but I feel like your cousin is going to kill me with his riddles someday.”
“Snowbird? What’s happened now?”
“He wants to meet up with me and talk about something, but he won’t say what exactly. It’s annoying.”
“Oh, I think he really does want to kill you,” Saparata chuckled.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true. Well, then, if I don’t reply to your messages, you’ll know what happened.”
The rest of the conversation went smoothly, with no further mention of Snow. They chatted for about another half hour before Saps realized it was time for him to go.
The whole day, Fluixon couldn’t concentrate properly; he was left alone with his thoughts again. Thomas never came back, saying he’d met up with Gotoga that morning, and they’d decided to go somewhere together, Aculon wasn’t particularly interested in where.
He looked at the clock hanging on the wall of Thomas’ side of the room. That stupid ticking was already getting on his nerves. There were less than two hours left until his meeting with Snowbird. He’d soon start counting down the seconds until that moment.
He tried everything he could to distract himself, but it usually only worked for no more than fifteen minutes, then thoughts about the meeting would creep back into his head. So many questions, and not a single answer.
Why did Snowbird have to schedule the meeting so abruptly without any explanation? Why did he even want this meeting in the first place?
Aculon sighed when he saw that it was 5:20 pm on his watch. It seemed it was time for him to leave the house after all and find out the truth.
He sees Snow standing at the beginning of the promenade. Sighing, he walks over to him. Deep down, he prays that this isn’t really something very serious.
“Hi,” Snowbird said, surprisingly in a more or less friendly tone. At least that was a little reassuring? Although, on the other hand, it seemed suspicious.
“Hi,” he replied. “So, are you finally going to tell me what’s going on?”
“Of course, of course,” Snow muttered, grabbing Fluixon by the wrist and leading him along. “Let’s go somewhere where there’s almost no one around.”
Flux pulled his hand free from Snow’s grip, following him on his own. He didn’t need to be led around like a little kid. Eventually, they stopped at a bench under a tree somewhere in the middle of the promenade.
“Are you going to tell me now?” Aculon muttered impatiently.
“Flux,” he finally began to explain. “Do you like Saps?”
Wait, what?
Fluixon froze, like an old computer that had been turned on after many years. He just stared at his companion, without saying a word.
“Flux?”
“Why do you think that?” he finally managed to ask.
“Oh, you know, lots of reasons. We could talk about this for hours—maybe even that wouldn’t be enough.”
Flux blinked a few times, having absolutely no idea what he was talking about.
“So, are you going to answer my question?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? You spend a hell of a lot of time with him, you give him flowers almost every week, and the way you look at him… It’s just like in those cheap romance novels on the front shelves at the bookstore.”
He didn’t answer, and he didn’t want to. Was it really that obvious?
He couldn’t say exactly when he’d fallen for Saps—probably toward the end of his first semester as a freshman. Although he wouldn’t exactly call it falling in love, it was more like sympathy—at least, that’s how he liked to think of it. They didn’t really know each other back then, falling in love would’ve been silly.
With the start of this semester, everything turned upside down. Probably on the day Saparata invited him to a cafe, that long-dormant sympathy began to resurface and grow into something more.
He finally admitted to himself less than a month ago that it might be more than just sympathy. He’d simply resigned himself to the fact that there was nothing he could do about it. But he insisted that he could hide his feelings, that he could let them fester in his own mind.
“All right, you don’t have to answer my question,” Snowbird continued. “Just know that running away from your own feelings won’t do you any good. Even though I don’t want to say it out loud, I care about you to some extent too. If you really like him, it’ll be easier to just tell him that, rather than silently hoping for something.”
Flux didn’t answer again, he just stared at the ground beneath him, pondering what he’d just heard. Snow is, after all, partly right.
“And I’m sure he likes you too,” he chuckled. “You two have been practically inseparable lately. I only ever see you together.”
“Didn’t you tell Saps that I’m not the kind of person he wants to deal with?”
“I was joking, okay? Oh my God, did you really take that to heart? You’re hopeless,” Snowbird rolled his eyes. “Actually, I said that on purpose back then because I knew he’d stand up for you.”
“What?”
“Shh, you didn’t hear anything, and anyway, it was probably just the wind. But seriously, Flux, if you really like Saps, you should make your move now—there are already a few girls chasing after him at the university, or at least they’re hitting on him way too hard. And honestly, I don’t want to see any of them with him,” Snow said the last part irritably.
“So you’re giving me your blessing, but not them? Wow, what a privilege.”
“Just make sure I don’t change my mind.”
“That’s certainly sweet of you, but I don’t think I’ll ever have the courage to say something like that out loud,” Fluixon admitted.
“So now you’re not even hiding the fact that you like him?”
“Shut up.”
“Saps knows the language of flowers,” Snowbird said quietly, but loud enough for Flux to hear.
“What?”
“Confess your feelings to him through flowers—you definitely know how to give them.”
“Does he really know the language of flowers?”
“Yeah, though I have no idea why he learned it. It’s never come in handy for him in his life. So maybe this knowledge will at least come in handy now.”
Aculon remained silent, once again mulling over everything that had been said. Confessing through the language of flowers… That sounds like a pretty good idea. He smiled almost imperceptibly, this was probably his only option. He’s not very good with words, so why not let the flowers say them for him?
“Thank you,” Flux said quietly, still avoiding Snow’s gaze. He almost always avoids eye contact.
“What? Are my ears playing tricks on me? Words of gratitude from Fluixon Aculon?” He laughs before continuing. “No problem, but remember that I can still change my mind about you. If you mess this up in any way, you’re in for it. I’m giving you one chance, maybe two, but I’ll have to think about it.
“All right, all right,” Aculon replied. “Did you drag me out of my house just to get a confession?”
“You could say that,” Snowbird laughed. “If we were just talking in chat, you’d probably just block me. And I definitely don’t need that.”
“You’re right. Just don’t say a word to anyone else—you hear me?” Fluixon furrowed his brow; the very idea that anyone knew about his feelings seemed worse than torture. He wanted Snow to be the first and last person to know about them. At least until he confessed to Saps, if he ever did.
“Pfft, fine. But trust me, you’re so obvious that I’m still surprised Saps hasn’t figured it out on his own. Seriously, I think he’s either really blind or a master at pretending.”
“That’s not true.”
“Whatever you say. I’ll bet at least Thomas figured it out a long time ago. He’s definitely not stupid.”
Flux rolled his eyes. He hates the fact that Snow is actually right—Thomas really did figure it out a long time ago. Maybe he really wasn’t hiding his feelings as well as he thought at first glance.
“You know, it might not have been so obvious if you hadn’t been staring at him for hours. I’m serious—whenever I look your way, you’re always staring at Saps like an idiot. Although, to a certain extent, you are an idiot. And you’re really bad at hiding your smile.”
“Can you ever stop talking?”
“Hmm, I might consider it if someone buys me some ice cream,” Snow said, half-jokingly.
“Oh, for God’s sake, are you seriously trying to beg me for ice cream? In this freezing cold weather, too? Which one of us is hopeless here?”
“Oh, come on, would it really be that hard for you to buy me some ice cream? It’s not that cold. You’d buy Saps some right away—you wouldn’t be able to say no to him—so you’re the hopeless one here.”
“All right, I’m only doing this to shut you up, but I won’t take any responsibility if you start coughing tomorrow.”
“Yay!!” Snowbird exclaimed joyfully, like a little kid.
It was already dark outside when Fluixon returned to campus. He exchanged a few words with his roommate before going into the room. He sighed. After meeting with Snow, he had really started thinking about coming clean. The language of flowers was a good idea—perhaps even brilliant. But he was still afraid he might ruin everything with it. Snowbird’s words did instill some hope in him, but doubts still largely dominated his mind.
He opened his laptop and typed the previously mentioned language into the search bar. Aculon spent quite a bit of time browsing dozens of websites. In fact, the language of flowers struck him as a truly interesting concept. The variety of messages—which didn’t even have to be spoken aloud—was impressive. He liked the idea of saying words without
actually saying them.
Most people use red roses, which was actually pretty obvious. But to Fluixon, the idea of a simple bouquet of roses seemed boring. He wanted something more specific, something that would convey his feelings as well as possible. That is, if he ever did work up the courage to confess.
He could make a mixed bouquet; he could add sunflowers—they symbolize adoration or something like that. His eyes scanned the lines of the article he was reading. Red carnations symbolize deep love and admiration; red chrysanthemums also symbolize love. God, why are most of them red?
Flux sighed, rereading the lines once more; there were indeed a lot of flowers, and he was hearing about most of them for the first time. He’d have to spend quite a bit more time thinking about his choice. He set his laptop aside, leaving this problem for tomorrow—or perhaps for when he finally worked up the courage to act.
He yawned, glancing at his watch. It wasn’t actually that late, but today had really worn him out. The meeting with Snow would linger in his mind for a long time, making him wonder whether he should have told the truth back then. On the one hand, Snowbird had truly supported him in this and provided genuinely useful information, on the other hand, the very realization that Snow knew about his feelings annoyed him.
No matter how obvious they might be, confirming their truth felt unsettling, as if he were violating his own privacy. Aculon really doesn’t know why he dared to tell the truth—he truly doesn’t know. Perhaps he was prompted by the suggestion that Saps might feel something for him too. The possibility of mutual feelings made his mind giggle and his heart skip a beat.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a message light up on his phone screen. He immediately grabbed it, seeing who
had sent the message:
Did you survive meeting with snowbird?
Pls tell me you did
I guess I'm alive
Or at least kinda
Hooray
What did he want tho
Uhh
Nothing actually serious
Some stuff
And he forced me to buy him ice cream
Ohhh
Then can i get ice cream too?:D
Maybe I'll think about it
Do u wanna hang out?
I wish i could
But im lowkey busy this week
I promised jophiel to help her sooo
Maybe next week ill get that ice cream :)
Oh
Okay
He set the phone down with a sigh of relief, at least Saparata hadn’t asked any more questions. Aculon had actually been taken aback by the question for a few seconds. He was really lucky that Saps hadn’t asked any more questions, he probably wouldn’t have been able to wriggle out of them.
Fluixon buried his head in a soft pillow. Since they wouldn’t be able to meet this week, he’d really feel awkward looking Theria in the eye after everything Snow had said. It’s awkward. Does he really stare that much?
He should pull himself together and make it less obvious; he doesn’t want anyone else asking him questions. His head was spinning from all of this. But he definitely wouldn’t be able to just stop looking at Saps. His gaze was drawn to Theria like planets are drawn to the sun
Maybe he really should confess? Although, wouldn’t he ruin everything by doing that? After all, Snow’s words aren't a guarantee of reciprocity, there are still scenarios in which he’d be rejected.
Amid the whirlwind of thoughts, he heard the door creak, they really should do something about that creak—it was getting annoying.
“Hey, Flux, how are you?” Thomas asked, while rummaging through a drawer in the table.
“Everything’s fine,” he muttered in reply. “What are you looking for?”
“A light bulb,” he said, closing one drawer as he moved on to another. “One burned out in the bathroom,” he clarified.
“Check the bottom left drawer—I think I saw one there. Or in the right one.”
His roommate took his advice, and for good reason. A second later, he was already standing there with a light bulb box in his hands.
“You weren’t lying,” he feigned surprise. “But let’s get back to my question. Are you really okay? Lately, you’ve been, well, you know-”
“Exhausted?” Fluixon interrupted him.
“You could say that. You met with Snowbird today, right? Was it something important?”
Aculon left him hanging for a few seconds before saying, “Not really, nothing important.”
“It felt like it was something important, though—you came back looking like you’d been tortured.”
“Kinda.”
“Kinda?”
“He’s trying to pry too much, and he knows too much now.”
“What do you mean by ‘knows too much’?” Thomas asked, confused.
“Never mind,” Aculon replied sharply, regretting that he’d said anything at all.
“Well, whatever you say, but you do realize you can trust me, right?”
“Thomas, I don’t need a lecture on that.”
“All right, all right,” he said, almost out the door, but pausing for a moment with the door still ajar.
“You know, it’s been a while since we’ve done anything together—just the two of us. And I just happen to have all day tomorrow free—would you mind going somewhere or just taking a walk?”
“I’ll think about it, maybe.”
“I’ll wait for your verdict tomorrow,” Thomas said with a smile, finally closing the door behind him with its characteristic creak.
He was right, after all—they really hadn’t spent time together alone in a long time, at most, they’d chatted for a few minutes in the kitchen, but that was only because they lived together. Most of the time, they hung out with the whole group, or they were both busy.
Actually, it would be nice to go for a walk with Thomas alone again, he’s one of the few people Flux can truly trust.
The autumn wind made the leaves still clinging to the trees tremble in the cold. It had started pouring again during the night, so the air was much more pleasant to breathe. There weren’t many people on the street, even though it was a day off.
“So,” Thomas began, walking slowly alongside Aculon. “How’s Saps doing? I hope he didn’t cause you too much trouble back then.”
“He’s fine, though I still don’t understand why you left him with me of all people. It would’ve been smarter to leave him with Jophiel or at least Snowbird.”
“Jophiel is the last person who should see Saps drunk, believe me. And I already told you that he talked a lot about you—way too much. I’m actually surprised he knows so much about you—you’ve only known each other for about three months.”
“Knows a lot?” Fluixon turned his head toward his companion, raising one eyebrow slightly. He hadn’t exactly told Teria much about himself—probably less than he’d told Thomas.
“Yep. I think he pays close attention to your habits. He’s the only one who notices some of them. And he talked a lot about how much he loves the flowers you give him.”
Flux nodded in response. The flowers reminded him of his meeting with Snow yesterday, which he had been trying so desperately to push out of his mind—at least for today. He shook his head slightly, breathing in the fresh air. He needed to relax today and not let it weigh on his mind.
“Is everything okay? You seem a little distracted today.”
“I’m fine,” he replied briefly.
“Is this about what happened with Snow yesterday?”
For God’s sake, not now. The thought flashed through Aculon’s mind. He remained silent for a few seconds.
“It’s more about how he sticks his nose where he’s not invited.”
“No details?”
“No.”
The next thirty seconds passed in silence; neither of them wanted to bring up the subject again. Thomas truly respected Fluixon’s choice not to share the details, despite how flustered he felt right now.
“Purely theoretically,” Flux began. “How likely is it that what Snow says is true?”
“Huh?” Thomas stopped, puzzled.
“Well,” he paused for a moment. “He’s not the type of person who would lie. At the very least, he says what he really thinks. Especially when he speaks in a serious tone.”
“I see.”
“Dude, now I’m curious about what he told you,” Thomas said, folding his arms across his chest. “You should stop speaking in riddles.”
“It was purely theoretical.”
“I hope I’ll find out what it was—purely theoretically—someday.”
Fluixon paused for a moment, wondering if he should answer. He’d already said too much over the past few days. He turned his head away before speaking:
“Maybe, but there’s no guarantee.”