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Today wasn’t much different than any other day. That’s what Pas thought, at least. Having settled into his latest library hidey-hole, he read through his history notes from the beginning of the week, unconsciously fiddling with the corner of his notebook as he intently focused on the bullet points detailing the history lesson.
However, the building anxious energy he felt made it gradually more and more difficult to concentrate, no thanks to the eyes he could feel practically boring a hole into him from across the library.
He knew the same dark haired boy was already nearby, having spotted his haphazard ‘studying’ when Pas briefly glanced up. He probably thought he was being subtle, having an open textbook and notebook out, but it was obvious enough he wasn’t actually studying and was watching Pas instead.
He thought the boy looked familiar, but couldn’t remember from what or where. Still, he knew he should nip this kind of thing in the bud before it became a problem once again.
Leaving his schoolwork on his table, Pas stood up, pushing himself up with both hands and approached the dark haired stranger. As he fast walked over, he noticed there wasn’t anyone else nearby besides a pair of girls quietly chatting between the shelves out of the corner of his eye.
Exhaling a sigh of relief, he reached his destination, staring down the dark haired boy from the opposite side of his table. He was intently staring at his textbook when he noticed Pas approaching, but his hardly hidden smirk gave him away.
Pas cleared his throat and the dark haired boy glanced up.
“Can I help you?” He asked, a knowing grin on his face.
“Stop following me.” Pas demanded, slamming his palms against the table. There was an intimidating look on his face that all but dissipated as soon as he realized how noisy he was, swiftly removing his hands from the table surface.
“Following? I’ve just been studying over here, same as you.” He shrugged.
“Sure. Just leave me alone.” Pas curtly remarked, not believing a word the stranger said as he started to turn away, glaring at the guy all the while.
“Hey, wait a second!” The dark haired boy suddenly jumped up, reaching out to grab Pas’s arm.
Taken by surprise, Pas whipped around, not entirely sure what he was about to do until he saw the sincerity behind the guy’s eyes.
“I… didn’t mean for it to come across that way…” He started, before realizing he was still holding onto Pas’s arm and swiftly releasing him. “Sorry! Er… sorry for both!” His arms quickly retreated to his sides. “I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, aren’t I?” He added, a small smile on his face.
Taking a momentary breath to recollect himself, the boy introduced himself. “I’m Nil. It’s great to meet you, Pas.” He widely smiled.
“Huh?” Pas was completely taken off guard by Nil’s introduction.
“What?” Nil replied, before the two boys stood there in awkward silence for a few moments.
“I… should really get back to studying.” Pas quietly remarked, once again trying to walk away only for Nil to try and follow him, banging his knee against the table in his hurry.
“Wait-AGH!” Nil hardly stifled the noise he made after running into the table, cursing under his breath.
Pas could feel the secondhand embarrassment practically eating him alive by this point. “A-are you okay?” He asked, feeling that he was the cause of this mishap.
Nil only laughed it off, waving his hand to try and allay Pas’s concern. “Yeah, I’ve been through worse!” He leaned back on the table, nearly sitting on it.
“Still, I-”
“It’s no big deal.” Nil shrugged, grinning all the while.
There was still something bothering Pas about all this and then it struck him.
“You already know my name?”
“Hmm? Yeah.” Nil nonchalantly nodded.
Pas wasn’t sure whether he wanted to die of embarrassment on the spot or shake Nil like a dog toy until he gave a clear answer.
Rather than doing either, he merely stood there with a perturbed expression. Nil nervously chuckled and averted his gaze.
“What can I say but word gets around?” He had a nervous smile as he rubbed the back of his head, still looking away.
Pas sharply inhaled through his nose, suddenly apprehensive.
“And we’re in the same math class.” Nil quickly tacked on like it was an afterthought. Although his anxiety wasn’t quelled, Pas felt somewhat more secure.
‘That must be why he’s familiar.’ He thought to himself. His mind was still going a bit too fast for his liking and by then a few moments had passed before it slowed down a bit. In the blink of an eye, Nil’s sparse study materials were already gone, tossed into his backpack as he slung it over his shoulder.
“I gotta go. It was nice to finally meet you.” Nil softly smiled and Pas could feel his heart practically melt.
“Y-yeah.” He stammered before nodding instead as Nil turned around and walked off. Pas could only stand there, watching Nil turn out of view by some shelves before taking a deep breath.
He felt his heart start to race and all he could do was sit down at Nil’s table across from his seat, repeatedly interlocking his fingers with each other before separating them and twiddling them. His eyes were fixated on them and he could feel his face warming up.
It was all he could do to keep himself from having a full-blown bi crisis.
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