There were two easily identifiable scents but the strange thing was that there was only one person in the room, and Wylan had already scientifically (tested and tried) concluded that it was impossible to smell yourself and call it abnormal.

After his nose his eyes were up, flickering to consciousness in an uneven pattern. Finally the pounding pain registered and he moaned, clutching the side of his head that wasn't already sunken into his pillows.

"I see you're up."

The voice was dry and gravelly, almost as if the man on the other side of it spent his summers swallowing stones. It wasn't the same voice as the boy he (probably) passed out on and he was beginning to think that his kidnapping theory was pretty spot on.

"Y-y-yeah, I-I'm up," Wylan stuttered as the rest of his body gradually came back to him. "I-I can't get up, my head feels really heavy."

There was a loud sigh from the other side of the room and suddenly a boy appeared right in front of Wylan, eyes peering directly at him.

"Fuck!" Wylan cried out in alarm. "I thought you were in the other side of the room."

The strange boy - man, boy? - nodded calmly. "I was on the other side of the room. I walked."

Wylan began shaking his head. "Firstly, I know for a fact that - hold on are you Kaz Brekker?"

The boy - Kaz - sighed. "I see my reputation proceeds me."

Wylan visibly fought the urge to cringe and try to move away, current paralyzed state ignored. Kaz Brekker was infamous at his - their, he supposed - college. He was head of all the major pools at all times and ran several organizations deep in the college system. It was also very well known that he ran an information trade-off, and had two human pitbulls on him at all times.

And all of this with a cane, limp, and permanently black gloves.

Wylan almost wished he could use his dyslexia the same way Kaz Brekker did but then he realized he would have to sell his soul to Satan and that wasn't a trade he was willing to make just yet.

Kaz Brekker raised an eyebrow. "Done staring?"

Wylan flushed. "Y-yeah, you're just really familiar. Don't you have Inej Ghafa with you all the time though? The entire college is making bets on when you guys are going to make it official."

Coal black eyes narrowed and Wylan instantly tried to retreat. "I-I mean, you guys have made it official enough and really you two are adorable couple I'm not trying to take that away from you-"

"We're not dating."

Wylan stopped, blood rushing to his cheeks. "B-b-but," he stammered helplessly. "Touching? Kisses on cheeks? Resting arms and legs on each other? You guys literally show all the signs."

If possible those coal black eyes got even darker. "We're not dating, I don't like her, and we're not even close to that," he said angrily. "You're wrong."

Wylan shook his head. "I'm definitely not."

Kaz's eyes sharpened to even narrower slits and they held a stare-off for a while, Wylan finally breaking it off. He noted Kaz's shoulders loosening and strained muscles softening with relief.

"So… what happened?" Wylan finally asked into the new silence.

"You hit a stop sign twice and then fainted into Jesper's arms," Kaz told her. "You don't have a concussion."

Wylan nodded in thanks, attempting to lift his head. It was still too heavy and he immediately sank back down. Kaz glared at him angrily for a while before propping the pillows under his head up. An embarrassed flush ran through Wylan and he began internally berating himself.

"Thanks," he said softly. Kaz didn't reply.

Suddenly the door slammed open and heavy footsteps creaked down the hallway. Wylan flinched with alarm but Kaz redirected his stare to the door,

It swung open loudly and Wylan turned his head to see the boy - Jesper, Kaz had said - he'd fainted on enter casually. Instinctively his cheeks flared a bright red, despite the fact that Jesper wasn't even looking at him.

"Hey man," Jesper said in greeting to Kaz. Casually he swung his backpack down and onto the desk next to him. "How's our sleeping beauty?"

Wylan coughed awkwardly to signal his existence. Jesper turned his gaze to Wylan and looked surprised.

"Damn boy," he said after a beat. "We had bets going on. You couldn't have pretended to be out for another hour?"

That jolted him out of his paralysis and he immediately tried to look out the window. "Crap what time is it?" he cursed. "My dad's going to kill me if I ditch any classes."

Jesper laughed lightly before stepping closer and helping him sit up. Wylan clutched his head dazedly, resisting the urge to moan in pain. "You're okay, it's only been a few hours," Jesper soothed him. "And it's like, twelve right now. Nighttime. At least you didn't pass out in broad daylight because then you'd probably have to deal with Nina and Inej as well."

Wylan gave him a confused look as unfamiliar names and references flew past him. Kaz rolled his eyes, choosing to stay silent.

The dark-skinned model flashed him a grin that made Wylan go a deep red - practically blending in with his hair. "I keep forgetting you don't actually know us." He laughed lightly. "Nina's really hyper and excited all the time, and Inej is - well, she'd probably be helping you in this situation. And Matthias would just glower."

Wylan blinked, struggling to come up with a clever reply. "I-I-," he stammered, moving his stare from Jesper's pure gaze to the plain bedsheets. "Those are some interesting friends," he finally chose, examining a wrinkle in the sheets.

Kaz snorted. "A euphemism for strange," he said cuttingly, beginning to stand up. Wylan dully noted that he reached out for his cane and propped himself against it before nodding to Jesper. "I have better things to do than be a glorified nurse," he said in goodbye. The door shut loudly, a contrast to his silent footsteps.

Another beat passed after Kaz had left and Jesper moved himself from the bed to the chair next to it. Wylan slumped back down almost immediately and his head hit the pillow with a loud thunk. He winced as the bump on the back of his head protested loudly.

Jesper winced at the fall as well. "You okay?" he asked. Wylan nodded, trying to hide the grimace.

"You're not," the other boy decided. "I'm going to get you an ice pack. Now I would tell you to stay still but clearly you're not going anywhere."

Wylan managed to shoot him a dry look for that but Jesper was already up and moving. The door swiftly opened and for a while Wylan was alone in the room, only for Jesper to return a few seconds later.

"Here," Jesper told him, handing him the icepack. "It's pretty cold so I wrapped it in a towel."

Wylan thanked him, idly wondering how the hell he had managed to both take out an ice pack and wrap it in the time it would take Wylan to take off a pair of flip flops. "So what's your name?" Wylan finally asked, flushing at the stupid yet necessary question. Despite already learning his name from Kaz, he would probably make a total fool out of himself if he actually tried explaining that to Jesper.

The other boy laughed. "Jesper," he introduced himself. "Jesper Fahey."

The name reminded him of something and he almost bolted up before reminding himself that his head was throbbing like crazy. "You skipped class earlier today," he realized. "Either that or you've just been pulling off two completely different looks really convincingly, but I'm fairly sure it's not the latter."

Jesper smirked. "You're in Advanced Design and Engineering?" he asked. Wylan nodded.

"Major nerd here."

"Well major nerd," Jesper said delicately, pronouncing the words as if they were a fancy dish at a restaurant. "I'm not sure if you want me to keep calling you that for the rest of your life so it's better if you tell me your real name right now."

Wylan swallowed awkwardly, not wanting to make a fool out of himself.

Wylan Van Eck?

Wylan Eck?

His mind desperately switched between the two and he finally made a choice.

"Wylan," he said after the pause. "Wylan… Eck."

He could have slapped himself as Jesper's eyes sparkled with amusement.

"That's an interesting name," Jesper told him with the tiniest hint of a smirk. "Just Eck? Nothing else?"

Wylan flushed once more, his regular excuse coming to mind. "My grandfather was eccentric," he blurted out. "And my parents had a great sense of humour!"

Holding an awkward thumbs up, the dark skinned boy squinted at him confused.

He shrugged. "I told you you wouldn't want to kidnap me."

Strangely enough, a light laughter came from Jesper, and he internally wondered why the hell Jesper hadn't started running yet like, well, Kim from tenth grade (a girl he had both managed to horrify with his awkwardness and accidental coming out), Perry from eleventh (the guy had been smooth, he had been not) and Uriah from seventh grade (in this case, neither of them were smooth. Plus, both of them were in the closet so the entire thing had pretty much been a bust).

"On another note," he started, beginning to stand up once more. "Do you want something to eat? It's been hours since you last ate, hasn't it?"

Wylan nodded, startled to feel a strange hunger pang in his stomach. He had barely felt it, being so absorbed in his conversation with Jesper.

"Well," Jesper said as he began to leave the room. "We have some dumplings left over so if those are alright with you?"

Wylan nodded gratefully and flashed the other boy a smile. Jesper winked back as he left, purposefully making Wylan turn three shades darker and he stared at the blank wall, the room feeling empty after his disappearance.

What the hell have I gotten myself into?