A/N: All of Corvus' emojis will be in brackets with the appropriate description/translation. Gren, on the other hand, does use simple plain text faces such as " :) " So his are pretty much in tact.

End of the Second Week of May, First Day of Summer Break

Gren looked at the iced coffee in front of him: milk, no sugar. It was still a little too bitter for his tastes, but he was getting more used to it because it served a very important need: helping him stay awake for late night studying. He used to go for more dessert-like coffee: frappuccinos, caramel mochas, or at the very least a few spoonfuls of sugar in his coffee, but the resulting sugar crash made that no longer an option.

He took a sip and winced a little at the bitterness, but whatever face he involuntarily made quickly changed as soon as he heard Corvus' laugh.

"Still too bitter?" he asked, his eyes warm and still smiling from his earlier laughter.

"I think I need to get used to the bitterness. I'm training my taste buds," Gren said, only half serious.

Corvus nodded, "Training your taste buds is the hardest type of PT. At the beginning of the year, ROTC would have us do a shot of black coffee with the goal of us drinking a full cup by the end of the year." Corvus calmly took a sip of his coffee and Gren's eyes grew a little wide. He was 99% certain that Corvus was joking, but then there was that 1% doubt…

Shortly after Corvus set his cup down, Gren causally leaned in to take a peek at what he was drinking...definitely not black coffee.

Corvus brought the cup back up to his lips, Gren's eyes following naturally. It was Corvus' grin that reminded Gren that he was now staring at Corvus' lips and he probably should stop doing that.

"You're kidding," Gren half-smiled.

Corvus continued to smile, trying to hide it behind his coffee mug, "Yes, but it was cute that you needed to check."

Gren took another sip of his coffee, involuntarily making whatever face he made earlier.

Corvus laughed again, although Gren could tell he was trying to stifle it. Gren didn't mind; he knew Corvus wasn't laughing at his expense, and he enjoyed making Corvus laugh, his heart felt lighter as a result.

"Why not just add sugar to it?" Corvus asked, his voice still light.

"Because I'm trying to avoid the sugar crash," Gren explained.

Corvus continued to smile, "Maybe add more milk? There's a little sugar in milk, but it's not like you're adding a spoonful."

Gren looked at the cup, "That's a good idea. The glass is just too full. I'll just need to…"

"I can take a sip if you want," Corvus offered.

Gren tilted his head slightly, "I don't think a sip will…"

Corvus smirked and rocked his head back and forth, "Fine, a few gulps. Enough so you have some room to put more milk in."

Gren looked from his iced coffee to Corvus. "That would be nice. Thank you, Corvus," he smiled sincerely.

Corvus's eyes darted away momentarily, his face looking almost a little flushed, before grabbing Gren's cup, "It's a win-win, more coffee for me and more tolerable for you."

After Corvus kindly fell on that figurative sword, Gren added some more milk and returned to the table, mixing the coffee and milk until it was a lighter color.

"Better?" Corvus smiled.

He took a sip, "Definitely, thanks!" Gren smiled brightly.

Corvus looked back to his coffee and took another sip, the heat from his coffee must be the thing that was causing his cheeks to flush, Gren realized.

Gren continued to smile, leaned forward, and tilted his head slightly while looking at Corvus. Corvus actually had a habit of hiding behind food or a nearby beverage whenever he wanted to hide an expression. Well, not just any expression - it mostly seemed to be smiles, and Gren just couldn't understand why he would try to hide those because Corvus had one of the brightest and most beautiful smiles he had seen.

Corvus started to fidget under his gaze and Gren snapped out of his thought, leaning back into his chair.

"So what time are your parents coming to help you move out?" he asked. The entire reason they were meeting in the late morning was so they would have one more time to hang out before Corvus left for the summer.

"We have to be completely out of the room by fourteen hundred…err...two o'clock. So they'll be here a little before noon."

A look of panic crossed Gren's face, Wait, what time was it?

Corvus chuckled and stirred his coffee absentmindedly, "We have time, I set an alarm for when I should be leaving."

Gren let out a breath of relief and could feel his shoulders relax, "That was a good idea. Without the strict schedule of classes and study times, I lose track of time pretty easily."

Corvus gave a sideways grin, and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, so even with a strict schedule I get lost in my work and lose track of time easily," Gren chuckled.

Corvus chuckled too, "That checks out." He looked up at Gren, "Although, I am going to miss our study sessions," Corvus said, his tone sad.

"We'll do them again next year too, right?" Gren asked, maybe too eagerly he noted to himself.

Corvus seemed to perk up, "I'd really enjoy that..."

"And then there's the escape room!" Gren added, he was trying to pull out anything that would cheer Corvus up.

A small smile appeared on Covus' face, "That's true. I already booked the room. It's detective-themed."

Gren smiled back, "I'm looking forward to it!"

Corvus' smile grew enough that he needed to hide it behind his coffee mug, and Gren's smile grew wider at what he considered to be an important accomplishment.

When he put his mug back down he returned back to business, "So what's your crazy schedule for the summer?"

"Classes every day except Friday. Monday/Wednesday, and Tuesday/Thursday night classes are from 7:30 until 10:00."

"Yikes, that's pretty late."

Gren played it down, "It's pretty standard for summer. I think the school understands that a lot of us need to work. The other common time is from 4:30 - 7:00. If I didn't take my extra classes in the spring that would've been my B-session class time."

Corvus nodded, "...I'm grateful my program doesn't require summer school."

Gren shrugged, "You get used to it. The only bad part, that I can think of, is that the campus is poorly lit during the summer at night. I think they only put half of the normal lighting on to try to conserve energy. I know it sounds a little silly, but truth be told, I get a little spooked by it." Gren chuckled, "It's the only time I actually drive onto campus, and I walk back to my car super quickly. You would think I was in a speed walking race. Oddly enough, driving doesn't save me too much time, by the time I get home it's usually around 10:30-ish."

"What time does work start?" Corvus looked a little nervous in asking.

"Six am," Gren replied, taking another sip of coffee.

Corvus flinched.

"But I get off at 3:30!" Gren half-chuckled, half-defended. "So I have the afternoon to study and get stuff done," He explained. It really was an insane schedule - deep down, he realized this.

Corvus chuckled lightly and nodded to himself, "Yup, you're definitely crazy." He looked up and smiled, "But not in a bad way. Just don't overwork yourself."

Gren smiled back, "I'll try not to. What about you? How does summer look like for you?"

"Mostly me helping Mom and Dad by working at the local rec camp. With me working there it's 50% off for my little sister to be in a summer program. That allows them to work without a babysitter during summer break as well as lets me earn some money."

"Asha's twelve, right?" Gren asked, taking another drink of his coffee; it was definitely better with more milk. Corvus is a coffee genius.

"Yup, and Chlo is twenty-one. Although, Chlo has summer school since she's working to be a physical therapist. Once again, I do not envy you guys," Corvus smirked.

"So is it a day camp or do you guys camp out overnight?"

"Both!" Corvus said with enthusiasm. "It depends on the program. My first session is day camp where we get to do scavenger hunts, ziplines and obstacle courses. The second session is overnight camp with hikes, rock climbs, rapids, and night walks. The last session is the same as the first. I really enjoy it. This will be my fifth year."

"I can see you being a great camp counselor! I bet you're great with the kids too!" Gren beamed and was even more overjoyed to see Corvus get a little bashful, hiding behind his cup of coffee and taking a sip.

"I try to be patient with them, and we definitely have fun, I don't let them get away with much though. I'm one of the stricter counselors, but the kids seem to know I care. I mean, emotional and physical safety are important, and nobody's getting hurt on my watch."

Gren continued smiling, thinking it was nice seeing this side of Corvus, but suddenly the alarm from Corvus' phone went off.

Time to go… Gren thought sadly.

Corvus turned it off and looked at Gren, his expression reflecting what Gren felt on the inside. "Umm…I guess I need to get going..."

"C-can I walk with you for a little while?" There it was again, the wavering voice. He had been so good about it lately around Corvus, but he started to notice that it always came out when he was extra nervous.

Corvus blinked a few times, probably processing, but then grinned, "Sure, it'll be nice to have a few extra minutes together."

And Gren smiled because it was exactly what he was thinking too. They finished what was left of their drinks, placed their glasses in the cleaning trays and started walking in the direction of the freshman dormitory.

"Did I tell you that my roommates and I got into the apartment building for next year?" Corvus said with a hint of pride.

"That's impressive, I thought it was only for juniors and above."

"They had extra room and award the leftovers to sophomores with 'exceptional GPAs'." He grinned cheekily and Gren felt his heartbeat increase from his adorable expression.

Gren clapped whole-heartedly, "Awesome work then!" He finished clapping and gave Corvus two big thumbs up with a smile so wide it made his cheeks hurt.

Corvus smiled bashfully, and looked down, "Thanks." His gaze stayed focused on a distant spot on the ground, his eyes had that look they frequently did when he was thinking through something, then he peeked back at Gren, "So…" he grinned, "Maybe you can actually visit my place next year?"

"That would be fun! Maybe you can visit mine too! I'll still be living in the same apartment. It's off campus though…"

"I don't mind! It'd be nice to see life outside of campus..." Corvus slowed down, and stopped in a quieter area of the path, surrounded by trees. He took a breath and straightened up. "I should say good-bye here. I'm sure the freshman dorm is busy with parents and students leaving..."

"Yeah, of course!" He tried to sound cheerful, "I understand…" Gren nodded, and he really did understand, but…

Gren looked down. Why is this so hard? he thought to himself. It was definitely harder to say goodbye now than it was before winter break.

"I'm going to miss you, Corvus." The words barely even registered as a thought before Gren heard them escape his mouth. He felt flushed after registering what he'd said and continued to look off to the side, not really wanting to see Corvus' reaction. Why did I say that? It probably came across as weird.

"Me too, Gren." Corvus' voice was low and Gren felt his heart skip a beat when Corvus said his name in a soft tone. He looked up to see Corvus's warm hazel eyes looking back at him, and they stayed like that for a beat before it became too much for Gren and he needed to look away with a bashful smile.

"So…umm…can I text you during the summer?" Corvus asked. His voice sounded lighter, almost nervous.

"That would be great!" Gren's voice sounded nervous too - higher in pitch, faster in speed. Why was he nervous?

"Good! Good, gotta make sure you're not over working y'know, and that you're getting home safe from your late classes," he smirked and play-jabbed Gren on the shoulder.

"And you're not falling off cliffs or getting overturned in rapids," Gren joked back, well at least he hoped it came across as playful banter. He wasn't exactly good at this (whatever "this" was) and, if he was honest with himself, he was too nervous to be thinking straight.

Corvus laughed. "Gren, what type of camp instructor do you take me for?" he teased, nudging Gren in the side.

"Well, you never were afraid of taking risks." Gren continued to laugh along with Corvus. His heart was beating too quickly now. He had forgotten to be embarrassed by his warm cheeks. He was stalling, he recognized it, but he was enjoying it.

Then almost just as quickly, he felt Corvus take his hand and pull him close.

-Thud-

Corvus' arms were wrapped around Gren's sides, tucked under his arms.

Gren froze for a moment.

Corvus is hugging me, he realized.

Corvus is hugging me, he repeated in his head.

Hug back!

Gren wrapped his arms over Corvus' and found that, since they were similar heights, maybe two inches off, his head had a nice spot in the crook of Corvus' neck that it wanted to go, but he kept it to the side of Corvus' head.

The hug was warm, and the weight of Corvus' arms around him felt nice, like an anchor. It felt safe, right, like a version of home he never realized existed, it even smelled nice. Gren savored the feelings that washed over him.

He could hear Corvus inhale, before slowly exhaling from his nose, and almost intuitively Gren knew the hug had reached its end.

Corvus pulled back and looked almost nervous as he seemed to be trying to gauge Gren's reaction.

Gren took an additional step back, and signed, because he genuinely didn't trust his voice in the current moment. "Thank you for becoming my friend. Studying with you made the past few months not only bearable, but fun. I deeply value our time together and look forward to hanging out in the fall."

Corvus smiled brightly and half-laughed, "You know I only caught maybe 70% of that, right? Sign slower!" He nudged Gren again, and Gren now had a new heightened awareness of any spot Corvus touched him.

Gren laughed. "You'll get it soon," he signed with a smile, still not trusting his voice.

Corvus nodded as he started walking backwards, "Got it." He took another deep breath. "Bye, Gren. I'll text you soon," he waved.

Gren also took in a deep breath and found his vocal chords. "Bye, Corvus. Text you soon," he echoed with a wave and watched as Corvus turned around and left.

Gren stayed until Corvus was out of sight, then started walking in the direction of his apartment, his brain replaying parts of what just happened like a movie.

His eyes went wide, face flushed completely, and his heart raced exponentially.

What...what was that? He mentally panicked.

Without saying a word Corvus closed the door to his dorm, climbed up to his bare mattress, belly flopped onto it, and took a deep breath. Over the course of his walk back to his room Corvus went from cloud nine, back to Katolis, and into complete self-loathing - maybe even six units under.

"Are you well?" Kazi asked, voice concerned; he could hear them stop packing up the last of their desk items.

"I just…" He took another breath, "I just need a moment," Corvus responded, muffled by the mattress. His brain replayed what happened earlier.

Gren was smiling, so big and beautiful, and his laughter so wonderful, and Corvus was already full of nervous adrenaline so Gren saying…

"Well, you never were afraid of taking risks."

...

In general, he tried living his life fully embracing opportunities that came along, assessing the risk/reward benefits and making strategic decisions accordingly. But just now…It was almost like he disregarded any logical decision, accepted "risk taker" as his new personal mantra, and pulled Gren towards him and…

"Kazi, I acted before I thought it through." He sat up and turned toward Kazi, "It's completely unlike me."

Kazi walked towards Corvus' bunk bed, and smiled understandably, "True, that doesn't sound like you at all."

Corvus sighed, and resolved himself to getting off the mattress and sitting on his desk chair; he had already finished packing long before meeting up with Gren this morning.

"So what exactly did you do?" Kazi asked, also sitting in their chair, and swiveling back and forth while still packing up items left on their desk.

"I hugged Gren goodbye."

Kazi paused for a second, and looked at Corvus before asking, "And...is that a bad thing? Oh! Does he not like being touched?"

"That's the problem, I'm not sure...He didn't act like he hated it; he even hugged me back..."

"I see. Normally, I would understand your concern, but you've already established with Gren if you crossed a line he would let you know, correct?"

Corvus nodded, "Yeah…"

Kazi smiled, "And he would actually tell you, right?"

Corvus nodded, "I think so…"

Kazi gave Corvus a reassuring smile, "Then I'm sure it's fine. Unless you're concerned about something else?"

Corvus looked away and shrugged, "I guess…? I think it's the principle of the thing. I'm a think-then-do person, Kazi, I just don't want to fall so deep into my crush that I lose that."

Kazi tilted their head slightly and scrunched up their eyebrows in confusion.

"Like...I don't want to like Gren so much that I start acting impulsively all the time."

Kazi looked even more baffled.

"I know it's just a hug, but I acted without consent - I just went for it. I don't want to keep taking unnecessary risks without fully thinking the consequences through…" Corvus sighed, "I guess I just analyze everything I do, because I don't want to come across the wrong way. I want to respect Gren's space and feelings. Sometimes I think about what I did and think 'if he doesn't have feelings for me, was that okay to do?'

"Remember when we were watching those 'classic action' movies for your film study class? You were pointing out how those 'classic films' didn't portray respectful relationships because the common love trope for that decade was basically the guy forcing himself on his love interest, and the love interest 'playing coy' and 'acting' like they didn't love the guy but 'secretly did'."

Corvus leaned back in his chair with a groan, "Erg, like that one space movie! The woman said 'no' several times, literally walked away, and the guy blocked her exit, entered her personal space, and forced a kiss on her. The only reason the audience thought it was 'romantic' was because the music playing in the background told us it was supposed to be, but if we just looked at the actions - he was being a creep!"

Kazi nodded and their facial expression indicated they were trying to piece together where this was going, "Yes, I remember that paper…"

Corvus frowned and looked at his fidgeting hands, "I know I have a crush on Gren, I'm sure I have a bias for wanting to interpret his feelings to be reciprocal…I just…" He took a breath, feeling frustrated with himself, "...I want to make sure I'm not like the creepy space outlaw…I don't want to force myself on him and blind myself into thinking it's mutual when it might not actually be."

Kazi reached out and touched the back of Corvus' hand so he would look up. "I understand your concern, and reflecting on if our actions are respectful is always a good thing, but perhaps, you are over compensating for your known bias by going in the opposite direction and assuming that it is impossible for Gren to have feelings for you?"

Corvus frowned and tilted his head to the side, swaying it back and forth in consideration.

Kazi smiled, eyes reflecting that they were trying to be patient and supportive. "Maybe it's like what happened after midterms? Your misunderstanding then? Hmm? Walk me through the events of the situation."

Corvus nodded, "Well…er...we stopped on the trail to the dorm, you know, the one that goes through the wooded area?"

"Yes."

"And, I guess, we were trying to say goodbye…?"

"Okay…?"

"Well, he kinda said, out of nowhere, that he was going to miss me."

Kazi smiled, "Aww, that's sweet."

Corvus blushed at the memory, "Yeah...It made me happy and I got nervous and we talked about texting and, I think he was trying to flirt, and he said something about taking risks and then I impulsively grabbed his hand, pulled him towards me and hugged him."

Kazi smiled, "Corvus, based on what you just said, is it possible that you subconsciously read the situation, realized that Gren wouldn't mind a hug goodbye, and acted appropriately? That would match with your typically analytical nature."

"Maybe?" He perked up a little, but didn't seem fully satisfied with that solution.

Kazi placed their finger at the bottom of their chin and looked into the distance, really thinking, "Still not quite it though…" they mumbled to themself.

"It's the acting without consent," Corvus said, more certain than before. "I really think that's it. Like, I pulled him into it. I'm glad he seemed receptive to the hug, but for me, the fact that I would force myself into his personal space without his permission, I think, is what is really bothering me."

Two high notes followed by a low chord came from his phone and instinctively an image of Gren smiling came to Corvus' mind. He pulled out his phone and checked the text.

"Back home safely. I'm glad we got to see each other before you left for home. Good luck moving out and safe travels. TTYS! :)"

Corvus smiled at his phone, of course Gren would wish him luck, it was just like him…wait…

"(I think I used "TTYS" correctly, right?)" Gren texted again.

Corvus laughed and looked at Kazi, "I'm over here worried about me violating his space, and Gren is worried about if he used a text acronym correctly." He shook his head, "We're in completely different worlds…" He showed the text to Kazi.

Kazi smiled to themself. "It seems so, but it's like you're trying to connect to each other in the ways you understand," Kazi said with a satisfied grin, more to themself than to Corvus, since he was lost to Gren's words.

"Thxs 4 the [Luck]."
"And close!"
"Ttys can b used 4 "talk to you soon" but most ppl use"
"Ttyl = talk 2u l8r"
"It's usually in lower case"
"Uppercase = shouting" Corvus texted back, smiling as he was typing out the messages.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to shout at you. :("

"Np! I'll give u a pass this time [Winking face]"

"Thanks, and ttyl. :)"

"Ttys [Winking face]"

Kazi laughed and Corvus snapped back to attention, returning his phone to his pocket.

"You're too cute. You had such a large smile on your face, it was like a kid during the summer solstice gift exchange." They tried to stifle their laugh.

Corvus felt his cheeks grow hot, "I…err...Yeah...he has that effect on me…"

"Well, I'm glad you're in better spirits." Kazi smiled, "And Corvus, I was thinking about it while you were texting…"

"Yeah?"

"You were really upset with yourself for not asking for permission this time, but there's nothing stopping you from asking next time. Next time just try to remember to ask, 'may I have a hug?' Or, gosh, how does Sabah do it? Just say the word? 'Hug?' and open your arms. The more aware of it you are, the more likely you'll follow through."

Corvus grinned, "Yeah, good point, Kazi. You always have good ideas."

Kazi blushed and pushed their frames up, "Thank you. I try."

Corvus smiled again and looked at Kazi's desk behind them, "And you're successful most of the time, but I don't know what you were thinking packing at the last minute."

Kazi turned with a sigh, "Sadly, a bit of a procrastinator, there."

A ding from Corvus' phone.

"Your parents?" Kazi asked.

"Probably. Let me check," he pulled out his phone.

"Hi honey we are running about an hour behind make sure your stuff is ready so we are good to go love mom"

Corvus smiled affectionately at his phone. His mom loved speech-to-text, but never remembered to say "period" or "comma" to add punctuation, so it always came across as one long line of words. In addition, she always wrote her texts like it was a letter. He couldn't wait to see her and Dad.

Until then…

"Okay, they're running late. Kazi," he looked at his roommate, "would you like help packing?"

Kazi nodded earnestly, "Yes! Please, and thank you."

And they got to work.