Third week of May, Summer

There was one week between the spring semester ending and his internship beginning that Gren spent visiting his parents for a few days. His older brother still lived in the same town, but his older sister was on active duty in the Tidebound Archipelago Seas. Thankfully, he would get to see her later in the summer.

Gren found himself texting Corvus more during this time. He guessed that was because he was used to talking with Corvus, and would find himself texting him a few times a day. The texts weren't anything of importance, but little things: a thought he found interesting as he got an early start to his summer reading, or brainstorming ideas for his senior project (the first class for that will start in C-Session), recommending something to watch on Netflix, or just asking how the day went. Corvus would text back just as casually, encouraging his ideas for his senior project by trying to ask meaningful questions to get him to think about it further, as well as playfully teasing him for starting on schoolwork during his time off, recommending shows and sending reaction gifs from them so Gren would become more intrigued, or lovingly bemoaning his two sisters. Gren particularly enjoyed the texts when Corvus would describe designing the obstacle courses for his summer campers, who were set to start the second week of June, after public school was finished.

Corvus had even asked if they could video chat on Friday evening so he could show Gren pictures of his plans and ask for his opinion. While Gren had no idea what would make a good obstacle course, he readily agreed because he wanted to see Corvus' face and hear his voice again. So, when Friday evening rolled around, he took a break from his parents, grabbed his laptop, laid on his belly in the guest bedroom he was staying in, and started a video chat through their personal emails.

It had been a week since Gren had last seen Corvus' face, but it popping up on his screen made him instantly smile. Corvus looked comfortable. It also looked like his parents kept his room intact for whenever Corvus returned home because on the distant wall Gren could see a bookshelf with a shelf and a half filled with medals, awards and trophies, and it was easy enough to imagine Corvus earning those. The books that outnumbered and surrounded those awards, as well as a few figurines in display cases, felt like Corvus too. Because Corvus, who was always very practical, wouldn't keep a bookshelf just for awards, or books, but would use it in the most efficient manner possible to display all items of importance to him. Gren made a mental note try to ask Corvus about them later, even if it was only through text.

Corvus was instantly at ease with video chatting, which Gren supposed made sense - Corvus had always been more of a computer expert in general. He had explained once that his mom let him play with the family computer growing up and he was fearless in experimenting with it, like the thought that the computer could break never occurred to him. He also read his share of books from the library so he had a good amount of background knowledge of how they worked, and looked up keyboard shortcuts for new versions of operating systems, and that always made him feel more comfortable with the technology. It was sort of the opposite of his own experience with computers growing up, where Gren was only allowed to use the family computer for school assignments, and even then with the constant worrying from his mother that he would accidentally hit the wrong key, and the whole machine would somehow self-destruct. When he had saved enough money to buy a laptop of his own it was like a whole new experience of freedom...although he was still a little nervous about accidentally breaking it.

Within moments of starting the conversation Corvus started holding up his sketches - able to angle them so they showed up on the camera and with his face peeking a little behind to verify that he was pointing to the right spots. He walked Gren through his thought process for each course: explaining each level of difficulty, how the challenge level would increase, and which age group it would be appropriate for. Corvus, in general, seemed to try to keep a calm demeanor, but in talking through his ideas, his voice would become more animated in his excitement. Gren leaned forward, he loved seeing this side of Corvus; his enthusiasm was contagious and Gren found himself more invested in something he had never been interested in until this past week.

"Hey, thanks for listening through my ideas," Corvus smiled, putting down his last sketch.

"I enjoyed hearing them. Are you the head designer for the camp?"

Corvus chuckled, "Well, technically, I'm a 'Senior Counselor,' but that's because it's my fifth year and I know what to expect. But as a 'senior' I've been delegated with designing the obstacle courses. I have a reputation for liking scavenger hunts and obstacle courses, and the people who run the program thought I should help design them this year."

"That's awesome! I'm glad they recognized your talent," Gren smiled.

Corvus flustered a bit, "Yes, the boost in pay is nice too."

"Win-win!" Gren cheered. "And of course they should be paying you more for all this designing work you're doing. Do you have to set these up too?"

"Any employee that doesn't have school will all set these up during the upcoming week. So probably not Junior Counselors, since they are typically high schoolers, but regular CC, err…Camp Counselors, and SC, like me, who I guess count as supervisors?...will all pitch in."

Gren smiled, "Nice!"

Corvus stifled a snicker, which took Gren by surprise.

"Sorry," Corvus said, but was still grinning, "It's just, your feet are swinging behind your head."

Gren stopped and partially turned. Yup, his feet were raised in the air without him realizing it. He pointed his feet up and looked at the bottom of his socks...they looked okay, not particularly dirty or embarrassing. Gren honestly wasn't sure what amused Corvus.

He looked back at Corvus, "I'm curious, what's funny about that?"

He could tell Corvus was trying to hold back his grin. He bit his bottom lip to try to hide his smile and his voice sounded like he was making an effort to remove any tones of laughter, "It's just the forced perspective of the camera, that's all."

Gren scrunched his eyebrows in confusion and tried to look for the little box that showed him his video.

"You had your feet pointed up and on both sides of your head, like extra large ears." Corvus caved in and chuckled a little. "Between that and your smile, it was pretty cute," he shrugged nonchalantly, and now brought a hand up to cover his grin.

Gren felt his cheeks heat up at the compliment, but was more determined to see what Corvus meant than to fully process it. He found his video box, pinned it so it was next to the box with Corvus' video, and angled his feet until he could see what Corvus meant.

Sure enough, with his feet pointed up, and at the right spots behind him, the white socks did look like fake, extra large ears on the side of his head.

Corvus stifled another chuckle into his hand, and Gren looked at Corvus on his computer, wanting him to continue to laugh. Gren smiled playfully and wiggled his toes up and down, and as soon as Corvus noticed it he couldn't keep it in and started bending over in laughter.

Gren stopped moving his toes, a small satisfied grin on his face, before he also broke down and started laughing with Corvus.

When the laughter died down, Corvus' face still had a trace of his small smirk but his eyes were beaming and Gren found himself melting in them. He unpinned his box so Corvus would take up the entire screen again.

"Impressive," Corvus said lightly, "Y'know, I usually have a dry sense of humor, I can't believe you got me with that."

Gren beamed with pride, "I'm glad. I like the sound of your laugh."

His brain, about a meter behind Gren, processed what he had just said. I'm wondering if I should've kept that one to myself… Gren thought, face feeling flushed for a different reason than earlier, as he looked at his keyboard.

"I like the sound of your laugh too, Gren," Corvus replied, causing Gren to look back up at him.

Corvus' eyes were warm and he had a small smile on his face that seemed to mirror his own. Gren tried his best to appreciate the moment, to remember Corvus' expression and how much he cherished it.

"So, umm…" Corvus started.

"This was nice," Gren interrupted - that was probably a little rude, he mentally scolded himself, but it was likely that Corvus needed to leave, and Gren wanted to make sure Corvus knew how much he treasured seeing him.

"Yeah, I enjoyed this too…" Corvus grinned, and he looked off to the side, seemingly in thought. "Would you...maybe be interested…" he started slowly, as though thinking his idea through.

Yes! Gren's brain instantly replied. He'd have to remember to be concerned about his eagerness later...

"...in video chatting, maybe, once a week?" Corvus finished, looking back at Gren. There was that look again: nervousness. Only now Gren was more acutely aware of how nervous he also felt. His heart was beating wildly in his chest.

Gren smiled brightly, "That would be great!"

Corvus perked up, "Great! Great, I'm free on most weekends, except for when we're camping."

Gren thought about which day would work best with his schedule. "Would you mind Saturdays? I know Saturdays are a popular day to go out, and it doesn't have to be in the evening, but it would be when I'm most comfortable taking a break from school because then I'll have the buffer of Friday evening and all of Sunday to do school work."

Corvus nodded, his eyes showing understanding, "Saturdays would be fine with me. There are a few cool new shows on Netflix we could watch if you're interested?"

"That sounds nice! I've never watched Netflix with someone over video chat. It'll be cool!" Gren said, his heart still beating with excitement.

Corvus grinned, "Yeah, there's a few ways you can do it, split screen or have your computer open on the video chat and watch it on your T.V.…"

"You're really good about using split screen. That wouldn't have even occurred to me."

Corvus blushed with pride, "I try to be efficient. It's especially helpful when needing to compare two windows or for copying and pasting into different formats, making an online form from a scan and so on...I'm a little embarrassed to admit, but I've also used it to watch Netflix when working on school work. I don't always have the best study habits..." Corvus said sheepishly.

Corvus looks so cute with that expression, Gren beamed before reminding himself to respond. He shrugged, "I think we all have those times. That's why I usually book study rooms. When I'm away from my apartment, I'm away from the distractions that are in it, and can focus. When I'm home I do the same thing as you."

Corvus raised an eyebrow, "Gren, master TA and overall super powered student, watching T.V. while studying? Will wonders never cease?" he grinned with a wink.

Gren smiled cheekily, and was delighted his expression evoked another chuckle from Corvus.

"I should get going..." Corvus said after a pause, a small smirk still on his face.

"Yeah, me too...I still want to spend some time with my parents before heading back on Sunday. Oh! Before I forget! I wanted to let you know that I'll be spending most of tomorrow with my brother and his girlfriend. So I don't think I'll be texting much."

Gren knew it was probably too much information, but he didn't want Corvus to think he suddenly ghosted him if he didn't reply back to his texts as quickly as he normally did.

"That makes sense. Drive back safely on Sunday."

"Will do," Gren was dragging this out, he was aware of that too, it's just that...even a few extra seconds of time together felt nice. "I'll text you when I get home and we can set up a time for Saturday at some point during the week," Gren continued.

"I look forward to it," a small grin, warm eyes, Gren felt his heart melting again.

"Me too..."

"Bye, Gren..."

"Bye, Corvus. Have a good night."

"You too, Gren. 'Night."

" 'Night..." Then he hung up, slowly closed his laptop, tucked it under the bed, flopped back onto the guest bed, and let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

This was definitely new. Well, maybe it wasn't "new" per se, but being aware of these feelings and having time to unpack them was definitely new.

He took a deep breath, trying to slow down his rapid heart rate.

They weren't bad feelings, in fact they were really nice and left Gren feeling warm, hopeful even. He didn't really know the exact label to give these feelings, but he understood that Corvus was the person who caused them, and that they left him feeling better about life. Overall, Gren resolved to just enjoy the feelings as they came and to be prepared for the inevitable day when Corvus wouldn't be able to hang out as much.

Gren felt his heart jump a bit. Okay, so thinking about when Corvus will become too busy for him did sting, but it was likely to happen. Corvus was going into his sophomore year, which was widely known as the golden year for college students. It was the year many researchers would typically aim for when surveying college students, because they weren't freshmen trying to get their bearings, nor were they juniors who were stressed out about finishing their degrees on time and they weren't seniors who were "checked out" or otherwise "done" and getting ready to enter the workforce.

So by all typical experiences, Corvus should have a great year.

...And Corvus said he was interested in dating men…So, it was only a matter of time before he would find someone of interest, or someone would show interest in him, and they would start dating, right? …And that person would not only treat Corvus well (because that was the minimum requirement), but make him a priority (as he should ), and they would be happy, and Gren would be happy for them.

Because that's how it worked, right? That's how it was supposed to work.

Because that's how it had always been before, and it never bothered him up till now. He had always felt genuine happiness for his friends' happiness. ...Wait, hold on, bother? Where did that come from?

Would Corvus' happiness with another guy bother him? That wasn't right. He felt like an awful person at just the thought of it. He just wanted Corvus to be happy! If another man could get Corvus to actually show his beautiful smiles, instead of hiding them, then that's all that really mattered. Gren really would feel genuinely happy for Corvus.

Gren felt his chest get tighter, and he sighed, before sitting up. I'm not going to overthink this. Instead of thinking of what-ifs, I'm just going to enjoy each feeling as it comes, and take the rest in stride, he resolved to himself, before getting up to spend a little more time with his parents.