A/N: As per usual, all emojis will be in brackets with the appropriate description/translation. (And, yes, Gren finally uses a emoji in this chapter :D - We're all very proud of him.)

Second week of August, Before the Fall Semester Begins

Corvus returned home from his morning run with energy to spare. When he had first left at six am the weather was pleasant for an August morning, and given the hour most of the campus was still quiet. He saw a few other ROTC cadets running and waved when they were nearby, but for the most part it was nice to clear his head.

After checking his heart rate on his watch, Corvus decided to extend his cool down by walking another lap around his apartment building.

Today was the big day.

Well, it wasn't really a big day, but his nerves would do their best to convince him otherwise. Gren was visiting their dormitory apartment today and it would be his first time seeing Gren in person since the beginning of summer. And...well...it felt like a lot of things had changed over the summer. For one thing, they now texted on a daily basis, which reminded Corvus…

"Gm. Finished my [run]."
"[Heart]day. Hope u enjoy it2."

"Looking 4ward 2cing u l8r."

"Looking forward to seeing you later?" Corvus said to himself, stopping before hitting send. Well, it was true but… He sighed, he was starting to believe that he wasn't good at finding the balance of showing his excitement and protecting his feelings.

Maybe, "C u soon! [Thumbs up]" instead? But it was this afternoon, not that soon.
Maybe, "C u l8r today! [Thumbs up]" Almost! Somehow the exclamation mark was too much and the thumbs up not enough...
"C u l8r today [^_^]" - no exclamation mark, keeping it cool there, but the emoji conveyed warmth. Yup! It had a nice combination of showing excitement without it being too much.

Within ten steps Corvus' phone rang out two high notes followed by a low chord, he pulled it back out in bewilderment. In the summer Gren was typically awake before him but, now that his summer internship was over, Gren typically "slept in" until eight o'clock. Corvus wasn't expecting a response so early.

"I'm looking forward to seeing you! [^_^]"
"And your place!"
"And Kazi and Sabah!" The texts came in quick succession, which was unusual for Gren who was inclined to write one long text instead of several short ones. Maybe Corvus had woken him up and he wasn't thinking clearly?

Wait…Corvus had to do a double take. "Is that an emoji I c from u - Gren? [Winking Face]"

"I've gotten better! I used gifs this summer, remember? :D"

"C! Missed op there! [Grinning Squinting Face]"

"Oh! Well...I'm still getting used to them, old habits are hard to break. But [^_^] seemed appropriate for describing seeing you."

Corvus smiled at his phone as he entered his apartment building, his accelerated heart beat no longer from his run. "Same 4u [^_^]"

"[^_^]"

Corvus grinned at the message. The expression from the emoji not only suited Gren, but it was also very easy to imagine Gren making that face. During their weekly video calls Corvus had the pleasure of seeing Gren make that adorable warm happy face often, at times even with the blush. Which brought him back to his original train of thought - it definitely felt like a lot of things had changed over the summer, and he was just wondering how it would translate when they saw each other in person.

He jogged up the stairs - his apartment being on the second floor made taking the stairs over the elevator an easy choice - went down the hall and unlocked the door to his apartment. Unsurprisingly, Kazi was awake and sitting on one of the stools at the breakfast bar, eating a bowl of cereal in between reading pages of their book.

They stopped and perked up when they saw Corvus enter, "Good morning. Did you have a good run?"

Corvus was still smiling from earlier, "Yes, good to clear my head." He started untying his shoe laces.

Kazi paused from their book and placed a bookmark inside before closing it - Kazi did not believe in 'dog-earing perfectly good book pages' - "Good. So, how are you feeling about Gren coming over? You're not as…wound up?...as you were last semester. Which is good!"

Corvus stood back up, putting his running shoes on the rack, and took a deep breath, "I am a little nervous, but also a little excited. I've been going over it in my head since I invited him. I've been brainstorming ideas of how I can be closer to him but allow him an exit if it's unwanted. Like, giving him a tour around the apartment gives me an excuse for us to hold hands. I figured I can loosely take his hand, but have it so loose that if it's not reciprocated I'll let go by the time I reach the first door - that way he's not uncomfortable. But if he wants to hold hands then he has an opportunity to y'know…hold it back."

"Aww, that's sweet. I wish I could say I'm surprised by you making plans to make a move, but I'm not. What are your other hopes, I mean, plans?" Kazi teased with an amused grin, leaning forward on the bar and folding their hands under their chin.

Corvus chuckled and gave a sidewards glance to his roommate, "That's about as far as I've gotten on the physical touch part, but that's about as much as I think I can handle."

Kazi straightened their back and laughed along, "Well, I'm glad you have a strategy."

Corvus smiled shyly and scratched the back of his neck, "Well, I didn't the last time we saw each other in person and you know how much I was kicking myself for it...I want to be prepared."

Kazi took a bite of their cereal before asking, "So are you going to hug him? Maybe as a greeting?"

Corvus felt his cheeks heat up, "I wasn't planning on it, but I have given it some thought to potentially doing so as a parting. I figured...if the situation comes up...I'll mimic Sabah and open my arms out, kinda like you suggested. If he doesn't want one I can always try to play it off and put my hands in my pockets."

"Hmm, it's good you're thinking of all angles," Kazi smiled. "As I mentioned earlier, it's nice to see you so calm about this."

"Heh, I don't know if 'calm' is the word. I do feel jittery, but...it's a nice type of jitter," Corvus smiled. "And I've been channeling my inner Kazi and trying to look strictly at events and actions," he winked.

Kazi blushed and returned to their cereal bowl, "Oh?"

"Gren texted me everyday in the summer, multiple times, like entire conversations, and we would video chat for hours each Saturday." So much so that my sisters thought we were dating, Corvus finished in his head, but was too embarrassed to say it aloud. "I'm not going to make the leap that he feels the same about me, but…" Corvus shrugged, "I don't know...I shouldn't rule that out. At the very least, I feel like he really values our friendship, and that's…nice."

"Who values what friendship?" Sabah came out of her room with a big yawn, still in her PJs - PJ bottoms with glowtoads of various colors/moods printed on them and an oversized printed shirt with the words, "Not A Morning Person" surrounding a large yellow grumpy glowtoad.

Kazi grinned wider as they turned around, "What are you doing up so early? Aren't you a 'night owl', as the Katolis phrase goes?"

Sabah waved the comment off with her hand and slowly went to the cabinet for a bowl. "I'm trying to be supportive - big day, right?" She stopped midwalk and backtracked to the coffee machine - Corvus had started it before leaving for his morning run, "Did I mention that while I love you both, and think you're both wonderful roommates, I am especially grateful to whoever started this."

Both laughed, and Kazi tilted their head towards Corvus who bowed his head in acknowledgment to the thanks.

"I guess it pays to have two early birds for roommates," he joked.

"Well I certainly value our friendship," she yawned again while pouring a cup. "But, seriously, what did I miss?" she smiled.

Corvus and Kazi shared a glance and Kazi nodded. "I'll catch her up," they consented.

"Thanks," Corvus nodded and looked towards Sabah. "Sorry, Sabah, but I really need a shower."

"Go shower, I can smell you from here," she grinned with a playful twinkle in her eyes.

Corvus smiled back, "Hey, when I get out, can I go over the other stuff I was hoping to do when Gren was here? Potential board games, or video games that might be fun to play as a group?"

"Of course." - "Always up for games!" the pair answered at the same time.

Corvus nodded his thanks, grin still wide on his face, and turned around towards the shower, going over the day in his head.

He felt good from his workout, and he had already picked out and pressed the clothes he was going to wear (something fresh that would boost his confidence). Once Gren arrived he figured they could order pizza for dinner, and afterwards they could play games. Given Sabah's competitive nature...and his own, he was thinking cooperative games for everyone's first time meeting each other. He'd bounce that idea off Kazi and Sabah when he got out of the shower. Everything will go well, he thought to himself; he would allow himself to hope for that much.

Gren had the veggies on the counter, cutting board and measuring cups ready, the tomato sauce on standby on the counter near the fridge and a pot of room temperature water on the stove. He turned the stove on "high", and took a deep breath - everything looked intimidating.

Nope, turn that frown upside down! I can do this, Gren tried to give himself a mental pep talk as he grabbed another pot from the cabinet.

Marcos sat on the other side of the small breakfast bar between the kitchen and living room. "So...You're making dinner?" he asked slowly.

"Yup!" Gren replied, as he started measuring out and pouring the sauce into a smaller pot on the stove.

"It's nine in the morning…" Marcos continued wearily, and Gren could feel his eyes follow him as he moved around the kitchen, along with a question lingering in the air.

"I'm going to visit Corvus at his apartment today," he explained, hearing his voice waver slightly, but at least he wasn't stuttering. "When people move in, it's polite to bring a dish, so I figured I would bring lasagna." He searched through the cabinets and took out a glass baking dish, set it on the counter and pulled out a matching baking dish, a dilemma already forming in his head. He turned to Marcos, "Do you think I should bring the lasagna over in one of our dishes, or should I have bought one of those disposable ones?"

"You're going to see Corvus in the future, right?"

"Of course!" Gren replied without hesitation, "We already started comparing schedules to figure out when to book the study rooms, plus there's the escape room so...yeah. Definitely." He felt his chest tighten.

"Then glass should be fine."

Gren nodded and set the two dishes out on the counter. He was running out of room… Maybe he should get some of the vegetables cut? That might help clear some space. He grabbed one of the carrots, sharpened the knife and started chopping it on the cutting board.

"Y'know, if he's uncomfortable returning the glass during one of your study sessions on campus, he can always come over and return it to our apartment directly," Marcos said casually.

And Gren almost lost his grip at the distracting thought. It wasn't a new thought; he had suggested that Corvus could visit their apartment at the beginning of summer, and he seemed receptive to it, and it wasn't actually a big deal, because friends visit each other all the time! But Gren was making it into a bigger deal in his head. Maybe because it was less like they were meeting on the neutral ground of campus and more like they were actually entering each other's worlds.

"Th-that would be nice…" Gren put down the knife and went to the nearly boiling water, he wasn't quite ready for the noodles yet so he turned it down a little bit.

"Gren, this looks like a lot of ingredients for lasagna," Marcos continued.

Gren went back to the cutting board, facing Marcos again, "Well, I'm making us some lasagna too. I figured that it was easier to make both at the same time," he said. "But I didn't take ingredient management into account," Gren chuckled, and returned back to chopping the carrot.

Marcos raised an eyebrow and nodded his head.

"Ours will be beef lasagna, but I think one of Corvus' roommates is a vegetarian, so I looked up a vegetarian recipe and am trying that for their dish. But then I was going to make a side of ground beef for Corvus, because I know that he eats meat, and maybe his other roommate does too? I figured it wouldn't hurt. I mean, they can add it into their lasagna if they want…But then I figured, I should bring a side, y'know, so they can have a full meal. So I also bought some garlic bread to pair with the lasagna, but then I figured that was a lot of carbs. So I thought, why not also bring some baby spinach, strawberries, pecans and balsamic vinegar for a side salad? Because who doesn't love strawberry and spinach salad? And I was going to make that jello dish my mom made growing up. Y'know, the one with the clementines and peeled carrots, because it's sweet, but also sort-of healthy," Gren rambled off, his voice picking up speed as he talked.

In his peripheral vision Gren could see Marcos nod his head, "You've given this a lot of thought."

Gren paused for a moment and nodded, "Yeah, I guess I have." Truthfully, he had been planning this for over a week, pretty much ever since Corvus mentioned inviting him to his new apartment. He looked up recipes online and called his mom to ask for some of hers. It was important to have all the ingredients when he went shopping and he just really wanted this to go well...

"Scoot over, I'll do the chopping," Marcos said, getting up and suddenly at the sink washing his hands seemingly in the blink of an eye.

"Huh?"

Marcos let out a small chuckle. "I can tell this is important to you," he said while wiping his hands with a towel, "I'll be your sous-chef. Focus on the pasta and I'll cut the veggies."

Gren felt his heart go light, "Thanks, Marcos. You're the best."

He nodded and continued chopping the carrot Gren started, "Yup. How many do you need chopped?"

"Three carrots, the red bell pepper, the zucchini, and the yellow onion for now."

"Got it. Do they need to be separate or can I throw them in the same bowl?"

"Uh, let me double check…Yup, they need to be cooked over the stove first so the same bowl is fine."

Marcos stayed focused on cutting but nodded in acknowledgement.

"Go team!" Gren cheered, feeling a new rush of energy.

"Go team," Marcos said with a small smirk.

Gren smiled and turned the water to medium-high, then carefully counted out the number of lasagna noodles needed to make two dishes. Putting all his previous feelings aside, this felt manageable again. Between him and Marcos, they had this.