"Oh, my God, you have to help me!" Grell squealed. He was standing at Claude's front door at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. For Grell, that was a miracle. He never showed his face to the world before 3 p.m.

"Why can't Will help you?" Claude groaned. Grell pushed past him and entered Claude's apartment, seating himself at the small kitchen table. He promptly began dumping the contents of his bag onto the table, searching for something.

"Will is in class. The idiot signed up for early morning classes. He doesn't get done until I start, which is in, like, an hour," Grell said quickly. Claude shuffled over to the table and sat beside the frantic red-head. "Please, please, please, please help me! I am so going to fail this final!"

"Okay, fine," Claude sighed, "I'll help you. Just… shut the hell up, okay? Some of the species that dwell here aren't awake until noon."

"Oh, riiight," Grell said, wagging his eyebrows up and down. "Sebastian."

"Look you're really not doing yourself any favors if you wake him up, trust me," Claude said, raising his eyebrows- partly in disgust and partly in amusement. "What class can I help you pass this time?" He asked, trying to keep Grell on topic.

Grell was silent for a moment, scanning quickly through his horrid handwriting, trying to make sense of his notes and figure out what help he needed the most at the moment. After several seconds, he looked up at Claude with wide eyes and a –rather large- plastered on smile.

"Could you possibly give me a CliffNotes version of Don Quixote?" He asked innocently. "I mean, you're smart. You've read it, right?" Claude broke out into a grin.

"It's about a guy who isn't really happy with reality, so he substitutes his own. He goes around doing what is – in his reality- good, but in all actuality it's not so helpful," Claude said quickly. Of course there was more to the story than that, but Grell didn't really have the time (or patience) to hear more than that.

"Oh, you're a life saver," Grell smiled, quickly scribbling what Claude assumed was a summary of the story. "You think I can stretch that into a three page essay?" Claude pursed his lips. What he wanted to say was 'good luck,' but that would be underestimating Grell. He'd known the red-head to easily B.S. his way through the majority of his classes. How it worked, Claude would never know.

"Oh, for sure," he said sarcastically after a moment of silence. Claude's sarcasm had no effect on Grell, however, who merely beamed at him.

"You'll be a doll and help me with these Chemistry issues, won't you?" he asked. Claude laughed and stood.

"I hope you're referring to your homework, because otherwise I don't know that I'll be of much assistance," Claude joked, striding into the kitchen.

"Oh you're so funny," Grell said, after a bout of fake laughter. It was clear he was desperate for some help. Claude only grinned wider.

"Get out your notes and grab my Chem book from the chair on the other side of you," Claude instructed. If he was going to properly assist Grell, he was going to need some food. He hadn't eaten anything, and -judging by Grell's frantic state- was sure his guest hadn't either. There wasn't time for anything elaborate, so Claude toasted some bagels, smothered them in cream cheese, and started the coffee pot. He returned to the table and handed Grell a bagel. The red-head accepted it quickly.

"Okay, so I am completely lost," Grell explained with his mouth full. "I mean, I tried these equations at least twelve different ways, and kept getting wrong answers. Will tried to help last night, but I didn't absorb anything he was saying."

Claude patiently looked over Grell's notes, trying to decipher what markings were numbers and what markings were letters. Minutes passed by as Claude slowly explained where Grell was going wrong, and tried to do so in a way that his hysterical friend would understand. It took less time than Claude had expected, and Grell seemed to be satisfied with his progress. He set down his pencil with a satisfied sigh.

"Good enough," he said cheerily. "I mean, if worst comes to worst, I'm sure I can solve some of it and then draw a bear or something."

"It's a wonder you didn't graduate from high school with distinction," Claude remarked in mock surprise.

"Well, enough about me," Grell said, hurriedly. He blew his bangs out of his eyes and looked over the rims of his glasses at Claude. "Did you hear that a certain someone was in town?" he asked. Claude rolled his eyes, but could feel himself blushing.

"Yeah, I did," he said. There was no point in keeping anything from Grell. He would find out anyway, "We ran into each other on Saturday. Well, he came to visit, anyway," Claude said, tiredly dragging his hand down his face.

"Oh, really?" Grell asked, clearly wanting more information. Claude was reluctant to tell all, but once again reasoned that Grell would find out anyway. Maybe he could keep the kissing part from Grell a little longer. He wasn't exactly eager to share that information.

"Yup, he just showed up. It was good to see him again, I guess," Claude shrugged. "We talked for a while. Then he left to meet Luka for lunch."

"That's all?" Grell asked, sounding slightly disappointed. Claude nodded. "You gotta get back on your game, pal," he said, winking and nudging Claude. Claude snorted, rolling his eyes once more.

"I've never been off my game. I just haven't been playing as often as you," Claude defended himself. "Besides, Alois and I are keeping things friendly. That's all."

"Alois is back in town?" a groggy voice asked. Both Grell and Claude turned and were greeted with the sight of a half awake Sebastian. He rubbed his scarlet eyes sleepily and joined the crowd at the table.

"Well, good morning, Sebastian," Grell drawled, scooting closer to their new companion. "You know, we haven't seen each other in a while, and may I just say that you look smashing, even in your zombie-like state."

"Don't you have class in fifteen minutes?" Claude asked, cutting Grell off. He didn't mind helping him study, but he wasn't really in the mood to watch him flirt ruthlessly.

"Well, I could-" Grell began. Claude cut him short with (what he hoped was) a menacing glare. "-Yeah, you're right. I got places to be, tests to ace, you know how it goes," he winked at Sebastian as he quickly swiped all of his belongings off the table and dumped them into his bag. "See you guys around!" He called as he made his way out of the apartment.

"I didn't know you knew Alois was in town," Sebastian said, addressing Claude.

"You mean, you knew?" Claude asked.

"Well, yeah. I mean, we ran into each other yesterday, but he didn't say anything about coming to see you," Sebastian said. He flicked his long hair out of his face lazily.

"Yeah, he stopped by. It was no big deal," Claude said, shortly.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Sebastian asked, clearly not picking up on the fact that this was not a conversation Claude was desperate to have at the moment. "I mean, he is your ex and everything."

"I dunno," Claude shrugged. "I figured you wouldn't care. It really wasn't a big deal." Sebastian stared at his friend, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"You keep saying that," he said slowly. "That it wasn't a big deal. I'm not buying it. Something is eating you up. What gives?" Claude sighed. He couldn't really believe he was about to come clean, but telling the truth would be better than having Sebastian upset at him. Sebastian was never really fond of secrets between friends and always made it a point to tell Claude everything, even when he knew Claude wasn't interested. He demanded the same treatment in return, which made some sense and at the same time, was completely illogical.

"At first I wasn't really happy to see him," Claude confessed. "I was pissed, actually, that he'd come here with no warning. But, then, I dunno. We got to talking and things just picked up right where we left off."

"And that bothers you because you wanted to be done with Alois," Sebastian inferred, sympathetically.

"Well, yeah," Claude sighed. "I don't want to confuse him either, because I know what I want, but I'm not so sure he does. Kissing him probably didn't help the situation either."

"If you kissed him you still care about him a little," Sebastian reasoned. Claude threw him a doubting look. "Oh, c'mon, Claude. You're not like me, kissing people right and left. You save affection for people who mean something to you. Somewhere deep down, you recognize that Alois still deserves your affection, you're just afraid to openly acknowledge it."

"I don't know," Claude sighed. "There is someone else. Kind of." Sebastian opened his mouth to pry further, but Claude cut him off. "I ain't talking, pal. We're done here. I told you what happened. You gave me advice, I'll let you know if you were right in a couple of weeks," he grinned.

"Okay," Sebastian sighed. "Well I can see the end of that conversation. You know, I'm glad we had this little heart to heart. Give us a kiss," he said sarcastically, leaning forward. Claude pushed him away, laughing slightly. Sebastian stood and walked to the coffee pot. "Are you counting down yet?"

"For what?" Claude asked, following his roommate's movements. Sebastian's disheveled hair and baggy flannel pajama pants were oddly endearing this early in the morning. Of course, Sebastian had the confidence to flaunt around the place as though he were wearing a tuxedo. He never seemed to be uncomfortable in his own skin.

"Your birthday, idiot," Sebastian smirked as he poured two mugs of coffee. "Which, may I add, will be the best celebration that the planet Earth has seen since Woodstock."

"So now we're comparing my birthday to a massive STD fest?" Claude asked. "That sounds encouraging."

"Oh, you know what I mean," Sebastian said, brushing Claude's comment aside. He rejoined his friend at the table, placing a mug in front of Claude. "You're excited, right?"

"Obviously," Claude said, unenthusiastically.

"Great," Sebastian exclaimed. "Now as far as the guest list, there are some people that I was thinking could-"

"-Invite whoever you want," Claude said, knowing what Sebastian was going to ask before he did. "You're planning the damn thing, there might as well be some people you like there, right?" He laughed and took a swig of coffee.

"Well, you'll be there," Sebastian said, shrugging. "I would be okay with just that." Claude laughed, shaking his head.

"You're not fooling anyone," he grinned. "Seriously, invite whoever you want. Hell, invite the whole university if you want to, I don't care."

"Okay, if you insist," Sebastian said, grinning widely and obviously pleased with himself.