"No Sy yet?" Aladdin set his lunch tray down on the table and slid into place beside 628.
"Not yet." Jim sighed. "He was still asleep when I checked on him after breakfast. I was planning on going back after lunch."
Hogarth and Varian settled into their usual spots next to each other. Varian was closer to Jim today. He seemed unusually subdued, and his voice had an edge to it that Jim didn't recognize when he asked, "Zephyr isn't out yet either?"
"Not that I'm aware of," Braxton answered with a heavy sigh. He gestured to the stranger sitting next to Matt. "This is my substitute snitch. My snitch sub. No, I have not bothered to learn his name. I will be referring to him exclusively by ITSS Snitch. Or Intergalactic Terrestrial Surface Submarine Snitch."
"Braxton!" Matt whipped towards his friend in disapproval. "You shall not!" He pivoted back the other way to address the senior student. "I am so sorry about him. He will not refer to you that way."
"Then I shall not refer to him at all, and as far as I'm concerned, he does not exist." Braxton replied lightly. "Let's eat!"
"Actually, hold up a minute." Jim shot to his feet as something caught his eye from across the room. "I'm going to be right back, okay?"
His friends exchanged looks and shrugs. "Okay, sure. See ya."
Jim stepped away from his table and crossed the room slowly. He drew in a deep breath, settling himself and focusing on his task at hand. This was the right thing to do. And, more importantly, it was what he wanted to do.
"Hey, Mellow?"
Mellow flinched. He pulled his injured leg and his lunch tray in a bit closer to his chest before turning towards Jim to see who had addressed him. "Y-yes? Can I help you?"
Jim smiled. "Yeah. Here, can I carry your tray for you? I want you to come sit at our table."
Mellow didn't answer. He stood there, just watching Jim in silence.
Jim fidgeted, not sure exactly what to do. "Is…that a no? I mean, you don't have to. I just…thought it might be nice?"
Mellow hesitantly glanced past Jim. "Sorry, can we just cut to the part where you guys laugh at me so we can all get back to eating our lunches?"
Jim sighed. He knew he deserved that. "I know I haven't been kind to you. I'm sorry. I didn't give you a chance, and I've been…frankly I've been a bully. You deserve better than that. Sy's your friend, and he sits at our table. And I would like it if, maybe, we could be friends. You're a good man. Please come sit with us?"
Mellow drew in a breath, visibly steadying himself. He nodded. "Alright."
"Sy's not here yet," Jim warned him quickly. He didn't want Mellow to get over to their spot and panic over being set up. "He's still in medical as far as I know. But I mean it. I want you to join us. You're really going to get along with Matt."
"He's right." From behind Jim, a familiar voice spoke up. "You're really going to like Matt."
"Sy!" Jim whipped around, unable to stop the grin erupting across his face. He immediately pulled his boyfriend into his arms. "How are you feeling? Are you alright? Should you be up and about already? I missed you!"
Sy was laughing. He hugged Jim tightly, his cheek settling onto that comfortable spot on Jim's chest where the top of his head fit perfectly under Jim's chin. "I missed you too. I'm fine. I just needed some rest. And a lot of aloe for my sun burns. Zephyr's good, too. He's here with me."
Jim knew what Sy meant by those words, but he couldn't quite make himself let go or step back. "I'm glad you're both doing well."
Sy nodded against him. "We just dropped our trays off at the table. Zephyr dismissed Jaljrow, he's back to monitoring Braxton."
"The ITSS Snitch has sunk," Jim sighed playfully. "His service was short and largely forgettable."
"What?"
"Nothing. Come on. Let's head back to the table. Mellow, you coming?" Jim kissed the top of Sy's head before reluctantly releasing him. Together, the small group made their way back over to table 8-B. Sy and Zephyr's trays were indeed at their usual places, side by side to Jim's right. Mellow set his tray in the last remaining spot, next to Matt.
Something about this just felt right.
From three friends to a full table of eight. This year had turned out to be very different from how Jim had expected it to. He wasn't complaining, though. Sy and Braxton were drawing condiment stars on their sandwiches. 628 had inhaled his food already and was trying to steal pieces of granola from Varian, who was letting him. Hogarth was sipping a coffee and talking about his step father's art. Matt, Mellow and Zephyr were discussing either a philosopher or a sports star-Jim could not honestly tell which. Everything just felt right.