A giant yawn escaped Damien’s mouth. Sleepy… he wiped the sleep from his eyes as he made his way towards the school building. His hands swiping constantly at his phone. Invariant… pestiferous… idiosyncratic. Words passed by him as he continued to digest them one by one with their meanings, their synonyms and their antonyms. All of this was necessary though. With his tight schedule he barely had any time to study. So he figured that studying on his way to school was a good use of time. A small smile appeared on his face while his steps grew lighter. He was using his time well, Ava had cooked a delicious dinner, Dakota earned a good grade and Damien himself had received a new job. His smile grew wider when he thought that this was in fact happiness. 

“Damien Irving!” Out of nowhere tufts of blonde appeared in Damien’s field of vision scaring the living daylight out of him. Yet due to his natural stoic expression, no real fear could be seen. In fact, he was becoming more annoyed than scared. Just who was this annoying kid? With his blonde hair, grayish looking eyes and even a perfectly tailored uniform, he looked like some type of fairytale prince. Damien grew more annoyed at the thought. 

The blonde boy smiled proudly at Damien,“Good! Now that I have your attention, I would like to ask you... how was your breakfast?”

“My breakfast…” Immediately his annoyance turned into confusion. To be honest Damien wasn't expecting such a straightforward question, which is why he answered honestly. “It was good, had some biscuits and eggs.”

“And your sleep?” The blonde grew closer, a smile raising upon his lips.

Damien rose a brow as he took a step back, “It was good.”

“And your commute to school?”

“Tiring….” more confusion took over Damien, Why is he asking me so many questions.

Despite Damien's obvious confusion the blonde merely smiled at him with satisfaction. “Great. As expected your answers are satisfying. But it is quite disheartening that your commute to school was tiring.” he started to mutter so quietly that Damien couldn’t hear him, “Perhaps I could fix that…”

Damien brows furrowed even more. This kid was acting too familiar with him, and for some reason that thought made him feel weird. Damien searched his mind for this boy. Blonde hair… Blonde hair… And then some words appeared within his mind. “Become mine”

“Ah… you're that creep from yesterday.”

The blonde rose his shoulders in indignation. “C-creep? Hmm... I do admit that I was a bit forward yesterday. But to be called a creep… how saddening. Well no matter, it was a misunderstanding, a mere error on my part. Please forget that.”

Damien shrugged his shoulders as he kept on walking towards the school, “It's fine, you can just be a creep somewhere else.”

The boy grew red as he chased after Damien, “I must assure you that I am no creep. Moreover I am not ‘creep’’ But Aemilius. Aemilius E. Davison!”

“I see… Should I care though?”

The boy gave Damien a giant smile, “You should care since you will be saying my name often in the future.”

“So I was right. You're a creep.” Damien nodded proudly at the thought, quickening his pace. The boy named Aemilius continued to follow along, matching Damien’s speed.

Aemilius tilted his head, “Hmm? How would such a thing make me a creep?” Then instantly a red blush took over his features. “Oh… I understand now. Yes, that does sound very wrong.” he faked a cough, “Still, my statement will be quite true. Once you follow along with my proposal that is.”

Damien raised an eyebrow, as he slowed his pace. “Proposal? You were going on about that yesterday.”

Aemilius nodded vigorously, “It seems that I pique your interest! Yes, I did mention it yesterday. Which is why-”

“Yeah, I’m not interested.”

Aemilius started blankly at Damien, then suddenly a smile grew upon his face. “Yes, I expected such an answer to come from you. Which is why I have acquired a new line of attack!” Aemilus chuckled to himself, “Damien Irving, I shall be your friend. Just you wait, since once I lay my eyes on something it will always be mine.”

“What...”

Damien was speechless, new line of attack… friends… proposals? No matter how much he thought about them he could not see how they could connect. His mind started to hurt just by thinking of their possible correlation. Really just who was this creep? Damien sighed. It's too early for this shit. He was already tired from last night, but interacting with this kid made him feel worse. What he needed to do was continue to study. Yes, if he used the rest of this time to study then he would be sure to receive a fair grade on the next assessment. Moreover, studying was easier to understand than people. This is why Damien brought his eyes back to Aemilius, who seemed to be sparkling so brightly this early in the morning. He smiled at him and said, “Aemilius, I don't want to be your friend and I want nothing to do with your proposal.” And with that he brought his attention back to his phone and walked towards the school, leaving Aemilius behind.

……..

Damien sighed. His eyes held dark circles underneath them while a few dreads slipped from his ponytail; his uniform was even more wrinkled than usual. To be honest, Damien was exhausted as he ran away from the school. Yes… he was currently running from his school. He thought that his response towards Aemilius this morning was brutal, but judging from his behaviour, that obviously was not the case. Since that crazy blonde has been chasing Damien around all day. After the first period, Damien was trapped in the hallway by Aemilius, who then proceeded to go on a whole rant about the benefits of being friends with him. After the third period, Aemilus could not help but gush about how having the same third period was akin to destiny. And during lunch… Damien attempted to ignore what happened at lunch.

When he had already passed the school gate, Damien stopped running. Immediately a satisfied smile came on his face when he saw no tufts of blonde anywhere in his surround-

Nevermind… he's right there. He frowned at the boy who ran out of the school. And unlike Damien’s messy state, the boy still appeared to be dressed flawlessly. He had bright determined eyes with blonde hair laid perfectly upon his head in neat tufts that bounced when he moved. His uniform even held no wrinkles. 

“Irving wait!” Yet Damien did not wait and instead quickened his pace. He did not want this boy to catch up to him, just a little more and he will reach the bus… just a little more. 

“Ah! I finally caught up.” the blonde said with a huge grin. Somehow he had caught up to Damien. He was surprised at the shorter’s boy’s quick speed but eventually shook his head at the thought. He had enough, avoiding this boy was obviously doing nothing for him. So he decided to change his tactics.

“Hey, creep… Is following people also one of your hobbies?” He said in a purposely mean tone in an attempt to scare the boy off. Yet the boy only rose his chest up in indignation.

“I already told you Irving. My name is not creep. It is Aemilius. Aemilus E. Davison.”

Damien rubbed his face at Aemilus’ words, “Aemilius... I see… and I still don't care. He quickened his pace.

Aemilus pouted as he raced to catch up to Damien’s quick pace. “You will care soon enough, if you will only listen to my proposal.”

“And I already said that I don't care.” Damien didn't understand why the kid was so persistent. Proposal this… proposal that… This “Aemilus” said that word so much that Damien practically cringed at it. Due to Damien’s thoughts, it had grown quiet between the two boys. One running while the other chasing.

 Aemilus filled this silence, “As I said multiple times already Irving, I will not give up once I laid my eyes on something.”

How annoying. Thought Damien, yet soon a bright smile came across his face. Finally he had reached the bus and to his luck, he was right on time. This rich kid won't have the guts to follow me on here. These were Damien’s thoughts as he handed the bus driver his pass. Then Damien did something that was quite unlike him, he turned to send a triumphant smile towards the blonde boy, however Aemilius was only a few inches away from him. 

Aemilius smiled back with a similar smile, “Are you finally willing to hear me out Irving? 

Damien frowned, “Shouldn’t things like buses be new for rich kids like you?”

Aemilus gave a smug grin, “Yes, usually. Fortunately I stood up late acquiring information on how to ride these things. Irving, don't you think that I am amazing?”

Damien merely shook his head at Aemilius.  Is it impossible to ditch this dude? Feeling somehow defeated, Damien glanced around the bus. All seats were filled and already he could see that some people were standing as they clutched onto the handrails and straps that hung from the ceiling. Damien grabbed one of these straps and then rose an eyebrow towards Aemilius who had yet to grab hold onto anything. 

“Didn’t you research this? You're going to fall at this rate.”

“Hmm?” Aemilius tilted his head, “How would I fall?

Damien shrugged his shoulders at Aemilius' question. “Well, I warned you”.

The bus started to move, swaying to and fro causing everyone on the bus to sway with its movement. Damien held tightly to his strap as he added strength into his legs to help prevent himself from falling. Then he brought his gaze towards Aemilius who was struggling to stand up straight, his legs shivering like a young deer attempting to make its first steps.

“I-Irving… I'm going to f-fall.” Damien sighed. He looked around and spied an empty strap hanging from the back of the bus. 

“There’s an extra one in the back. Try walking towards that one.”

“B-but I will be apart from y-” he shook once more, stumbling towards Damien.

“Hey watch it!”

“I-I am sorry, I could not help myself. Wait…” he clutched Damien's shirt as he reached for the strap that Damien was holding. His gaze then met Damien’s and smiled, “Why go all the way to the back when I can just share a strap with you?” he closed his hand around’s Damien’s, his smile growing even bigger.

“The fuck are you doing man?”

“Ah… Irving, you should know that you cuss a lot. Well no matter, I am merely sharing this space with you.” the bus shook once more, causing Aemilus to fall towards Damien. Damien jerked his head away as tufts of blonde filled his vision. A smell instantly filled his nose. Peppermint?  Damien thought as he turned his head away only to make eye contact with the passenger standing right before him. The passenger stared at the two boys entwined hands and then at their close proximity. Then frowned as they quickly broke eye contact. A silent tear slid down Damien’s face at their reaction.

The bus stopped and more people got on, causing the space between the two boys to become smaller. Aemilius smiled up at Damien. 

“Now that we are squished here, you can not escape. You can finally listen to the details of my proposal oh great friend.”

“Oh great friend? When the hell did I become your friend?”

Aemilus shook his head, as his smaller body pressed even more into Damien’s, “Do not fret about the details. Listen well for I will not say this again.”

Damien groaned inside, he was uncomfortable. Aemilus' body pressing against his own only made him feel sweaty in this already enclosed space. Shit… I have work right after this, what if I smell like shitty cinnamon because of him?.

Yet no matter how much Damien lamented on the inside there was nothing he could do. He was stuck. Stuck in this humid bus, body practically glued to another boy. Ah… this is shit.

“Irving, are you listening?”

“I have no choice but to listen.”

“That's great then! My proposal is simple. I would like you to be my tutor. “

“What...That's it?”

“Yes!” Aemilius' smile grew wider, “ That is all. Seeing how you are the smartest kid in our grade, I think it is only smart to request help from such a wise fellow as yourself.”

Damien stared blankly at Aemilius for he was dumbfounded. From all of Aemilius big talk Damien thought that this proposal was going to be something big. But just seeing that it was a proposal to be a tutor for some random rich kid pissed Damien off. Damien furrowed his brows, then smoothed out the crease that formed between the too. He did this same action several more times in an attempt to calm himself down.

“Aemilius… you followed me around all day just to say that...” he breathed in causing aemilius gray eyes to sparkle with excitement, he then breathed out. “ I don’t want to be your tutor. God… by the way you were following me around today, I thought that this proposal thing was something big. But for it to amount to a little tutoring gig is just stupid. Sorry, but I can't do it. I don't have the time for it nor the patience to be catering around to some rich kid-” 

The bus stopped, and Damien smiled when he realized that it was his bus stop. He glanced down at Aemilius who was now staring blankly at the ground. Damien had to admit, he did feel bad about his words, but he knew that with this type being blunt was always the best solution. Damien released his hand from the strap and patted Aemilius on the back. “I'm sure that there are other smart kids in our school. You'll be able to find a tutor. Bye.” 

And with that Damien left.