This was the only way Jorgien gave out compliments. “It took every single one of us.” Jasper said, thinking back. “I wasn’t sure if cooling down a heated exoskeleton would work like ceramic, but it certainly helped with the… bashing.” He glanced at Maria.

“Hot plate in cold water go crack crack!” Josephine deliriously said. “That’s our gay nerd!”

Jorgien chuckled, then straightened themself. “There are charred marks on the concrete.”

“Oh.” Josephine said, yawning. “Who did that?”

Cody zoomed back around the corner, which was a very funny way to put it, and threw a handful of snacks at the two women. They re-activated like amusement park characters being plugged in.

Jorgien called another professor on their phone and stepped away. Jasper was still holding the core.

Cody rested an arm around Jasper. “So what are we gonna do with that?”

Jasper, uncontrollably wide-eyed, looked at the hand on his left shoulder while processing that Cody’s face was directly to his right. The weight of his arm wrapped around the back of Jasper’s neck. The breath grazing down towards Jasper’s hands, softly, gently tickling his collar…

“Uhh, erm. You, your— ok. Probably several core IOUs. It was a… a pretty even four way.” Jasper stared into his own hands, not daring to move his gaze. What he wanted to say was ‘Your arm is around my shoulders,’ but if he said that, Cody might’ve taken his arm off.

Wait, that was what Jasper wanted, right? He didn’t need…

Jasper dared a glance to the right, seeing those rosy cheeks all too close to his, and every thought flushed out of his soul. Cody was running a hand around the leaden core’s surface, unbeknownst of the gay panic he was causing.

Straight men do this, and I’m just lonely! Jasper thought to himself. Besides, Cody looked oblivious to Jasper’s plight. The guy was attractive, point blank and simple. But obliviousness was a straight trait. Mostly.

Feelings, stop! Ok, yes, the more Jasper thought about it, the more he had to admit that Cody was gorgeous. There was no denying that. But this meant nothing! What Jasper needed to deny was—

“Whoever has the lowest magic threshold should probably take it.” Cody said, looking at Jorgien. “I have a feeling we’re all gonna need it.”

Cody took his arm off and Jasper remembered to breathe. He hadn’t realized how stiff he became until he was unhanded, or rather unarmed-ded? It was entirely unnecessary for his body to not function normally like that! The gall! The discord! The baseless, heinous act!

Should Jasper speak words now? No, why did he care? Oh, shut the fuck up Jasper. His heart was racing, stop looking at him! Jasper turned his head to the lesbians instead. They have names!

“My brain is in complete disarray.” Jasper muttered to himself.

“What was that?” Cody asked.

“Nothing!” Jasper said. “Just… tired!”

“Do you need a snack too?” Cody pointed backwards.

“Oh, no, no I…” Jasper looked around Cody’s neck. “Is that the trickster core?” A necklace with a wrapped blue stone hung over Cody’s red V-neck. He had an unzipped black leather jacket around it. The blue of the necklace rather stood out, now that Jasper was looking.

“Oh, yeah, it’s—” Cody was cut off.

“Alright, kids. Let me see that.” Jorgien grabbed the leaden core from Jasper, felt it, looked at it, moved it up and down in their palm. “It’s fifty-eight mions. Warrior of Stoicism, same emotional trait as the small bugs. Someone, somewhere is refusing to admit they’re wrong, but this goes beyond that.”

“You were lucky that it’s a more defensive than offensive trait.” Jorgien continued, handing the core back. “So what will you four decide?”

Jasper and Cody looked at each other.

“Instructor…” Jasper started, “can you check which of us has the lowest magic threshold?”

“Zut, en luminis vruhen.” Jorgien chanted. It was a sort of X-ray miasma vision. The magic within. “Looks like Maria has the least. Then Jasper, then Josephine, then Cody. He wins by quite a lot.”

“Maria it is, then!” Cody said. Jasper had no reason to protest, though part of him felt like Cody was showing off.

“What about these?” Jasper held up the 17 beads to Jorgien.

“Look closely. The slightly smaller beads are half a mion, and the slightly larger are one mion.”

“And this?” Jasper held up his, which was slightly bigger. “I got it from the grocery store yesterday.”

Jorgien sighed. “You too?” They picked it up. “Two mions— what we thought was the highest the bugs would get, until today.”

A few upperclassmen started appearing from around the corner. They glanced at the concrete burn marks and Jasper’s group, but then Jorgien left to greet them.

“A grocery store?” Cody chided. “What, was there a beetle in your lettuce?”

Jasper retracted his neck. “Oddly enough, that’s exactly what happened.”

“Shut up.”

“A head of romaine.” Jasper shrugged.

“Did it take a bite of it?”

“I’ll check when I get home.”

“You BOUGHT that one?!” Cody laughed, and Jasper relaxed a bit.

He would continue to deny any warm or comforting feelings this man made him have. A crush on Cody would be fucking awful. Yes, ignoring everything was a great idea! Jasper was just getting desperate! And he was probably just hormonal today because of the moon or something!

“Oh.” Cody said, taking his necklace off. “What I was going to say earlier, is that you should have this one. Especially now that you’ll have the lowest threshold of us.” Cody grinned.

“Oh, shut it Mr. Perfect, I don’t need—”

Jasper’s mouth stopped working when Cody reached around his neck to put the necklace on him. Their faces were inches apart. His nose was entirely too close. Intrusive thought Jasper would’ve just fought it with his own nose. Then maybe kis—

“It’s seven mions from a Mischievous Trickster.” Cody said. “And it matches your eyes, not mine. So I think you should wear it and save it for an emergency spell.” He brought his hands back to himself, and Jasper felt his thoughts being sputtered into mashed potatoes.

It matches my eyes? Thats the gayest— wait! What about Cody’s eyes? Jasper’s mind became hormonally un-distracted and switch-tracked for a moment. Wouldn’t Jorgien have seen them earlier? The red and the pink, not the auburn brown?

Jasper coughed and stepped back. “MHM MMHMZut MMMMRM.” His vision switched on, and he looked back. Cody’s eyes were still brown. Cute hints of a dark berry color, but brown.

Jasper should really just ask Cody about this, right? Or maybe, he did need to get to know the guy more. For research, not anything else whatsoever. Certainly not because he had a crush. Only investigation. Something was off about Cody, and Jasper couldn’t forget that.

Jasper knew he wasn’t imagining things the other day, so he had to pursue this. Yes, it was his solo quest. Don’t sow discord by telling Cody’s secret. Become friends with him first to learn about it. No ulterior motives whatsoever.

But Jasper could still remember the feeling of Cody’s hands dragging off of his shoulders after placing the necklace…

NO, Jasper, NO!

There was an emergency meeting and bugs everywhere, the world was probably at stake! Ok, it probably wasn’t nearly that serious, but—

“Speechless?” Cody asked, still directly in front of Jasper.

“Just… thinking.” Jasper said. Shit. Now, the next thing Cody was gonna say was—

“About?” There it is. Come on Jasper, make something up! Cody has an open mouth smile— unfair!

But seriously, Jasper hated when people followed the obvious script of inconvenience. If Jasper were to blurt out honestly, he’d say some dumb gay shit like ‘I’m thinking about your hands, your eyes, the way a small tuft of your golden hair is flipping in the slight breeze right now, and how you were there today, precisely when I needed you to be.’

Instead, Jasper said, “Why it’s always bugs I run into. Anyways, thanks for helping the gays. Your ally patch will arrive in five to ten business days. Since us queers view ‘business’ as a social construct, you may never actually get it, though.”

“I think I’ll manage.” Cody said. “Looks like more people are—”

Cody was stopped by Aren, who had stuck an index finger into his and Jasper’s cheeks. Aren really snuck up on them.

“Hello.” Cody said.

Aren nodded in response, then moved Cody’s cheek finger and pointed to Josephine and Maria.

“They’re ok.” Jasper said. “We fought a really big bug.”

Aren tilted their head.

“Fifty-eight mions.” Jasper said.

Aren’s eyes opened wide as he took down Jasper’s cheek finger. Today, Aren had curled the hair on top of their head (the rest was shaved) and had a soft-pink eyeshadow on. They had brown hair with a reddish tint, but it was frequently colored. Nails too. One week Aren might be a cotton candy succubus. The next, they might be a tired soccer player. There was no way of telling, though Aren might just point at the moon to explain it to you. Jasper understood.

Aren’s short self gave Jasper a side hug. Jasper always wanted to die a little when Aren gave their random bouts of affection.

Then, Aren looked at Josephine and Maria who were sitting and leaning against each other. “Lesbians.” Aren said, and they started laughing. Aren walked over and sat with them.

Cody had his mouth open, confused. “Is that really all it takes to make you guys laugh?”

“No.” Jasper said. “We’re on LSD all the time.”

Cody laughed. “Whatever helps you cope.”

“Alright, everyone.” Jorgien shouted. “We’ll wait ten more minutes since the location has changed.”

Jasper was looking around. Several upperclassmen were here, and so was professor Ozu. Over the next several minutes everyone else arrived, confused that they were out in the sun on a Sun-day.

Jasper laughed at his mental pun when Jorgien began the meeting.