The sun was hidden behind massive white clouds, which coated the sky, while a slight breeze passed through the campus, every few seconds. The weather was ominous to most of the other students, who were decked out in jeans and hoodies, with umbrellas prominently displayed, in their hands or bags.

But L. Joe could only sigh in delight. He loved this sort of weather. Everyone stayed away from university on days like this, and so there were fewer people about, in general, but especially outside. Compared to a normal, sunny day, the place was practically deserted.

The breeze sent a chill of delight up his spine, and he reclined in his seat, that little bit more. Usually the seat would have been stolen by at least 10 people, given its enormous size, but the weather drove the other students inside, so L. Joe got the whole thing to himself. He was half-tempted to sprawl out across it, and have a lie down, as he waited for his next tutorial to start, having an unexpectedly long break that morning.

His lecturer hadn't shown up, and so the day's lecture had been cancelled. As a result, instead of a 1 hour break until his next class, he had almost 2 hours to waste. If he hadn't stayed on campus, he would have made it back home, just in time to turn around and catch a train right back again.

Instead, he'd decided to camp out on his new favourite seat, in front of the coffee cart. Thankfully they'd set the coffee cart up close enough to the nearby building, that the people waiting in line didn't bother L. Joe.

He was feeling so peaceful and happy that he couldn't see any harm in trying out his previous plan, and laid down, arms carefully crossed so as to cushion his head from the hard stone of the seat. He shuffled slightly, trying to make himself more comfortable with his new position, the soft babble of the other students washed away by the wind, as it swirled past L. Joe's ears. He sighed in relief, considering whether or not he'd allow himself to have a quick nap to pass the time, when he detected the sound of someone coming close to where he was lying down.

He opened an eye suspiciously, only to be met by the cheery face of Chunji, smiling at him, from where he stood about a metre away. “I hadn't been sure if you were awake or not.” Chunji explained, realising that L. Joe had been looking at him, but apparently the other boy's shock was merely delayed, as he shot up, sitting properly, as though he hadn't been lying there a moment before.

“I wasn't.” L. Joe answered, quietly, cheeks flushing at having been caught in such an unguarded state by the beautiful boy. He tugged at his own clothes self-consciously not really having put much effort into choosing his clothes, not having expected a run-in with the other boy. He kind of regretted his laziness now.

“I have a break now. Do you?” Chunji asked, the other boy, nothing but hopefulness and delight at their unexpected meeting radiating from his face. The energy and joy Chunji expressed, reminded L. Joe of a little ball of sunshine. He wondered if Chunji was like this all the time, or if the dreary surroundings, made him seem effervescent by comparison. He nodded his head distractedly, shuffling further down the seat, to make room for Chunji to sit down beside him, however in his haste he slid too far, sending the sharp point of the end of the seat into the back of his thigh.

He only ever seemed to do clumsy things around people he wanted to impress... Like Chunji. He wished he wouldn't; it was so painful, and yet he dared not make a move, fearing that Chunji would realise that he'd injured himself again. Who knew what Chunji thought of him and his clumsiness as it was; the fewer incidents he witnessed or was aware of, the better.

Chunji grinned, settling into the space L. Joe vacated, turning himself to face the boy happily, as he dropped his bag to the floor, carefully passing his drink from one hand to the other, to avoid spilling it ion the process. “I'm glad I ran into you. I thought I was going to go crazy if I had to wait until class next week to be able to find out what you had meant by those answers you gave me in class the other day.” Chunji explained, with a teasing grin, as he sipped at his drink. He sighed, relieved, no doubt enjoying the warmth the drink gave him. L. Joe knew it had to be hot, because of the slight wisps of steam he saw rising out of the top.

Chunji's smile took a sheepish turn as he noted the attention L. Joe was paying to his drink. He felt a little uncomfortable with himself, for forgetting his manners. “It's hot chocolate, would you like some? They make it pretty thick here, so it might be a little rich.” Chunji warned, passing his Styrofoam cup over to the other boy, inviting him to have a taste.

L. Joe took a hesitant sip of the drink, wondering if the other boy would make some comment about polluting his drink, if he touched the rim with his lips. But Chunji seemed to ignore that, his attention seemingly focused on finding out what L. Joe thought of his drink. “It's good.” L. Joe agreed, passing the cup back to the other boy, being careful not to drop it, despite it's hot temperature. Even this short time holding it, had burned his fingers slightly, he couldn't help but wonder how Chunji was able to cling to it, like he was, seemingly unharmed.

“It's not as good as the stuff I make myself when I'm at home, but what can you do?” Chunji sighed, with a flippant shrug, happily taking another sip of his warm drink, even managing a small, but clearly delighted moan as he his lips, savouring the taste.

“I wouldn't have pictured you to be the type to like hot chocolate.” L. Joe commented idly, not even really considering his statement as he said it. Realising what he said, he froze slightly, wondering how Chunji would interpret his comment. He hadn't really meant anything by it, but Chunji gave him a perplexed look, telling him that he'd need to explain what he meant by the statement, or risk having Chunji think that he was insulting him or thinking he was weird or something. “I just... Wouldn't have thought you had hot chocolate in your cup, if you hadn't told me, that's all.” he explained, hurriedly.

Chunji laughed. “Oh I see. I know what you mean. Everyone else seems to drink coffee around campus. To be honest, I was kind of hoping that if I had a hot chocolate, every one would think I must've been having a coffee like them, instead.” Chunji explained, conspiratorially. L. Joe just shook his head, unable to believe that someone he admired so much could say something like that, and still seem so cool. If he went around confessing that he drank hot chocolate in place of coffee, everyone would think he was a little strange, but this was what he liked about Chunji. The other boy was so confident, despite all his little oddities. They only made him more interesting.

He would never have thought that people like Chunji would think about what others thought about him. Wasn't part of the whole thing about being cool, that you didn't care what other people thought about you?

There was something familiar about the sorts of things that Chunji would say and think, that appealed to L. Joe: that made him feel more comfortable being himself. It made him seem as human as anyone else; including L. Joe himself. Yet, whenever he'd see Chunji with CAP or their other friends, he'd always be blown away by how, almost inhuman they looked; they seemed to be better than everyone else.

That's kind of why he found them so fascinating.

“So, why are we sitting on this seat, when it looks like it could rain at any second?” Chunji queried, eyeing the sky distrustfully, as he reclined slightly.

“It won't rain.” L. Joe assured him, confidently. Chunji smiled at the answer, he wasn't used to hearing L. Joe talk like that. Having heard it, he kind of wished that he was. “That still doesn't tell me why we're sitting here.” Chunji pointed out, lightly.

“I don't know why you're sitting here. But I'm sitting here because I love this weather, whereas everyone else seems to be afraid of it, and left this massive seat completely empty.” L. Joe explained, eyes gazing round himself, to take in the sights the seat had to offer. He couldn't really see the appeal of the place, himself, so he probably wouldn't sit here again.

“I'm sitting here, because you are.” Chunji explained with a decisive nod, and a friendly smile. “I don't think I've seen you here before.” he stated, inquisitively, his statement practically demanding an answer from the other boy.

“That's because I'm normally in class right now.” L. Joe explained. Chunji leant forward, mischievously. “Oh. Well that means there's only 3 possible explanations, which one is it? Are we wagging, is the class not on this week, or was it cancelled?” L. Joe flushed at the suggestion that he might've been wagging.

For some reason people always seemed to assume that he was the sort of person who would avoid going to class all the time. In a way, he found it kind of offensive, considering the fact that he always did his required work, including showing up for lectures. Sure, he tended to run a bit late in the mornings, occasionally, but, so what? “Cancelled.” he answered, shortly.

“Well, you clearly have more classes later, or else you'd have gone home, right? When is your next class?” Chunji enquired excitedly. “I have a tutorial for my class on Western Classical Music, in 2 hours time.” L. Joe stated simply.

“Oh right, you said you were a music student too, didn't you? What stream are you in?” Chunji enquired, immediately picking up on the meaning inherent in the class, L. Joe had named. “Piano.” L. Joe answered, quickly, flushing slightly, when Chunji's smile seemed to only grow, with his excitement at L. Joe's response.

“Really? I'm in the vocal stream. No wonder I've seen you around so often! Ah, this is so cool. I'm friends with an awesome pianist!” Chunji commented, with a laugh, when he noticed L. Joe flushed at the praise. “Stop it! You haven't even heard me, how would you know?” L. Joe questioned, but Chunji saw through the quick words, knowing they were from his embarrassment.

“Oh right, before I forget, give me your phone?” Chunji suggested, hand out flat, waiting for L. Joe to drop the object right into his palm, at a word. Some rebellious part of him wanted to refuse, just to see what would happen, but the voice was overruled. L. Joe admired Chunji so much, he kind of couldn't resist the other boy; be it his personality, his conversation or his orders, so he handed it over.

He fiddled with the keypad for a few minutes, before passing the item back to L. Joe. L. Joe stared at the screen trying to work out what Chunji had done to it. He looked over to Chunji intending on asking him why he'd taken his phone, only to see the other boy wriggling about, hips high, as he struggled to pull something out of his pocket. His gaze immediately drifted down to his lap, not wanting to be caught with dark cheeks, from what he'd seen. He knew there would be an innocent explanation for what L. Joe had seen and yet the image, begged to be misinterpreted.

“Ah sorry, about that! I really should have learnt by now that I shouldn't put my phone in my pocket when I'm wearing these jeans. They're too tight!” Chunji exclaimed, passing the phone over to the other boy, urging him to hurry up, with a few quick shakes of his hands. “Come on, give me your number!” he instructed.

L. Joe told himself to ignore the fact that the phone was warm thanks to Chunji's body heat. If he focused on that too much, he'd only make himself more embarrassed than he felt as it was. He typed with shaking fingers, overcome with excitement at the thought that Chunji wanted to exchange numbers with him. That Chunji really did seem to like him, despite his shyness and clumsiness. Despite the fact that he was amazingly popular and cool, and L. Joe was not.

He was so unfamiliar with the process, and with Chunji's phone that he struggled to get his number in correctly, getting at least 3 numbers wrong on his first try. It really shouldn't have been so hard to recall his own phone number.

Chunji just grinned at him, when he handed the phone back a second later, even calling his number, to make sure that L. Joe hadn't given him the wrong number. Of course he'd given him a cheeky grin, commenting that his fingers slipped, and that he'd been trying to lock his phone, but that only made the action cuter from L. Joe's perspective.

He kind of felt flattered that Chunji would even suspect that he might do something like that to him. Because really, what sane person wouldn't want someone as cool and pretty as Chunji to have their number? But the phone call also proved that Chunji had in fact given him his real number. If anyone had been going to give out a fake number it should've been Chunji. Although, exchanging phone numbers was his idea in the first place, so it would've been pretty mean of him to do it only to give him a fake number.

L. Joe wondered vaguely, if he'd ever have the guts to call or text him, now that he had his number.

“There.” Chunji commented, struggling to slide his phone back into his pocket again, L. Joe quickly averting his eyes from the sight. It should be illegal for people as attractive as Chunji to do stuff like that. When he dared to return his gaze to the other boy, he noticed the way Chunji was just blandly smiling at nothing, as he sipped at his drink, which must've been lukewarm by now, at best.

“You smile too much.” L. Joe grumbled, not really meaning anything by the comment. Chunji turned to face him, laughing with delight at L. Joe's complaint. He'd never heard anyone complaining about his smile before. “How is that even possible? Besides, I'm nowhere near that bad, I don't smile too much.” Chunji protested.

“Do too.” L. Joe argued, petulantly. “I don't smile if I'm sad or angry or stressed. I only smile when I'm happy.” Chunji disagreed.

“Then you must always be happy around me. And your friends.” L. Joe stated. “What can I say? Being around any of my friends, makes me happy.” Chunji stated with a flippant shrug. L. Joe looked down, smiling himself hearing Chunji refer to him as one of his friends. He still wasn't used to the thought that he was friends with someone like Chunji.

“Maybe I seem to smile too much from your perspective, because you don't smile enough. Did you ever think of that?” Chunji suggested, with a grin. “Which is a shame, because the few times I've caught you smiling, you look so cute. You should really smile more often.” Chunji commented easily, before waving his hand, frustrated. “Ah, we should really change topics! We're wasting time that could be much better spent, with us getting to know one another better.” he exclaimed.

L. Joe knew that Chunji would undoubtedly follow that exclamation with another question directed towards him, but he didn't really want to answer questions right now. Ever since they'd spoken, L. Joe had been bothered by something Chunji had said. He'd wanted to know the story behind it, for days, and now was the perfect time to ask.

Emboldened by their friendly conversation, and the fact that Chunji clearly liked him enough that he wanted to get his phone number, L. Joe quickly blurted out his question, before Chunji could ask anything of him. “Why are you studying music and business?” Chunji paused, clearly having been about to ask L. Joe something, and thus, having been caught off guard by the question. He narrowed his gaze, playfully, “Don't think I don't know that you're trying to avoid me asking questions again. But I'm prepared to overlook it this time, just because I'm excited by the thought that you're curious enough about me, to ask me something about myself. It's nice to get confirmation that you don't hate me, and are not putting up with me because you are just too shy to feel comfortable telling me to back off and leave you alone.” Chunji explained, but before L. Joe could jump in to try and defend himself, Chunji had moved on.

“Well, as you know, I'm good friends with CAP. His dad owns some business empire that CAP is going to inherit in a few years time. Apparently his father is a pretty big figure in the music industry. Well see, the thing is, there are aspects of being a businessman that suit him, and others that don't. Actually knowing about how a business is run, is one of those things that doesn't suit him. As his best friend, it's going to be my responsibility to help him keep the firm running smoothly, so I need a business background to be of any assistance. But it's a music business, and I happen to be a very good vocalist, so.... I suppose you could say my degree choice is the result of a combination of my needs and wants.” Chunji explained.

“I've never heard of someone picking their degree based on a desire to help a friend like that. It's really sweet of you. Does CAP appreciate what you're doing for him? Did he tell you that you'd need to do it in the first place?” L. Joe asked, fascinated by the idea of Chunji being so loyal that he'd do the degree, just because his friend asked him to.

“We've talked about it a lot, but it was me who decided I needed the degree. Yes he appreciates it. He's told me a million times how he's going to give me all these fancy extras for all the help I'm going to give him, and all the strife he's caused for me over the years.” Chunji explains, with a laugh.

“But enough of that. I want to know about you, not go talking about myself for ages! I only have a one hour break until my next lecture and...” Chunji began, sounding so cutely put-out by their conversation that L. Joe kind of wanted to laugh. A few chuckles must've slipped out, judging by the elated look the other boy sent him. “I hate to break it to you, but you might have even less time than you think.” L. Joe stated, sympathetically, because he really was distressed by the thought of their unexpected meeting ending, as well.

Chunji looked at his watch, a crestfallen expression quickly overcoming his features as he realised that L. Joe was indeed correct. “Darn it. Why does everyone in this university conspire to keep me from talking to you?” he sighed, irately, finding out that he needed to leave, if he was going to be on time for his class. “What am I saying? I've got your number now, I can contact you whenever I like!” he chided himself, a happy smile quickly returning to grace his features.

L. Joe might've complained at how often he saw the other boy smiling, a moment ago, but he much preferred seeing Chunji happy than sad.

“Anyway, I've got to go. It was nice seeing you again L. Joe. I can't wait until our tutorial together next week. But I must warn you I'll probably be texting you a lot in between now and then.” Chunji explained, hurriedly, eyes darting over his shoulder, probably searching for people he recognised from his lecture to get a judge of how late he was going to be at this rate. Distractedly, the older boy bent down, giving L. Joe a light, unexpected hug before he waved, taking off, for his class.

The action had caught L. Joe so off guard he'd never even had a chance to respond to it, before the other boy was gone. It was their first ever hug, and he'd missed it.