Two days after their post-moon meeting, the spring semester started as though nothing were wrong.
I really can't catch a break can I?
The good thing was that it would be his last semester, so whatever supernatural things were going on with Andrew shouldn't disrupt his life too much. The bad thing was that there were just too many things left unresolved outside of that.
Like the stalker.
Julien was getting ready to leave when Andrew stopped him at the door.
"…I'm going elsewhere for the week."
Julien frowned. If this were two months ago—one month even—he would've been elated, but with everything going on right now it was mildly disconcerting.
"May I ask why?"
"I'm going to see a… friend."
Julien slowly nodded.
Weird timing, but I guess he has friends too.
He paused.
As if he was one to talk about having friends when he only had one.
He opened the door.
"Are you leaving today?"
Andrew seemed to struggle with the answer.
"... Yes."
Julien smiled and walked out the door.
"See you later then."
He didn't have any grand plans, but Julien was happy to finally have some proper alone time again if nothing else. No offense to Andrew.
I wonder if Nevaeah would want to watch the dog this week.
Who was he kidding, of course she would.
—
Julien was leaving one of his classes when he felt a gaze on his back. At first, he thought it was just Andrew and ignored it, but then he remembered he'd left Andrew at home today. His heart started beating faster.
Is it the stalker again?
Julien quickly headed for the dining hall—at least there would be more people there than in the old tech building he was in.
Entering the building, he pulled out a chair and looked around. He could still feel a gaze, but he was sure they wouldn't be able to approach him with ill-intent now.
Though they hadn't approached until now anyway.
That's when he felt a hand fall onto his shoulder.
He jumped, scraping his chair across the tile as he stood up and spun around.
A middle-aged man with a perpetual scent of cinnamon clinging to his clothes and greying-brown hair greeted him with a surprised expression.
Professor Vale raised his hands.
"Jumpy."
Julien breathed a sigh of relief.
"Professor."
That scared the shit out of me.
He smiled.
"What do you need?"
The professor scratched his cheek.
"You looked panicked so I wanted to check if you were alright."
Julien grabbed his chair and sat back down.
"I'm good."
He paused.
"Last time I saw you you weren't though, has that been resolved?"
Professor Vale suddenly lost all of his energy.
"Not exactly. I lost something precious and had to create a replacement."
He brightened up.
"At least my wife is healthy."
Julien wasn't entirely sure how those correlated but he nodded anyway.
"Cool cool, uh, I'm gonna go now. It was nice seeing you Professor."
Professor Vale waved him off.
"Have a good day Mr. Rubane."
As Julien walked away, Professor Vale lowered his hand and muttered.
'And be careful.'
—
The moment Andrew heard the elevator chime signaling Julien's departure, he called Mrs. Michaels. It only took one ring for her to pick up.
「What's the matter?」
Andrew paced in front of the door.
"Miss Graves has keycard access."
Theia was silent on the other end as she waited for him to continue.
"Check the security office to see how."
He heard whispering—presumably Theia passing the message along to her secretary.
「Anything else?」
Andrew stopped pacing.
"There's someone following Mr. Rubane."
Silence again.
He heard more whispering before she finally replied.
「The target hasn't been released yet, so it can't be him. As for Nevaeah, she seemed to have swiped it by pretending to be a part of the staff.」
Andrew hummed an acknowledgment.
"Should I have her return it?"
Theia thought about it before shaking her head fondly—though he didn't see the action.
「Let her keep it. But inform the office to lock the spares in a more secure location and change the password. If she could guess it—then the target can as well.」
Andrew hummed an affirmation.
Theia hesitated on the other end.
「...Any problems with Julien so far?」
There was a faint worry in her voice he wasn't entirely sure how to respond to. Physically, he was fine. Mentally, Andrew still wasn't sure. He hadn't opened up to him yet and though there hadn't been any overt issues in the past month, Julien could've been holding back again like he had been before his Christmas blowup.
Andrew answered after an extended silence.
"There was a brief mishap, but Mr. Rubane is safe."
「By mishap… you mean your injury?」
He had no intention of hiding it.
"Yes."
Theia didn't say anything for a while, but Andrew knew she wasn't done so he didn't hang up.
「Report to me sooner if something serious happens again… get well soon.」
Then she hung up.
"Call Time: 6 minutes"
Andrew stared at his phone before going back to his room to grab the keys.
With his current… instability, there were a few preventative measures he needed to put in place.
It was time to go meet an old friend.
—
With Nevaeah busy with gods knows what, Andrew gone, and a lack of homework, Julien decided to watch TV—truly, the peak of a well-earned alone time vacation.
"...It's been 8 years since the armistice with—"
"...Former Imperator Jresha faces backla—"
"...an earthshattering discovery—"
Julien turned the TV off in a huff.
I need new hobbies.
Taking care of his garden was nice and all, but because he tended to it literally everyday there was nothing else he needed to do. He would've had an excuse to go on a walk if he hadn't pawned off—no, sent—Cello to daycare with Nevaeah, but he didn't really feel like leaving the house anyway, especially with the stalker on the loose.
There were about three different times on his way home when he'd whipped around expecting to see someone only to realize there was no one there—at least not obviously. It was driving him nuts.
Julien flipped around on the sofa and groaned out of boredom. He found himself staring at Andrew's door.
Does he even have hobbies?
It seemed a bit rude to say considering he caught the man reading from time to time, but that seemed less like a hobby and more of an obligation. He wasn't entirely sure where the impression came from, but that's what he thought.
Though I can't imagine him doing anything fun.
He didn't really know anything about his roommate—at least that's how he chose to view him for now—and he hadn't tried to learn either with how awkward he'd felt since their not-argument. But with the whole stuck-together-until-you-die-of-boredom thing, he didn't see why he should sit still when he had a perfectly good play-partner right there.
He paused.
That doesn't sound quite right.
Either way, Julien promised himself he'd ask the big-fella at least something once he was back.
He sighed. Connecting to the net, he spent the next few hours searching for anything even vaguely interesting to do.
—
Julien shivered.
Again.
It had been three days since Andrew's departure and it was starting to feel as though the stalker was slowly closing in on him. He couldn't even skip his classes considering the semester just started!
Julien hurried along, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't tempted to go to some secluded corner of campus just to catch a peek at this evasive weirdo, but at the same time, he wasn't stupid. He had no idea if the stalker's intentions were malicious or not—and he was leaning towards malicious, despite the lack of action—so he needed to be on the safe side.
…
Well…
Julien shook his head.
I just need to focus on class. Andrew's a tank, maybe he can chase this loser down when he comes back and find out what he wants.
…
Maybe, just maybe this stalker has something to do with Andrew's current condition…
Julien wrestled with himself, going back and forth between not being a dumbass and getting answers. The entire reason this stalker was being so ballsy right now was because Andrew wasn't there right? So he'd miss his chance once his puppy-guard was back.
Right?
Julien wandered off. Starting on his usual route, he made several detours until he found himself in a relatively-public but still fairly secluded corner of campus.
Then he yelled, just loud enough to where he thought the stalker could hear him.
"HEY PUSSY! COME OUT HERE AND TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT BEFORE I SICK MY DOGS ON YOU!"
Cello wasn't all that intimidating, and if he was being serious, neither was he. But he felt if Andrew was serious enough, anyone would be threatened. Julien suddenly realized that Andrew minimizing his presence so much was probably his way of making other people comfortable.
Though how he manages to be as sneaky as a ninja is beyond me.
He ran a hand through his hair as he paced around the empty field.
Regardless, this was probably the stupidest thing he'd ever done in his life—but if he was being a little honest with himself—the sudden excitement was just what he needed to take his mind off of more… distressing concerns.
So Julien waited.
He waited for a good long while.
He waited until the few other students in the area started to dwindle.
And only when he thought he wouldn't receive an answer at all—when he'd already started walking away—did he receive a 'response.'
He felt a hard object smack him in the back of the head and he sucked in a hard breath.
Cheapshot.
Grabbing at his skull, he turned in the direction the offensive object came from. But this damned stalker still wouldn't show his cowardly face.
In fact, his presence had disappeared entirely.
Julien looked down.
There was a red apple sitting in the grass next to him and tied to it was a piece of paper with a single word.
He freed the note and read it.
"Oasis"
Now what exactly was that supposed to mean?
—
A man with woolen grey curls stared at another with rusty hair standing in the middle of a field. He was mildly annoyed—the other one had slipped off somewhere and he had no idea where. Now he was stuck watching this hanger-on until he came back.
The young man in the field suddenly yelled, hurting the grey-haired man's ears.
"HEY PUSSY! COME OUT HERE AND TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT BEFORE I SICK MY DOGS ON YOU!"
His ears twitched.
Are we deadass?
He couldn't conceive how someone could be so stupid as to yell at nothing for virtually no reason. He briefly wondered if the young man in the field had issues.
He was yelling at the other one the first time too.
Not that he cared what for, he didn't even want to be there.
Watching the man in the field pace about after his little outburst, the silent observer suddenly had a realization.
Did that fuckin' princess mean me?
He had him fucked up if he thought he was going to respond to that sort of childish provocation.
…
One lesson wouldn't hurt.
The young wolf ran off, stole an apple, a piece of paper, and a pen off a random kid—they wouldn't miss 'em, he was sure—then he wrote exactly what the little shit wanted to see.
He revved up his arm before remembering he was aiming at a human and toning it down. He chucked the apple at the back of his head before running off.
Hopefully that chihuahua has a brain.
With this, he could say he at least tried, no skin off his back if he didn't get the memo.
—
Andrew came back a few days later, handing Julien a bag of equipment he'd only ever seen on TV and looking more drained than usual.
Julien frowned.
"What's all this?"
Andrew picked each item up one by one.
"Flashbang, sound grenade, animal repellent, bullets, pistol."
He looked Julien in the eye.
"Just in case. Don't hesitate."
Julien looked away, unable to handle looking Andrew in the eye.
This is not what I meant by hobbies.
He furrowed his brows, trying to figure out what Andrew wanted from him exactly—then it clicked. Julien stared down at the heavy bag in his hands—careful not to jostle it and somehow set something off.
"I don't want to hurt you."
Where did he even get these?
Andrew sighed.
"I don't want to hurt you, either."
He challenged Andrew's gaze.
"You didn't."
Andrew shook his head.
"Doesn't mean I won't."
Julien frowned. He had to wonder if that meant Andrew thought he was a danger to him. And if so, why.
Julien gently set the bag on the counter and removed the ammo.
"I'm not shooting you."
Andrew tightened his jaw, but in the end he said nothing.
Julien watched him.
He never argues for himself.