This was the part Pappa Keizer hadn't mentioned. He had secured us the "Fortress of Solitude," but he had placed it directly in the line of fire.
The honors wing was structured in a U-shape, and Room 413 sat right at the apex. Across the hall—less than ten feet away—were Rooms 411 and 412. The doors were wide open, and the air was thick with the smell of cheap ramen, unwashed hoodies, and the loud, frantic energy of twelve engineering students on the brink of a nervous breakdown.
The Glass Walls of 413
[Jay's POV]
I stood in the middle of our pristine, high-tech sanctuary, looking out through the open door.
Across the hall in 412, Rory was currently standing on a chair, trying to tape a diagram of a turbine to the ceiling while Erdix shouted contradictory formulas at him. In 411, Freya and Rakki were having a high-speed debate about
thermodynamics that sounded more like a rap battle.
"So much for the 'Quiet Wing'," Keifer muttered, leaning against the doorframe of 413.
"JEAN! JAY! QUEEN!" Rory spotted us immediately. He hopped off the chair, narrowly missing a pile of textbooks. "The door is open! That's an invitation! Mayo, get the whiteboard! We're moving the headquarters!"
"No, it is not an invitation!" Keifer barked, but he was too late.
A stampede of feet echoed in the hallway. Within thirty seconds, our private "No-Mariano" zone had been breached by the most chaotic forces on campus.
Mica and Ella claimed the kitchenette, immediately digging into Mamma Serina's coolers. David and Kit dragged their chairs from 411 and parked them right next to our desks. Ci N and Mayo were already trying to figure out how to connect their laptops to our high-speed lab station.
"Wow, Pappa Watson really pulled out the big guns," Freya said, whistling as she poked the ergonomic chairs. "This isn't a dorm, Jay. This is a five-star command center. Which is perfect, because Felix and Calix just realized they've been using the wrong gravity constant for the entire semester."
"The wrong—how are they even still in this course?" I asked, my "Genius Mode" automatically clicking on as I saw their panicked faces.
"That's why we're here!" Rory grinned, leaning over my shoulder. "We've decided. Since you two are now the 'Mom and Dad' of the group, Room 413 is officially the Joint Engineering War Room. You have the space, you have the food, and you have the only two brains that aren't currently melting."
The Chaos and the Kiss
[Keifer's POV]
I looked at Jay. She looked at me. I could see the reflection of the blue sapphire on her finger as she rubbed her temples, but there was a small, unmistakable smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She loved this. She loved being the anchor for these idiots.
"Fine," I sighed, dropping into my chair. "But there are rules. Rule number one: If you spill ramen on the lab station, you're banned. Rule number two: No teasing Jay while she's in 'Calculation Flow'."
"And Rule number three?" Erdix asked, hovering over a bowl of Mamma's prepped adobo.
"Rule number three," I said, sliding my arm around Jay's waist and pulling her close for a second, "is that I still get to kiss my fiancée whenever I want, so if you don't like PDA, don't look up."
"Oooooh!" the room erupted.
"The Prince is getting possessive!" Mayo cheered.
"Go back to your fluid dynamics, Mayo!" I laughed.
For the next four hours, Room 413 was a beautiful, loud, intellectual mess. It was the opposite of the cold silence I'd shared with Jay in the library weeks ago. This was life. This was the family we had built for ourselves.
At one point, the noise peaked. Rory and Kit were arguing about beam stress, Mica was playing a lo-fi study beat, and the rest were shouting questions at Jay.
I looked at Jay. She was in the middle of it all, her glasses slightly lopsided, her hands moving frantically as she explained a complex derivative to Felix. She looked radiant. She looked home.
I didn't care about the rules. I reached out, caught her wrist, and pulled her toward me. The room went silent for a heartbeat as she stumbled into my lap.
"Keifer! I'm in the middle of—"
I didn't let her finish. I leaned in and kissed her, right there in front of all twelve of them. It wasn't a "private suite" kiss; it was a "we survived everything" kiss.
"YO! GET A ROOM! Oh wait, you have a room!" Rory yelled, throwing a crumpled piece of paper at us.
"Ten points to Gryffindor!" David shouted.
Jay buried her face in my neck, laughing and blushing, while the squad returned to their books with renewed energy.
"I hate you," she whispered into my skin.
"Liar," I murmured back. "You love that I'm a constant distraction."
"Calculations confirmed," she sighed, finally settling against me for a second before turning back to the group. "Okay, listen up! If Felix uses the wrong constant one more time, everyone is getting kicked out to 411! Back to work!"
The "Weekend" Order
As the night wound down and the squad finally retreated to their own rooms across the hall (leaving 413 surprisingly intact), the silence felt even sweeter.
I looked at my phone. A message from Mamma Serina:
The car is booked for Friday at 5:00 PM. Don't be late. I'm making Jay's favorite seafood stew. Love you both!
"We're going to be busy, aren't we?" Jay asked, leaning her head on my shoulder as we looked at the empty hallway through the cracked door.
"The busiest," I agreed. "Between the squad, the exams, and my parents' weekend 'kidnappings,' I don't think we'll have a quiet moment for the next two years."
"I wouldn't trade it for anything," she said, squeezing my hand.
"Neither would I, Mrs. Watson-to-be."