Sincerely, Yours

13. Complicated

Luan's bed and floor were strewn with clothes. He'd been good about distracting himself all day and up until about 4 pm he'd convinced himself that this time he was going to spend with Thoma was nothing more than a simple hang out between friends. But as 5:45 came closer, Luan began to become frantic. None of his clothes seemed casual enough and all his casual clothes seemed too underdressed. 

Now at 5:30 his floor and bed were strewn with all the clothes he brought with him to college. A text dinged on his phone and he hurriedly read it, scared Thoma might already be walking up to his door. 

Old Man Thoma - I'm just now leaving my apartment. See you in 15.

Luan knew he had to get over his ridiculous and misplaced stress. Thoma wasn't going to give a damn if Luan came dressed in a suit or even in his pajamas. He settled on wearing what he wore every day, just some jeans and a crewneck. He was just tying his shoes when he heard a knock at the door. 

He hurried to answer it and was just about to greet Thoma when his heart dropped to his freshly tied shoes. 

"Hey Lu, its been a while," his ex Mikey said with a grin. 

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"You look nice, where are you heading?" Mikey asked and was working his way into Luan's room but Luan held his arm in the way. 

"I'm on my way out and you need to be too. You're not allowed to be on campus," Luan seethed with as much anger as he could muster though his hands were shaking.

Mikey patted his face which made Luan flinch and he smirked. "Being expelled from this bullshit university only means I can no longer attend classes here. I believe the word you're looking for that would make it illegal for me to be here is a 'restraining order', which you never got. Lucky for me." 

Mikey yanked Luan's face towards him and forced a kiss to his lips. Luan responded by biting his lip hard and slapping him. 

"Thanks for the advice. I'll file for a restraining order first thing tomorr...." Luan's voice faded out when he looked behind Mikey to the hallway and saw Thoma staring into the room. 

"Oh," Mikey turned to Thoma with a bleeding lip and red cheek, "Who do we have here?' 

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Thoma had been excited all day to meet up with Luan. It wasn't often that he made time to hang out with friends and it'd been too long since he'd made any new ones. His coworkers seemed to take notice of his change in attitude and though a few looked like they wanted to comment, they knew Thoma well enough to know he would give them a vague answer. 

Once 4 pm hit, Thoma was already on his way out the door and heading back home to get ready to meet Luan. Though he'd already taken a shower that morning he took another one to make sure he smelled decent. He didn't have much variety when it came to clothes so he stuck with something casual but fashionable, or what he deemed as fashionable. It was already 5 by the time he was done and he went down to his car to double check that it was clean and smelled good. He was too early to meet Luan still but he drove over anyways. It was now 5:30 so he shot Luan a text and waited in his car till the time they'd said they'd meet.

"God, I hope I don't look like some creep waiting in his car for college students to pass by," Thoma worried.

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Thoma was walking up to Luan's dorm when he heard someone arguing rather loudly. 

"College kids," he'd thought initially with a roll of his eyes until he realized that he recognized one of the voices. 

He hurried the rest of the way to Luan's dorm and was about to announce himself when he saw two boys kissing at Luan's door. He took a step back and was about to walk away when there was a loud slap and he distinctly heard Luan's voice yelling but suddenly cut off when he caught sight of Thoma. 

Thoma said nothing as the aggressive looking boy who'd assaulted Luan turned to him looking for a fight. He simply looked past him to Luan. "Are you alright Luan?" He asked and Luan looked like he could've cried as he ever so slightly nodded but his gaze fell back on the boy in Thoma's way. 

"Hey, motherfucker, I'm talking to you," Mikey taunted Thoma who was looking down at him in disdain. "You interrupted my conversation with Lu. So fuck off." He sneered but once again Thoma looked to Luan. He only wanted to see what he wanted him to do. This situation wasn't any of his business.

Luan felt frantic. The only thing he knew was he needed to get Mikey away from Thoma. The most efficient way to do that was give Mikey attention. He'd have to figure something else out later to get away from him. 

"T-this is a friend, Charlie," Luan addressed Thoma. He couldn't let Mikey know Thoma's actual name or he'd find a way to ruin his life too. "I totally forgot I already had plans tonight and I'll have to cancel drinks," Luan said with a steady voice and looked to Thoma who nodded in understanding. 

"No problem. See you next time," Thoma said and gave a forced polite nod to the punk who forced himself on Luan. He walked back down to his car and leaned back into his seat with a sigh. 

"I don't think it's a good idea to leave that kid with Luan," he thought out loud and decided to wait for a little bit just to make sure the punk kid didn't try to drag Luan somewhere else.

Back up in Luan's dorm room Mikey was trying to force his way again. 

"I refuse to talk to you in the privacy of my room. We're going somewhere there's lots of people," Luan said with a stern voice and Mikey just laughed. 

"Aww it's so cute seeing you assert yourself finally. Where was this when we were lovers?" he teased and Luan wanted to slap him again. It felt like Mikey had a sixth sense when it came to Luan finally being happy, and every time he'd swoop in to destroy him again.

Since Luan was already dressed to go out he walked them to the campus cafeteria, to a table in a corner. 

"Ooh can you buy me something to eat, I'm starving," Mikey begged but Luan ignored him. 

"What do you want this time?" Luan said blandly and Mikey sat back in his seat. He smirked like this was all just a big game. 

"Isn't it obvious, my sweet Lu? I want you to love, no. I want you to NEED me again."