I Like Me Better when I'm With You (COMPLETED)

Gravity

Notes: (Chapter title is from Gravity by Timeflies)

***

Classes at 7.30 should be banned from the universe. It's inhuman.

Nico took another sip of coffee from the carton cup that he was holding. He was wondering whether anyone had started a petition to erase morning classes from existence. He paid no attention at all to the other students that started coming in to the classes.

"So you really did take my advice, did you?"

Nico slowly turned his head to his left, finding that the seat next to him was now taken by a girl. The same girl that tried to tell him the difference between two shades of black.

Nico looked away from the girl and took another sip of his coffee.

"Who said I bought this shirt because you told me so?" he said, shrugging a shoulder nonchalantly. "Maybe I like this band better."

The girl waved dismissively. "Sure, if you say so, Emo Boy."

"It's Nico, Nico di Angelo," Nico said, turning to look at the girl again. "You're also in Criminology, Fashion Girl?" Nico asked.

"It's Drew. And yes, I am in Criminology."

***

Fifty minutes later, the professor ended the lecture. Nico sighed as he glanced at his wrist. He had about an hour and a half before his next class.

"You look like you need another cup of coffee."

Nico groaned at Drew's comment. "A cup? Make it a pot," he said.

"Want to grab some? We still have time before the next class, right?"

Nico turned his head to Drew who was sliding her binder into her bag. "Yeah. Starbucks? The one in the Union?"

Drew made a disgruntled noise. "Oh, please," she said. "I thought you Italian people would want better coffee than what they offer there?"

Nico arched an eyebrow. "How do you know I am Italian?"

Drew looked at him with her head tilted to the left. Her expression saying Duh? without her voicing it.

"Your accent? Your last name?"

Nico opened his mouth but Drew already stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Come on," she said. "I know this place around here. And take it from me, it's better than any Starbucks."

***

Nico had to admit, that Drew Tanaka was right.

The Oracle offered a much better coffee than Starbucks.

***

Will was sitting on the floor, in front of the door of his apartment. He was lacing his sneakers as he was getting ready to go to his shift at the Oracle when he heard footsteps coming down from the stair.

He lifted his head up and found Jason Grace, greeting him with a smile.

"Hey, Will," he said as he climbed up the last step of the stair, and stopped in front of Will's door.

"Jason! How are you, neighbor?" Will greeted him back and he stood up, slinging his backpack on his shoulder.

"I'm good," Jason said. "Glad that you decided to stay here."

Will grinned as he ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I mean, the rent is quite good, it's not far from campus and The Oracle."

"You work there again? Nice."

Will hummed. "Yeah. And Austin also liked the place so we decided to renew the lease for another year."

"Oh, speaking of that, Will, do you by any chance, happen to know anyone who is looking for a place?"

Will's brows raised up. "Why? What happened?"

Jason sighed. "Yeah. So, apparently there is this....family emergency thing happened to Michael, so he decided to take a break this semester. It was such a sudden decision. He just told me like... two days ago."

"What? Man, that sucks."

"Yeah. So unless I find a new roommate by the end of next month, I will have to pay all the rent by myself."

"That really sucks. Have you tried to put an advertisement? Craig List or something?"

Jason nodded. "I made a post on that Facebook group about housing around our campus. I haven't gotten anything yet. But I just posted it yesterday, anyway."

Will shook his head as he closed the door behind him.

"Well, good luck with that, Jase. And I'll spread the words. You want me to put a flyer or something on the board in the Oracle?"

"That would be great. How about I send it the flyer by email tonight?"

"Sure," Will said. "Gotta run now. My shift is in about half an hour."

"Yeah. Thank you, Will. I really appreciate it," Jason said with a grateful smile.

"No problem, dude."

"Bye, Will. Have a good one," Jason said, and made his way to his own apartment, right across the hall of Will's apartment.

Will walked down the stairs, off to his first day working back in The Oracle.

***

Friday.

This was the Friday of the first week of classes. Which marked that Nico has been living in the same apartment with Octavian for a week.

And he almost, almost could not take it any longer.

It was not even 8 in the morning when Nico opened the tin where he stored his ground coffee, only to find that the coffee there was barely enough to make a single cup. He swore he supposed to have more than that.

He glanced at the coffee table. There was a white mug lying on the coffee table, next to a plate with some breadcrumbs. Nico knew for sure the mug (and the plate) was not there last night. The opened box of pizza where the uneaten crust left inside was there since last night (and the night before. Gross). But not that mug. Nico was pretty sure that the mug was part of the explanation of why he mysteriously ran out of coffee.

Octavian was lucky that he was not in the apartment, and Nico had to rush to his class. Otherwise, Octavian would end up in shredded forms.

But of course. Of fucking course the world was joking around with him. As if starting the day in a caffeine-deprived condition (thank you very much, Octavian) was not enough, Nico had a TA for his first class that day because the professor had a sudden emergency family situation. The TA did nothing more than just reading every single word written in the powerpoint.

He had two more classes after that and even though they were not as bad as the first class, they didn't make Nico feel any better.

And by the end of the day, when it was already 5 in the afternoon and Nico decided that he was so done with the world, the world decided that no, it hasn't done with him yet.

Nico wasn't even half-way yet from the library on his way back to the apartment when the rain started pouring down. Nico groaned.

He ran a hand through his hair that instantly soaked the raindrops when his eyes caught the sign of The Oracle, right across the street. Even from outside, the sight of the warm interior looked inviting.

Compared to walking down under the rain, the option of having something to drink in that coffee shop seemed to be much more appealing. Nico took a deep breath. He raised the collar of his jacket, and ran to the coffee shop.

***