I was pretty sure the package wasn't a bomb, but I kept a very close eye on it anyway. I held it on my p for the whole bus ride back to campus.

  Karl had covered for Nick, as promised, and he just gave me a sickly sweet “Well done, little guy!” when he saw our errand had been successful. But after that he pretty much left me alone. Karl had won his race as well, so the two of them would be going to state together, and they spent most of the ride home excitedly making pns. Although it's possible Nick was a little less excited about it than Karl.

  When we got back to campus, Nick said goodbye to Karl and the two of us went to fulfill phase two of our pn. Whatever was in Kermit’s package, it was definitely something shady. And since it was literally beled with his name, it was solid evidence that he was up to no good, and he would be expelled, and all our troubles would be over.

  We marched over to Lucy's office, flung open the door, and presented her with the package.

  “I can't open this,” said Lucy.

  “What?” I yelped. Nick groaned and slumped back in his chair.

  “This is mail,” Lucy said, “I can't open someone else’s mail.”

  “Why not?” I whined, “Lucy! It's literally right there on your desk! Do you know how long I had to spend riding in a stupid bus full of stinky jocks to get this?”

  “It's a federal crime, kiddo,” Lucy said.

  “Fuck,” Nick groaned.

  “Oh, come on!” I said, “He didn't even mail it! I had to carry it back here myself!”

  Lucy held up her hands, “Look, Little Dom…”

  “Just Dom, come on, we’ve been over this so many times…”

  “...when I was your age, sure, I woulda risked a little jail time for some harebrained scheme,” Lucy shrugged, “Hell, I'm not gonna pretend I haven't been and out of the smmer a few times. But I'm a married woman. I got a stable career. I can't be risking another indictment.”

  I crossed my arms and poured, “My scheme wasn't that harebrained.”

  "And your career probably isn't that stable," Nick pointed out.

  "Ouch," Lucy said, "But probably true. Would be good to make it to the end of the semester, at least."

  "So what are we meant to do?" I said.

  Lucy shrugged, “Give him the package and hope he does something crazy with it.”

  “As university faculty, shouldn't you be encouraging students not to do crazy things with mysterious packages on campus?” I pointed out.

  Lucy shrugged again, “Hey, it's not in my job description. Or maybe it is. I dunno, I pretty much just follow my heart at this point.”

  “Well, this has been as enlightening as always,” I sighed and picked up Kermit's package.

  “It's the bel,” Lucy said, “If it didn't have the postage bel, I would open it up and we could see whatever the hell kinda crazy shit Kermit had you two cute little minions pick up for him. But postage bel means post, which means mail, which my wyers have advised me not to go snooping around in again.”

  “Clearly,” I said, nodding at the pile of unopened letters sitting precariously on Lucy’s desk.

  “Oh, those are for me, actually,” she said, “I'll get around to them at some point. Anyway, anything else I can help you boys with? Big Dom?”

  “Uhh,” Nick sat up, “Maybe something.”

  I looked at him curiously. What was this about? Was he actually asking for help with something?

  “Oh, right!” Lucy said. She popped open her filing cabinet and pulled out another six pack of beer.

  I frowned, “So opening mail is too dangerous, but giving alcohol to a minor is fine?”

  “Yep,” said Lucy.

  “Pretty much,” Nick shrugged, “You wanna call dibs on some this time?”

  I rolled my eyes. How childish.

  “Or I'll split 'em with Karl,” said Nick.

  “I call dibs,” I said.

  ***

  In the end, I didn't even get to see what was inside the package. Kermit didn't use a phone (at least some of Big iPhone was based in truth, apparently) so I went to the studio to see if he was there. He wasn't, but I did find Miel sitting up on the stage, frantically typing away on her ptop.

  “Miel!” I ran up to her excitedly, ready to hop up on the stage. I caught myself at the st second and stopped, gently pced the package on the stage, and then hopped up, nding heavily on my butt. I scooted over to her. “What are you doing?”

  “Hey Dom,” she murmured distractedly, “Just finishing off… an essay…. about…. the… violent legacy of the East India Trading Company and the way its impact is still felt in modern politics…. and done.”

  She submitted her assignment and turned to me with a heavy sigh. She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes. She smiled wearily, “Hi.”

  “Hey,” I smiled back and gave her a soft hug, “You okay? I haven't seen you around the studio in a while.”

  She nodded, perking up a bit, “I've been busy. Working on Kermit's project. It's been a ton of work, especially fitting it in with my csses and ACORN meetings and all, but it's gonna be worth it. I think.”

  I frowned, “You think? He still hasn't told you what it is?”

  Miel shook her head, “Not yet. But it must be something really important, or he wouldn't be putting so much work into it.”

  “Um, seems like we’re the ones putting work into it,” I said, “Have you been getting enough sleep?”

  Miel shrugged, “Honestly, with everything going on in the world, it's crazy that anyone can sleep at night, you know? Anyway, I can tell Kermit appreciates it. I showed him what I was working on, um, which he said I probably shouldn't tell you about, but he was really pleased, and he gave me this smile…”

  She trailed off, blushing. I felt torn, happy that things were going well with her crush, but guilty that I was going to be the one to ruin it.

  “Well, I have this package I was meant to give him,” I said, “But if he’s not here…”

  “Ooh!” Miel sat up, “I could give it to him! I need to talk to him tomorrow about, again, secret stuff. So I could just pass it on to him…?”

  I could see a hopeful glow in her eyes, and I grinned. Honestly, it made more sense to give the package to Kermit myself. After all, the entire point of me running this errand was to prove to Kermit that I was trustworthy. Well, the actual point was to sneak behind his back and get him in trouble with the school, but since that didn’t work, I really should focus on proving I could be trusted. But Miel looked so excited at the opportunity to get some more praise from her crush, and she had been working so hard, and even if it still felt a little unfair to cim I was really her friend, I wanted her to be happy. So I gave her the package, and another hug, and headed home.

  When I got back to the dorm, I was very displeased to find Karl waiting inside, lounging on the couch with his shoes still on. The bathroom door was closed, and I could hear that Nick was showering inside.

  “Hey Little Dom,” Karl drawled, “Long time, no see.”

  “Hello, Karl,” I said, “You know, it's been a week. I get the bed again. So unless you two pn on sharing the couch, you’re probably best to go home.”

  “Aww, you don't wanna share a bed with me, Little Dom?” Karl poured, “I'm devastated. But yeah, I'll head home. Dom and I were just hanging out. Doing boyfriend stuff.”

  He smirked and stretched out luxuriously on my couch. I almost snapped at him to take his dirty shoes off, but then I thought better of it.

  There was something more important Karl needed to hear, and knowing Nick, he was never going to bring it up himself. With Nick busy in the shower, this was probably the best time to talk about it.

  “Hey, Karl,” I said slowly, “This is kind of awkward, but…”

  “Awkward? You?” Karl smiled condescendingly, “Don't be so hard on yourself, buddy. You're doing great.”

  I ignored him and pushed forward. Be the bigger person.

  “I know you and Nick are really close,” I said, “But just so you know, he prefers to be kind of self-sufficient. So it's probably better not to get too, like, protective about him.”

  Karl's smile dropped, “What?”

  “Just cause, you know, I've spent a lot of time with him, sharing a room and all,” I expined, “So I noticed that when he's, like, uncomfortable or embarrassed or something, he prefers it if you just give him some space rather than trying to comfort him.”

  Karl's eyes narrowed, “Wait.”

  “Yeah, it's a bit annoying but–”

  “No, fucking wait,” Karl said. He sat up fully and stared at me. There was no trace of the usual mocking sweetness in his voice. Instead it was ft and cold, like a steel bde. “Are you fucking telling me how I’m allowed to talk to Dom?”

  “Well, kind of,” I said, “Like I said, I probably know him better–”

  “You have to be fucking kidding,” Karl growled. I stopped. Karl got up off the couch and towered over me. Oh, shit. He was actually, genuinely mad. And shit, while I had always paid more attention to Nick’s body, Karl was also an extremely tall, fit college athlete. He leant down towards me and I shrank back in my seat.

  “Listen, you little fucking creep,” he snarled, his voice low and fierce, “I fucking pyed nice long enough. I put up with you fucking lurking around, sleeping on his couch, calling him dumb little nicknames, fucking following us on our fucking trip. I put up with it when you fucking came out as gay the second you knew we were dating, like I couldn’t tell what the fuck you were trying to do. But I let it go cause you don’t fucking threaten me. You're a weird little rich kid freak and Dom wouldn’t fuck you in a million years, so, whatever, have your pathetic little crush,. But don't try to fucking tell me how to talk to my own fucking boyfriend. Got it?”

  My jaw dropped, “I'm… I don't…”

  “Fucking got it, Little Dom?”

  “Yes. I got it,” I gred at him, “But he doesn't consider you his boyfriend, just so you know.”

  For a second I thought Karl was actually going to punch me. His fist curled and everything. But after a moment he dropped it and just sneered at me.

  “Fuck the bel,” he said, “Dom and I are together, and what we do is none of your fucking business. Enjoy your fucking bed.”

  With that, he turned and stormed out the door. I sat there, shell-shocked, until Nick came out of the bathroom, wearing a towel and still dripping wet as usual.

  “Shit, Karl left?” he said.

  “Yep,” I said numbly.

  “That's cool,” Nick shrugged, “Probably good for us to have a night apart. Speaking of…”

  I looked up. He grinned sheepishly.

  “So, uh, thanks for putting up with the couch all week,” he said, “But… seeing as it's just the two of us here… would it be alright if I slept in the bed again? Like, you could as well, obviously. Like how we were doing it before.”

  My eyes flickered to my overnight bag, and the sheer silky chemise waiting inside. I wanted to wear it again. And I wanted to sleep in my own bed. And, I realized, I wanted Nick in there too.

  I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why. I liked the company, and the warmth. I liked that I knew he wouldn’t be weird about me wearing a nightdress, that I wouldn’t have to act all masculine like I did around my father and around Karl, and that I wouldn’t have the sick feeling of being out of pce that I had felt at Jess and Shawnee’s pce.

  Karl would be pissed if he knew that Nick and I were sharing a bed, I was sure. But they weren’t actually boyfriends. And I wasn’t actually trying to steal Nick from him. I mean, sure, the way I felt about him was… complicated sometimes. But it wasn’t a crush. It was just…

  Fuck it. Whatever. Like I said, I wanted to share my bed. So I did. Nick and I didn’t cuddle or anything. He even wore a shirt, although I’m pretty sure he snuck a look at my legs as I was climbing into bed. But then we stayed demurely on our separate sides of the bed and I drifted off to sleep listening to the sound of him breathing, feeling cozy and comfortable and smug in the knowledge that if his arm started hurting during the night I would handle it way better than Karl had.

  It was the best night of sleep I’d had in a long time.