Clothes check.

  Shave check.

  Mouthwash check.

  Hair… uuurgh.

  Jun threw his hair brush into the sink in disgust and looked back into the mirror. Dressed to impress in a specially tailored suit gifted from his baby momma, Jun was looking pretty suave with simple silhouettes and silver framed glasses to establish the look of an intellectual. If only his hair would work with him.

  Desi had planned out his entire look and was in charge of getting him ready. He could have asked Aunt Mary or Lily for help, but even till the last moment, he hadn’t given up hope that she’d show up.

  She hadn’t. But she would. She promised, after all.

  Frustrated hands roughed up ten minutes of failure, and the mop returned to its natural state. Mopy.

  Leaving the men’s room, his feet feeling uncomfortable in his new shoes, Jun power walked towards the Student Square. Even from a distance, he could already see the crowds beginning to form around a massive white glowing cube that was dominating the public space, easily towering over the heads of curious bystanders. It was a simple, solid magic light barrier that was hiding his surprise from view and access.

  The entire project had been designed into individual modules and secretly handcrafted during the past year. Hours had been spent the night before, digging out a huge chunk of the square and assembling all the components behind the veil of the barrier that would soon play the role of the backdrop for his presentation.

  A lot of preparation had gone into planning with a lot of help from Davie and Lily. Lily composed the accompaniment and designed the acoustics programs while Davie had taken it upon himself to handle the fleet of drones that were going to make it all possible. Davie was great with drone cams and they all had a lot of fun coming up with the coordination. Even Aunt Mary come early to lend a hand with the setup while he was still finishing exams. Uncle Juan had a collaborations project with a few other film prompters, but promised to make it on time.

  Jun owed them a lot.

  He scanned the crowds in search of a face. One small group standing by his nervous looking aunt and Lily was especially noticeable as the only group of elders in a sea of young students. Professor Kindley and several of his colleagues amiably conversed with Aunt Mary, while the Dean and a few other professors, including Professor Dickinass, looked like they had a thousand other, more important places to be. What a bunch of dicks.

  Scanning around, he still didn't see Desi or Danny. The plan was for Danny to check in and ensure Desi came before the presentation. He was the only person he trusted to take the assignment. After his chat with Nicole, although he seemed calm, Jun was feeling a growing unease in his chest. He couldn't explain it, but he was desperate to hold the mother of his future child in his arms again. It had been too long.

  “Jun!”

  Excitedly, Jun turned to the voice, only to be disappointed.

  “Geez, don't be so happy to see me bro,” said lil Davie, Danny's 18-year-old little brother who, along with Lily, was entering the University as freshmen. Although younger, it was clear that Davie was going to be much larger than his older brother. Even at just 18, Davie was already 6' and almost as bulky as his brother. He had the same good looks and dark hair his brother had, and an even greater blessed talent in body cultivation.

  Another inheritance of his mother was an impressive temper. Boy liked to fight. A week wouldn't go by without lil Davie getting into trouble. Thankfully, the comparisons with the woman stopped there.

  Perhaps due to the trauma of the early abandonment of his mother, Davie valued bonds and loyalty as his personal ethos. His and the Khis Family were his number one priority. He didn't open up to others easily, but once someone earned his trust, lil Davie wouldn't mind making any sacrifice for a friend in need, so was especially hurt whenever a friend would betray that trust. Jun was always honored to be included in the core circle of Davie's heart.

  “Haha, sorry, I'm just anxious. Have you heard from your brother yet? They should be here by now.” Jun asked, giving the surroundings another scan.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “No, neither of them have been answering our calls. Danny said he was going to have a talk with Desi on the way over. I'm sure they'll show up any second now.” Davie reassured him. “Actually, I came by because of something else.”

  Davie became more serious, so Jun did too.

  “What's up?”

  “It's the streaming platform. I can't seem to log in. I've tried contacting the devs, but I've been on hold since forever. We need to start soon, right?”

  Jun didn't like the sound of that. Davie helped with his streaming sometimes, but it was Danny that really drove the technical side to the business. Now the question was, could he afford to wait for Danny to resolve the issue, or did they need to act now?

  The plan had been to stream his thesis presentation and the unveiling of his vision. He'd take this opportunity to reveal his identity while also introducing his rune concepts, as well as thank his supporters with the prepared gifts. Most of this had been planned with Davie so as not to distract Danny from his own finals period. Now he was regretting not running things by him first. Whatever. Decisions had to be made.

  Jun accessed his wrist com and sent a file to Davie.

  “I just sent you the list of my live stream supporters. Let's just start up a new channel for now and only invite that list. We already notified them of tonight, so a quick message for the change in room should be fine. Once you've got that done, release the drone cams. Okay?”

  “Got it.” Without another word, Davie was gone. Jun was thankful.

  “Jun!” Once again, Jun turned with anticipation, only to be disappointed, which he couldn't show.

  “Professor Kindley, thank you for comforting my aunt. She's been very anxious.”

  “Not at all, not at all. Delightful young woman. Absolutely delightful. I reassured her she had nothing to be concerned about, which is true, but then the Old Farts Gangs came over to be snotty.” The Professor actually spit on the ground at this, shocking Jun once more, “Childish. Utterly disgraceful behavior. I'm very much looking forward to seeing their stupid faces when they see what you've brought. Hell, I'm looking forward to my stupid face when I see this. I've even set up my wrist com for a selfie. Heehee.”

  His confidence touched Jun and felt it was well placed. He, too, was interested in everyone's stupid faces. Recorder drones equals memories of youth, get.

  “Anyway, I understand it from the lovely Ms. Khis that you're planning to start things off with a dedication? Has the young lady made her appearance? We should start soon, I think.” Professor Kindley said, looking around as if expecting to see her hiding behind Jun's back.

  “Um, no Professor, but she should be here any second now.”

  “Good, good. I'm very excited Jun. Very excited.” The Professor said one last time before sauntering back towards his aunt, waving excitedly with a smile. It seemed his professor was crushing on his aunt. Dirty old man was 165 this year and making moves. He was excited to see what would happen when Uncle Juan finally made it.

  “Yo, Jun!”

  Jun turned around, another shot of adrenaline meeting a wall of disappointment.

  An assembly of familiar faces approached with a strange atmosphere. Some were mutual friends he shared with Desi, and some were guys he knew through Danny. Jun liked them just fine on most days, but being more their friends than his, he didn’t really want to talk to them when he was feeling so fragile. But he smiled and waved a greeting and gave the customary banter and thanked them for coming by.

  He normally got along fairly well with Desi’s friends since they were usually in creative fields as well, so they had lots of things to talk about and had a good rapport. Danny’s friends were the usual alpha pack jocks that Danny refused to believe he was a part of, and didn’t normally hang out with their physical lessers, so Jun interacted with them the least. Not that they were overtly dicks about it, but they were usually some form of dicks. Nice guys though.

  The added peculiarity of the situation was that he’d never seen the two groups interacting before. Did the they just naturally collide as they were approaching to greet him? Was that why they kept nervously eying each other? Was this going to be the day multiple couples were going to form? Could he take credit for the formation of so many auspicious unions? He’d be made godfather to at least a few kids, right?

  Jun’s mind was wondering aimlessly as he looked at his friends and waited in the awkward silence while they glanced at each other and communicated with their eyes. He’d just casually asked if they’d like to join their group for the after-party and was met with this scene. To him, it looked like a bunch of boys and girls in the beautiful process of falling in love. It was adorable.

  Finally, after a few heavy moments of silence, Wendy looked like she was going to speak for the group. All eyes were on her as she looked Jun straight in the eyes and said.

  “Break a leg.”

  And ran off. The rest of the group was stunned as they watched her waddle away.

  Kennedy, the biggest of Danny’s friends, towered over Jun and patted his back and said, “You got this brother,” before running after Wendy. The rest of the group gave Jun a strained smile and hurried after.

  ‘Oh my lordy, is Kennedy crushing on Wendy? He’s super gentle in contrast to his image, so I think Wendy would be into him. Damn, I was hoping to get her and Danny together. Your loss my brother.’ He thought as he watched the group run off.

  That was a very odd interaction.

  “Jun!” Heart in his throat, he turned to find Nicole and Tiana running towards him, looking stricken.

  Jun didn't know why his friends were so anxious but it awoke something. Something revolting that had been hiding in the corners of his heart. Something he couldn't face was now demanding his attention.

  He didn't know why he felt like he was about to suffocate, why a chill was forming in his core, or why he suddenly wanted to run far away, but he knew that there was a change.

  Something had shifted.

  He didn't know what, but rather than finding out, he wanted to flee.

  But he didn't. He couldn't.

  He wished he had.