The bathroom was warm and steamy as Gabe dried himself off, staring at himself in the foggy mirror as he did so. The black towel was wrapped around his waist showing off his deep V cut as he combed his hair to try and keep it from being knotted and tangled up.
Gabriel held his chin as he moved his head to the side and back as he tried to decide if he needed a trim. His goatee and mustache were more prominent than his beard that was slowly coming in and he decided to just leave it be. He'd probably look nice with a beard and he didn't mind the feel of having one like some people did.
And he was a little jealous of how nice Zekai's was.
Though he considered himself to be one of those people that could rock a goatee, he was kind of bored of it. Going into junior year he thought the change would be nice.
After the bathroom was steam-free and Gabriel was fully dry, he left it's warm confines, crossing over to his room to change.
The cold night winds kept their apartment cold, though Gabriel didn't mind. Cold can be just as soothing as warmth, sometimes even more. Like cuddling up in a cold blanket on a cold night.
Gabriel could hear the chatting coming from the kitchen and assumed dinner was almost done. It was reminiscent of his high school years when he'd come home after practice to his family already at the table eating dinner.
It left that empty feeling in his stomach. All Gabriel could do was stare at himself in the mirror as he threw on a tank top and sweatpants. An empty stare that said so much to himself, but nothing at the same time.
How can one person know exactly what they're thinking but not at the same time? Gabriel knew how he felt but didn't at the same time.
Spraying on deodorant, Gabe headed for the kitchen and sat in the same spot again. Dom, Aiden, and his mom were in a conversation about classes.
"How's your new job treating you?" Kiara asked as their prior conversation ended. She set the plate of steaks down on the table and Gabe could hear Dom's stomach react with a growl.
"It's alright, better than the last one," Gabe shrugged, taking a plate and utensils from the pile.
"I'm happy you're out of that miserable hellhole they call a restaurant," Kiara said, taking a steak for herself after Aiden and Dom helped themselves. She quickly sliced a third of it off and kept the rest for herself.
His last job was at a run-down Italian restaurant on the other side of town. A simple summer job that he quickly quit after the owners decided to keep tips for themselves. It hadn't started off that bad but after a month and a sudden change in ownership, it was time for him to go.
Gabe took a full one for himself and thanked Kiara for the food. It was nice to eat a meal like this, neither he, Aiden, or Dom could cook this well. Gabe was very good at following the instructions on boxed meals though.
Kiara was an incredible cook thank god. It was nice to have a meal like this instead of something premade that you just needed to add water to.
"Can't say this new place is much better," Gabriel grumbled. "It's going to be hell once everything starts picking up."
"I'd count on it. All of those freshmen excited to have "free" Starbucks are going to waste all of their dining dollars in the first couple weeks," Kiara chuckled, cutting up her steak.
"I always saved mine up and then raided some of the shops for all of their candy and food," Dom cackled. "Sucks not to have one."
"You can afford the stuff anyway," Aiden reminded him.
"Yeah but it's not the same," Dom slouched, nibbling on the piece of steak he had on his fork.
Aiden rolled his eyes, "So who were these dudes you met at the gym?"
"Oh yeah! There was this dude who was, fucking, TALL like taller than Gabriel so he had to be like 6'7" or something, and just HUGE like the muscles on that dude are insane!" Dom gasped. "Dude is built like a fucking wall, and he doesn't seem that old either, like our age or something. And he's dating this shorter dude that's cute too and has the body of a swimmer or something. Elliot is quieter to Zekai's large and in charge, rambunctious attitude."
"Basically like you two," Gabriel muttered. Neither seemed to hear him but Kiara got a chuckle out of it.
"Like what do they feed that guy?" Dom asked, shaking his head at how out of the world it was. "And they're our neighbors!"
"Neighbors..." Aiden grumbled, taking his anger out on his steak.
Kiara and Gabriel shared a knowing look and both resumed their dinner.
"Zekai is a strange name," Kiara asked. "Where's he from?"
"Sweden apparently," Dom shrugged.
It's definitely strange, Gabriel thought. Vijoigborne? Zekai Vijioigborne. Who even names their kid that let alone thinks of it?
*****
Gabriel sat down at his desk in his room, flicking his lamp on and pulling out his planner.
It had been an hour since dinner and Gabriel was tired but he wanted more out of the day. His stubbornness was keeping himself awake when he should really just go to bed.
While he had spent most of the day at work and a couple hours with friends, he still wanted to do what he actually wanted to do. That being sitting in his room and doing absolutely nothing.
Tomorrow was thankfully only syllabus day. Just two hours of going through a syllabus that only had a couple areas you really needed to pay attention to. Maybe they'd be let out early, who knows.
Test days, the Late Policy, Attendance, and the weights of grades. Those were the ones that were typically different compared to other classes.
Some professors didn't mind things being turned in late while some professors would take it down a letter grade for being only a minute late.
Gabriel had two classes each day. Monday and Wednesday have the same classes and Tuesday and Thursday have two different classes but were the same for each of those days.
One was sadly a gen-ed as his advisor had failed to tell him that he had been missing one. Gabriel blamed himself for that one, it was his own fault for trusting someone to do their job.
Was it an accident or does the university want their students to mess up their schedule for more money? Who could tell?
Gabriel started to scribble down in his planner, adding in the twenty hours of work he had, the college didn't allow anymore and he wasn't sure he would have enough time for more anyway.
Working after class on Wednesday, then Friday and Saturday. Two shifts were six hours and the other being eight.
It wasn't this week he was worried about, but all of the weeks after this one. The ones where professors seem to forget that their students have other classes and jobs besides just their class.
Gabriel scoffed thinking of his writing professor who basically had them writing a short story of an essay every week.
The subject he was the worst at was math. Which sadly was the last gen-ed he had and was his first class of the week too. Dom had offered his help since Dom was surprisingly good at math.
Dom was a self-proclaimed "himbo" and while Gabriel one hundred percent agreed. The man was still smart with some things.
The rest were just major classes he was interested in but knew they'd be worth it in the end. After this was law school and that was going to be even more time-consuming.
Though he wasn't sure if he wanted to go directly after college. Maybe take a gap year or two before going back in the swing of things. See the world or something.
Dom planned to move back to California to work and one day run his father's business and Aiden never really spoke up much about it.
Aiden didn't speak up much about his own personal life. Dom and Gabe had been let in on a bit of his life but never very much. All he knew was that there was some falling out with his father and step-family. Happened a couple months before he left for college too.
It reminded Gabe of himself. Whether he cared to admit it, they all had similar-ish lives.
Gabe twiddled his thumbs, staring out his window into the night sky. This was the calm before the storm. All he had to worry about was the classes coming up, not the work being assigned in them.
His own eyes reflected back at him, yet they weren't the ones he was paying attention to. They still hadn't left his mind and he wasn't sure why he was so captivated by them.
Sure they both were very interesting people but he never got this way with anyone. Even with Dom who was conventionally attractive and he got along with (in more ways than one), he never felt this way before.
It was dumb to pine after people who were already in a relationship though. Maybe it was best to keep low contact with them to let the bubbling feelings die down.
Gabriel scratched at his chest as he felt the warm aching feeling in his chest again.
He just needed to get through two more years of this and then he can decide what to do. One semester at a time. It had to be easy enough, the worst was surely behind him, only good things now.
Hopefully it will be a simple semester, nothing crazy. Gabriel thought to himself.
Fate had other things in mind.
A/N:
I'M ALIVE!
The past month has been a lot as my grandma has been in the hospital and I've spent the better part of 2-3 weeks cleaning out her home as she no longer can live in it. It's been pretty rough but I'm doing better and haven't had the inspiration or mental health to write when I have the chance. That and Elden Ring had my attention for a bit(well still does just not as much now) and its truly a fantastic game.
Y'all are lucky i didn't abandoned this to write Blaidd x Male Tarnished fanfiction just sayin' jkjkjkj asdkjalksdjlaksnl tho it is tempting to write some ngl blaidd best waifu
As always you can find me on:Twitter: @14mekPatreon.com/Mek_14 for 5 dollars a month you get uncensored content of both HTTAD and eventually CSD :)
-MEK