The rain was falling softly behind the window. The trees waved as the wind slowly pulled and pushed them, their leaves falling. The window was closed, yet the cool breeze of the wind was felt in the room he was in. It was a beautiful sight. The soft sound of rain accompanied by occasional thunder would calm anyone in distress.

However, Tom was anything but calm. Drapes were scattered across the room, nearly indistinguishable from his blanket. His pillow and bolsters were nowhere to be seen. His fur a mess, the wolf was curled up beside the nightstand in the corner of the room, holding his wooden staff tightly. He panted heavily, trying to draw deep breaths but unable to do so.

The wolf whined pathetically.

He pulled his legs even closer to his body and kicked the blanket away.

He gripped his head, so hard the insides of his ears began to discolour. His eyes were shut tight, his teeth bared. Tears were falling from his eyes, his t-shirt already damp from it.

His sobs turned into cries, and he punched the back of his head to the wall, screaming as he did so. The pain was welcome, anything was welcome to save him from his own self.

He kept crying in agony, writhing and clawing at his head. The lamp on the nightstand fell and shattered apart, pushed by the erratic movement of his tail.

I see you, ringed inside his head, fragments of his memories playing inside his mind. You're worth nothing but disappointment.

He screamed as loud as he could.

The soft sound of rain was marred by a scream in torment.

Please, go.

Then there was silence.

The wolf sobbed into his arms, draping himself in fake assurance. He took a deep breath amidst his sobs, a symbol of his surrender and forced indifference.

It was almost 4 o'clock.

“Put that one over there."

Theodore put the rubber lines under the exhibition panel. Martin and James slowly lowered it, and they clicked into place.

They three huffed in satisfaction.

“Okay, is that everything?" Tom asked, looking up from his tablet.

“Yeah, all done." James walked towards him and picked up his bottle to drink.

Tom took a few steps back and looked at the installed panels, satisfied with his team's work. Today was the D-day for his group's social project and they were looking forward to spending the day finalising it. They hoped to attract a lot of crowds, and maybe sell some merchandise in the meantime.

The wolf glanced at his phone. It was almost 10. His group was having a mini exhibition with the theme “You Are Unique" in the lobby of the Humanities faculty building today. Pictures drawn by his friends adorned the panels, some mere sketches, others full paintings. He also participated; his seemingly lame and plain sketch sat on one of the corners of the panel. There were also two wide mirrors on the opposite sides of each other, each with opposite labels above them.

He counted the paintings. There were 17 paintings spread over 5 panels.

“Looks good?"

Tom turned to James. The tiger was looking at the panels with a satisfied look on his face. “Looks good." He turned his tablet off. “It's going to be crowded later, you reckon we'll need more blank canvases for the signature board?"

“Tom, we have 5 of them." the tiger put his bottle down. “That's more than enough."

“Oh, yeah... but—"

“Tom, you're stressing yourself. Just calm down." James stood up and put his hand on the wolf's shoulder. “We've been this far, Mr van de Hoek's gonna give us an A, I know it."

“But what if—"

“Shh. Go get some breakfast. The classes will finish soon." The tiger gave his shoulder a pat and walked towards Martin and Theodore to configure the lighting.

Tom let out a sigh and turned around. Maybe he really needed some breakfast to clear his mind. His other groupmates were busy preparing the exhibition, and so far, they were right on schedule.

He took a last glance to the exhibition area and walked out of the building to the east canteen.

On another thought, he went back inside and pulled out his phone. Max was online, so he decided to text him. Mate, you awake?

He walked past the exhibition area to the lift. Their classroom today should be empty, so he decided to have breakfast there, if Max were willing to deliver it to him.

He was being lazy, he knew that. But he couldn't leave the exhibition.

Max Kleinschmidt: Dude I'm not Martin XD. Sup?

Tom chuckled a little at the reply. A bit hungry atm. You're coming to our exhib?

He opened the door to his classroom and sat on one of the seats. The wolf then turned his tablet on and—shoot, he didn't bring the keyboard.

Max Kleinschmidt: Yeah. It's starting, isn't it? Wait for me.

Tom typed his reply. Would you mind buying me something on the way? Fried rice would be good. He then opened next week's essay and continued working on it.

…and proceeded for ten seconds before he closed the document and let out a sigh. Why didn't he bring the keyboard? Writing using the virtual keyboard was uncomfortable on a screen that large.

He glanced at his phone, there was a text.

Max Kleinschmidt: Sure, no probs.

The wolf put his phone down and opened OurTube instead.

He was just starting to watch a video when his phone buzzed again. Picking it up, he saw two texts.

Max Kleinschmidt: Dude where are you?

Max Kleinschmidt: Wait nvm.

Someone knocked at the door and he looked up. It then opened and allowed Max to come in. “Hello? Special delivery for Tom."

The wolf chuckled. “How can you be so fast? I mean, I texted you literally just two minutes ago."

“I was in the canteen when you texted," Max shrugged and gave Tom his meal before sitting next to him, his own meal on his table. “so, why not? I was just about to grab some food anyway."

Tom opened his package and started eating. “This costs how much?"

“Hm?"

“How much?" he pointed at his meal.

“Nah, dude, it's cool."

“Max,"

“It's just two euros, no biggie." The dog said, eating next to him. “So, I see you're very happy with that new laptop slash tablet of yours." He continued with a teasing tone.

“Twat." Tom said, which made Max laugh. “Yeah, though. It's definitely worth the price."

“How much?"

“Mate, you were literally there when I brought it to the class for the first time." Tom took a bite from his meal. “Got it for 900 euros during the previous month's wholesale."

Max chuckled and put his empty plate away. “Yep, that's Tom for you alright."

“You've finished already?" Tom looked at him, it always fascinated him, how fast the other ate. “How big is your appetite again?"

“Too big, apparently." The dog reached for his water bottle and drank.

Shrugging, Tom continued eating. “Anyway, your group's project, it's over already?"

“Yeah, yesterday. Now we're free."

Tom chuckled a bit. “Lucky you. What were you again? Project manager?"

“Dude, that's out of my league."

“Okay then, Mr Vice Project Manager." Tom packed his empty plastic plate and tablet, then stood up. “Come on, it must be getting crowded down there."

Max followed him and walked out of the class, discarding his own plate to the bin next to the door. They walked in silence, even inside the lift, but for Tom, it was a comfortable silence. Max looked easy; of course he was since his group's project was done.

Lucky bastard, Tom chuckled.

When they reached the lobby, Tom was dumbfounded at how much people were there. The lobby was crowded, almost too crowded. There were a lot of people who were looking at the pictures, taking photos of them, or just taking quick glances at them.

Was the lobby this crowded every day?

Max tapped his shoulder, “You sure got a lot of audiences."

“Hey girls, it's Max!" one of the crowds said. Instantly, the ones surrounding them turned their heads at Max.

Max sighed a little when he saw they were making their way towards him.

“Being a star is tiring, ya?" Next to him, Tom laughed and patted the dog's back, then gave his tablet to Martin.

“More tiring than you know." The dog then looked at the crowds. “Hey, uh, I'm kinda busy at the moment, so, no photograph, please."

All of them deflated. Tom held back his laugh.

“On the bright side, why don't you enjoy these paintings made by my classmates?"

“Sure we are, but they're not as charming as you."

“That's nice of you. But really, I'm busy right now." Max pulled Tom along and walked towards the panels that were the closest to the exit.

The fangirl crowd dispersed, and the dog let out a relieved sigh.

Tom stared at him and grinned. When the dog turned at him and saw his grin, he pushed him playfully, making the wolf laugh.

“Oh, hey, uh, hi."

They both looked up at the newcomer, and Tom saw Max instantly tense up. There was Kevin in front of them, but this time dressed in an appropriate manner. He was still wearing a tight t-shirt, but now covered by a loose hoodie. Interestingly, the fur under his eyes was a bit darker; he looked like he didn't have enough sleep last night.

And there was no annoying snicker on his face.

“What do you want?" Max asked him, his tone sharp.

“Uh, calm down, big guy." Kevin held his hands over his chest. “I'm not here for trouble."

“Then what is it?"

Tom ignored the dog and instead asked in a slightly annoyed but still friendly tone. “Oh, Kevin, ya? Your class just finished?"

“Yeah, it's just finished. Those are my guys over there."

Max turned to look at them, but Tom kept staring at him. “I hope you and your guys enjoy this mini-exhibition my group and I have put up."

“Yeah, it's certainly interesting stuff." He scratched his head. “But that's not what I want to talk about. It looks like we've made the wrong first encounters." he turned to look at Tom with a small shy smile.

The grey wolf stared back, then shrugged. Good thing Kevin was in  appropriate clothing today. Otherwise Tom would've flustered.

He was about to laugh, though. How the heck can he look so adorable?

“Let's do this again." The red wolf offered his hand and smiled rather tiredly. “Hi, I'm Kevin Huntington, fifth-semester Management student."

Tom eyed the hand calculatingly, then shook it. “Tom. Thomas Luis Purnama, fifth semester too but in Communication Studies."

The red wolf's hold was… firm.

He let their hands go, and Kevin turned to Max. “Kevin Huntington."

Max snorted, but took the hand, nonetheless. “Robert Maximilian Kleinschmidt."

“So, uh, Tom." Kevin started. Tom detected some kind of nervousness in his voice, which was weird considering how cocky had he been when they were in the campus café a few days ago. “You free tonight?"

This time, Tom eyed him suspiciously. “Yes?"

“I was wondering if we could hang out… er, together… tonight…" the red wolf scratched his head again.

“Like a date?" he heard Max say behind him.

“Yeah, like a date." At Max's growl behind him, Kevin spluttered. “I mean, not a date! I mean, we just hang out."

Max growled and put his hands on Tom's shoulder, making the grey wolf tremble a bit, his ears drooping. That was… a bit… possessive.

“Yeah, um, okay, not a date. It's just that you're cute and I like you and I want to get to know you, you know." Kevin admitted and slumped a bit. “I don't know if you're gay or not, but even if you're not, we'll just hang out like buddies. And uh, I know from the previous meeting that you're not chasing him, right, Max? So I thought… why don't I just ask you out."

WHOA did he just ask him to go on a date?! Him?! Tom?! Seriously?!

Kevin was seriously hot. As. Fuck. How could he ask him out?! Him, Tom, the one whose relationship level was zero. He'd been nigh invisible for the past four semesters and now he had the Walking Sin—he nicknamed Kevin and no he didn't regret that one bit—asking him out for a date?

Did the universe really love him or hate him?

“You don't have to agree, you know, as your…" Kevin took a step back in defence. “mate here strongly… implied…"

Tom heard Max still growling behind him. As much as it turned him on, he also didn't want to scare Kevin away or attract too much attention from the crowd. “Max, please stop growling." He said, noticing some people already looking at them.

Max did so, but his eyes were still fixed on the red wolf who looked increasingly uncomfortable at the moment.

The grey wolf took a few steps towards him a bit as Max released his hold. The smell then struck him when he got close enough.

Kevin was drunk.

Right, of course no one with a clear mind would ask him out, he bitterly chuckled inside his mind. Not to mention how different he acted now compared to how he acted in the campus café.

But this seemed interesting, and boy he wasn't losing this chance at all. Maybe it would be worth it to at least consider him. He shrugged and said. “Okay then. 19.45 sounds good to you?"

“Uh, sure. Can I get your number?"

“How about we meet at the library?" Tom offered instead, not wanting to give his number to the red wolf. “It's the most strategic location on campus. I'll wait there until 20, in case you decide to back off."

“Okay." Kevin said, a small smile on his face.

Tom returned that smile. “Okay then, see you tonight."

“See you tonight." Kevin nodded at him and at Max, then he went away along with his friends.

The grey wolf allowed himself to take a deep breath and sat on one of the available chairs in the lobby. Max followed him and sat next to him on a separate chair. He slumped on the table and flattened his ears, almost groaning.

That was… unexpected. Pleasant, but unexpected. He had his hopes high up there, that finally someone on campus took notice of him and was willing to start something, but that smell, the red wolf was definitely drunk.

Psh, how many times had he had his hopes up then crashed again?

“You sure wanna go out with him?" Max asked, his eyes still sharp.

Tom shrugged, his ears pointing up. “Eh, dunno. I want to see how honest is he anyway." And maybe take a goood look and touch at his assets. “Besides, I have work today anyway, so it's not going to waste my time waiting till 20."

“Tom, are you even gay?"

The wolf looked at Max who was staring at him. The question was… direct. Um, yeah. Er. How should he deal with this?

Okay, just lie to him. You'd risk losing him if you didn't.

WAIT DON'T

Uh, right. Look for something in the middle.

“I'm not sure." Tom shrugged again, trying to mask his nervousness. He hoped Max wasn't getting the wrong idea. “I haven't had any relationships before, so… I'm still not sure about my sexuality." He sighed. “I still fap to girls, though." He added with a nervous smile.

That last one was a lie, you fool.

“Tom, you're going out with him." Max replied, his tone now a bit relieved but still cautious. “I'm not against it, but really, be careful. I don't want you to hurt yourself by a one-night stand. Trust me, I've had my fair share of bad one-nighters."

“Including gays?" Tom asked jokingly.

Fortunately, Max bought the joke. “No. They tried their best but I'm still not interested. The ones who were too aggressive were… taken care of, while the shy ones were…  you know, shy."

The wolf chuckled.

“Seriously, though. If he does something that bothers you, or you need my help for anything, just call me, okay?" Max continued.

Tom nodded. “Yeah. Will do."

“You are unique." the dog said, a smile on his face. “You're one in a million, you know that?"

The wolf looked away, flustered. Why did Max have to say that?

Someone then walked to them, making them look up. “Tom, the prof's looking for you." James said, “Oh, hey, Max."

The dog nodded. “'Sup, James?"

Tom sighed, glad for the distraction. Okay, reality was coming back, so he'd better prepare himself. He stood up, “Max, I'm going over there. You're waiting here?"

“Okay," Max said, but then stood up. “Wait, I must look busy or those fangirls are gonna choke me to death." He added with a slight grin.

Tom laughed, then followed the tiger along.