LOVE ON TOP [BXB]

16

Hey babies 🥺

☁️

Romeo felt like he had every right to sleep in that Monday. He had sold a picture over the weekend and received a considerable amount of money. Then again, he slept in Sunday. So avoiding class was out of the question, especially once Camila was awake.

He showered and dressed and picked up his books. He grabbed his usual sketchpad and made his way down to his car. Throwing his stuff into the backseat, Romeo sat down and started the engine.

After he parked he made his way across the campus, relishing in the cool air on his face as he walked. He had some extra time so he stopped by the coffee shop before going to class.

"Hi Romeo!"

He looked up at the smiling, petite blonde girl working behind the counter. Marie was her name and from what Romeo could remember she was studying to be a nurse.

"Good morning," Romeo yawned back. How she managed to be so chirpy that early baffled him. "Umm...can I get an egg and ham croissant, please?"

"Sure thing," Marie hummed. "Want a coffee with that?"

"Yeah, I'm going to need one. Just the plain morning roast is fine."

She tapped away at the screen in front of her, swiped his card and got to work on his order. Romeo shoved his card back into his wallet and a thought passed through his mind: this was the first meal, in a while, that he actually had to buy himself.

The feeling wasn't weird but it definitely made him stop and think. He took his coffee and went to add sugar to it, stirring in quite a bit and adding a little bit of milk.

He was doing alright with his money and it was mainly thanks to Aron. The man took care of that big parking ticket, and Romeo knew that would have set him back a few weeks. Whenever they met during the week for lunch, Aron always paid. Not to mention he had given Romeo gas money a few times. And considering how high gas prices were, that was almost as much as the parking ticket.

Romeo's car hadn't been on full in years.

"Here's your breakfast," Marie chimed, still with her bright smile. She slid the paper bag over the counter to Romeo. "Have a nice day."

"Thanks! You too!"

Romeo grabbed his food and hurried off, across the campus, and to his first class.

Romeo slumped against a tree, pulling out his sketchpad. He had his usual hour break and he wanted to get ahead on one of his assignments. He flipped through the pages, mostly quick sketches of Aron, and started a new doodle.

It wasn't long before he felt a pair of eyes on him. Romeo looked up in time to see Nolan throw his backpack down and flop onto the grass next to him.

"No class again?"

"Basically," Nolan sighed, leaning against the tree. "What are you working on?"

Romeo held up his sketchbook. "The prompt is a junkyard critter. Basically a clusterfuck of old electronics that have combined to make a clusterfuck robot."

Nolan raised an eyebrow. "Is that...a computer screen?"

"Yes, yes it is."

Nolan nodded and took the sketchpad from Romeo, to better examine the picture. Romeo taught Nolan, as soon as they met, that flipping through his drawings was an insult. And that even holding the sketchpad, without permission, was bad. Nolan was wise to catch on and understood his boundaries.