Out of reasons (Boy × Boy) ✔

Chapter Four

There's a certain appeal on not the first but the second day in a new milieu. It's the day when you're still optimistically enthusiastic about all the newness, but no longer too anxious to notice it. You already know where to go and who you're going to be with, so you can focus on your enthusiasm.

I woke up early, had my breakfast cereals and took a nap, just like I did on the first day. This time I wasn't late, so I was optimistic it was going to be a good day.

We had a lecture about the color theory before lunch. The lecture hall was a small chilly room behind another heavy metal door and old concrete stairs. We sat on uncomfortable seats arranged in the middle of the cramped room.

I swear that room was going to cause me nightmares with its post-apocalypse vibes. It didn't help that I was certain you could blast a bomb in the room and the door wouldn't even dent.

We had lunch that wasn't quite as tasty as the vegetable patties the day before. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against barley groat porridge. It's just that it's porridge and porridge doesn't feel like a lunch type of food.

That day it was just me, Viljo and Joakim. I hadn't noticed how much Fareed talked until we had to do the talking for him.

During the lunch break I discovered Viljo's fixation to serial killers. He seemed to know them all from Jack the Ripper to Juhani Adaminpoika. His knowledge was so comprehensive I wasn't sure if it made me impressed or intimidated.

Joakim didn't have any unusual fixations and it was almost impossible to get any information from him. Sure it was only day two, but at that point you should be able to say at least one thing he liked or was interested in.

This was all I had managed to scrape together: Joakim was 21 years old, he was presumably into art and he had suggested that he was into guys. So was gay, bi or pan. His body was toned, so maybe he was into sports too? Joakim was flirtatious but well-mannered. He had wooden earrings and he..

..was looking at me.

"Enjoying the view?" Joakim asked, an askew smile spreading on his lips.

"I was just trying to figure you out."

"Figure me out? How's that going?" he was looking almost too pleased with my answer.

"Not so well", and I really tried not to say more. "To begin with, I have no idea if you're into guys or what kind of stuff you're interested in or even what's your favorite color." Of course I had to spill it all out. So much for playing coy.

If anything, my flood of words made Joakim astonished. He didn't have time to answer though, since Viljo chose the best possible timing to storm back from what he called "a food cigarette".

The rest of the day we had live model drawing. That was pretty much all that was worth mentioning from the evening classes. But if I needed to mention something anyway, it would be that we were using charcoal and I hated it. It felt like I was only causing mess and specks. By the end of the day my arms were blotted all the way up to my elbows.

I took a long hot shower and the aromatic scent of soap oozed from my skin even after I had gotten dressed and dried my hair. I was just about to boil water for noodles when I heard knocking from the door. You can probably guess who it was – it's not like I had made many friends in the new city.

Joakim looked flustered when his eyes took in the sight of me. I could feel his eyes roaming on my shower fresh body from head to toe. After a while he seemed to recuperate from his daze.

"I was just wondering if you'd want to watch Game of Thrones with us", Joakim asked with his signature smile.

"Um, yeah, but I'm starving." I was also exhausted, but mostly starving.