"We're not calling it that," Doc appears in the hallway, face flushed, hair messier than usual.Fuck, he looks good."Hey."
"Hey, yourself." I can feel a smile stretching my cheeks at his obvious panic. "Ready for our session?"
"About that?—"
"Wait, wait!" A guy with carefully styled hair bounces up from the couch. "Introductions first! I'm Leo. I do the window scorecards."
"The 8.5," I remember, and he actually squeals.
"You remembered! Oh, I like him already."
"That's JP," Doc points to an Asian guy with purple highlights who waves. "Elliot," tall and Black with amazing cheekbones, "and Max," a shorter white guy with rings in his ears, who salutes.
"And I'm Luca," the last guy adds, adjusting his glasses. "Antonio, technically, but everyone calls me Luca."
He looks familiar somehow, but I can't place… wait. "Are you in Haru's Japanese class? I think I've seen you when I meet him after."
"Oh! Yes, that's me." He brightens. "Advanced Japanese Linguistics."
"That's the one Haru calls—" I catch myself, but it's too late.
"Calls what?" Luca's eyes narrow.
Haru's grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Please, Gavin, do share with the rest of us."
"He, uh. He calls you 'Double Genius.' Because you answer questions in both English AND Japanese. Even when the professor only asks in one."
"I knew that was too much!" Luca spins on Haru. "You said it was impressive!"
"It is impressive." Haru shrugs. "Impressively extra."
Luca goes pink, but he's fighting a smile. "I can't tell if that's a compliment or a drag."
"Yes," Haru says.
"Anyway," Doc cuts in, clearly trying to regain control, "Gavin's here to practice analyzing group dynamics for his psychology?—"
"Bullshit," Leo interrupts. "Haru told us about the gay tutoring thing."
Doc turns to glare at Haru, who shrugs unrepentantly. "They asked why a frat boy was suddenly in our group chat. I cannot tell a lie."
"You lie constantly!"
"Not about the important stuff." Haru's smile turns wicked. "Like how you've been checking your phone every thirty seconds for the past two days waiting for texts from?—"
"Okay!” Doc's face is crimson. "Who wants to help Gavin with his project?"
Every hand shoots up.
Twenty minutes later, I'm surrounded by the most enthusiastic focus group I've ever seen. They've rearranged the furniture into what Leo calls "an optimal sharing formation," and someone produced snacks from nowhere.
"So you want to understand gay culture," JP says, bouncing slightly in his seat. "Where should we start?"
"Actually," I pull out my phone, where I definitely didn't spend an hour last night typing up questions, "I made a list."
"Of course you did," Doc mutters from his corner, where he's pretending not to watch me while obviously watching me.
"Question one," I read, then pause. Maybe this is too obvious. But fuck it, I'm going for it. "How do you know when you have your first crush on a guy?"
