#hugh knowe

Tech was a cool nephew, clever and kind and keen to help with cooking and cleaning in the kitchen. It must run in the family, Ida Juana thought with a chest swell of pride. She watched his dark brown eyes, copied and pasted directly from Hugh, light up when she offered him a spoon to lick the leftover icing from.

Lowkey? She'd freaked out when Hugh came home from the forest with a real live flower baby that he said was his. He could've just gone for an ayahuasca retreat like everyone else looking for a spiritual awakening, but nooo, he had to endear himself to a faerie tribe and learn their secrets. Classic Hugh! In the end, though, things were working out. Ida and Hi weren't going to have kids of their own, which they'd talked about even before Hi became... what he was now. So at times when they were thinking it would be nice to have a kid to spoil, Hi could set up the console while Ida took Tech to pick out a new video game. Hugh appreciated this too, being a single dad by choice who could use a break every once in a while.

Land Grant University recently had a successful marketing campaign with high school leavers, run via their preferred short-form video app. This was great for the school but not so great for students like Cliff. Hugh's longtime friend physically recoiled from the latest trends and preferred peace to parties - which was fair enough! Hugh himself was no stranger to keeping to his own space when things got rowdy. But Cliff's forced move from his freedom camping site at the park to the Greenhouse Dorms was only going to have a brief moment of respite before a slew of freshmen arrived. There was a lesser of evils... in the form of pledging Nagard Annya Hoh.

Cliff looked at Hugh like he'd just puked on his shoes, so the next phase had to be delivered quickly: fraternity benefits!

The private swimming pool. The well-appointed kitchen. The residents who moved in via invitation only, not at random. The swanky bathrooms with clawfoot tubs, maintained properly by the cleaners, nary a hair in sight!

"I wouldn't have to wear jandals in the shower anymore," Cliff mused under his breath. Then he stuck his hand out in agreement, and Hugh pulled him in for a hug.

Meanwhile, Andy and Hi had their sights set on Cian Barnett as another pledge. He was living in the Greenhouse Dorms, too, and similarly unenchanted by the rustic living scenario. Even better, his cool factor would cancel out Cliff's negative rizz enough to not bring the whole team down.

He'd pushed in the door to Andy's room, letting out the dank fog of eau de Red Bull and sweatsocks, and sat on the bed to glumly stare at his lap. So he was bummed out, right? And he knew it was because he was worried about girls maybe not paying attention to him at Nagard Annya Hoh's toga party tonight, for whatever reason. Sharing this with his frat bro so maybe they could gas each other up sounded good, in theory. Too bad Andy didn't turn away from the tabs open on his computer (probably girls) and Hi didn't have the words, other than - oh yeah, sigh.

"Oh, shit, I'm onto something here," said Andy, his nose just about touching the screen. Hi looked up and didn't see a chick - rather, a dude.

The latest off the pledge shelf, Hugh Knowe, beamed out from behind a mathlete trophy, all bowlcut and zero drip. Andy didn't like him but the faculty loved him (well, his test scores), so when the Compound Dorm closed down and the nerds needed homes, the fraternity got Hugh. Andy arranged for his sister to seek asylum with the sorority from her sorry surrounds in dork central, and to great relief, Cliff Notes refused aid. On-brand rumour had it he'd put down a tent in the park and campus security didn't want to deal with him or his "freedom of place".

Either way, the only issue now was Hugh. Andy busted him heading across the street to the sorority - to Sara - and had words: "Hey, revenge of the nerd! Where do you think you're going? Huh?"

Hugh's hand flew to his chest - who, me? - and he replied, calmly: "Not to sleep with your sister, I assure you, on account of my Being Gay. Though, on that topic, I know you've slept with mine, notice how I haven't had any words with you about it?" He spoke precisely in a way that irritated Andy, and the content was a pin stuck into his puffed-up jock bravado. Put simply, he felt like an ass, and spent a fair amount of the toga party that night sulking over his beer.