#nethwan

He blinks. “No.”

“You know his sister,” Kiku informs her, fishing her phone out of his bag, “Lien’s girlfriend.”

“Oh!” Mei brightens and half flings herself onto the table, stretching out a hand to shake. “I didn’t know she had a brother! Nice to meet’cha! I’m Mei, Kiku’s half sister, and Lien’s best friend!”

“Abel,” he replies, hesitantly reaching out to shake her hand, “I study with Kiku sometimes.”

In that moment, their existence is established to each other, polar opposites or not. Mei takes her phone, thanks Kiku profusely, and races out of the library with a bounce to her step.

–

After their first meeting, she notices Abel around the campus a lot more. They don’t share any classes - she’s in fashion and he’s in business and creative writing, so even though they could have shared a marketing class, they don’t - but she catches sight of him in the quad often, writing or doing something on his phone with his earbuds in.

Her class is canceled, one of such days, so she has time to stop by.

“Hey!” She greets, and his perpetually annoyed looking gaze lifts.

Tired eyes drag over her. “Mei,” he greets, a moment later.

“You remembered!” She beams. “Mind if I join you?”

“That’s fine,” he replies, gaze shifting back to his notebook.

Mei drops her messenger bag at her feet and sits beside him. Whatever he’s writing, it’s in another language and she can’t read it. Kiku probably could, with his language obsession, but she’s sure it’s some sort of Germanic language. Too busy trying to be nosy, she barely realizes that he’s stopped writing and is now scrutinizing her.

(“Oh, that,” Abel tells her, when she asks years later, “you smelled nice. I wanted to say so, but it sounded odd and I’m not eloquent off of paper.”)

Mei looks up. “Oh,” she says, “uh, what are you writing?”

“Poetry,” he tells her, checking the time on his watch. “I have to go to my next class. Bye.”

Mei watches him go with a huff. I wanted to know what it was about.

–

So, if only because Mei is persistent and clearly doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone, they end up sort of becoming friends. Lien and Emma are a little more than surprised when Mei mentions it.

She and Lien share a dorm and Emma practically lives on Lien’s side of the room; she looks up from where she’s half draped over the aforementioned Vietnamese girl and gapes at Mei.

“He mentioned a Mei, but somehow I thought he meant like, another Mei. A May? I don’t know; how did you manage to befriend Abel?”

“I just talked to him?” It comes out more questioning than Mei intends and she pauses, halfway through a sketch of a dress, and spins around in her office chair. “Wait, did you just say he talks about me?”

“Oops,” says Emma, and shoves her head under Lien’s pillow.

Lien just gives a long suffering sigh.

–

With all the romance novels she reads, Mei probably should have expected the coffee shop. She frequents the place for their tea - coffee gives her too much energy and Kiku never let her touch the stuff again - and Abel, it seems, frequents the place for the atmosphere and the pastries.

Or so he’s just told her, from where he sits across from her.

She’d seen him almost immediately upon entering, asked for her usual, and immediately crossed to sit in the corner booth with him once she’d received it. Somehow, Abel had seemed unsurprised to see her.

“Let me guess,” he says, setting his pen down in anticipation for her undoubtedly long winded response, “you’re a regular.”

So now they’re here, exchanging words as Abel writes and Mei draws. It takes her a moment to realize he’s watching her oddly, as though he wants to say something, but the moment she meets his eyes, he drops them and resumes writing. She still doesn’t know what the poetry is about.

–

“-so anyways, I convinced Abel to go to that carnival that recently came to town,” Mei is saying, talking so rapidly and gesturing so much that she doesn’t notice Kiku stops until she’s well ahead of him.

He’s just standing there, staring at her, scrutinizing.

Mei dares to ask, “What?”

“You have a crush on him, don’t you?”

“Oh my god,” Mei complains, “am I that transparent?”

–

“Mei, I’m telling you, you gotta tell him,” Emma informs her without looking up from her text, “because I promise it’ll go well.”

“What do you know that I don’t?” Mei demands.

Emma lifts an eyebrow. “A lot of things, apparently.”

“If you start arguing, you’re both getting kicked out,” Lien cuts in, before Mei can even open her mouth.

–

Can we talk?

Mei blinks at the text and checks the time. It’s nearly nine at night. She sighs and rolls over, sending back a quick, Sure. What about?

Can you meet me at the cafe?

“Jesus, Abel,” Mei groans, dragging herself up and changing out of her pajamas and into her clothes. She texts him again to tell him she’s on the way and sneaks out, hoping to any god that has ever existed that Lien doesn’t lock her out.

–

Abel’s already there when she arrives. The cafe closed at nine, but he’s holding two cups, still fresh with steam. He offers one out to her as she approaches, shivering.

“Sorry,” he says, “I know it’s late. Here. This is the tea you like, right?”

Sure enough, when she takes a drink, it is. “How did you know?”

He shrugs. “I pay attention.”

Abel gestures and begins to walk, and Mei falls into step alongside him, noting the way he slows his pace now so she can keep up easier. Abel’s quiet for a while, as though thinking, and Mei’s gaze drifts to the starry sky. They walk until they come to the city park and Mei brightens, setting her tea down on the nearest picnic table, before racing to the swings. Abel sits down on the bench and watches.

It had been years since she’d last been on swings, but she still enjoys the feeling of cold wind rushing through her hair and tickling her cheeks, eyes taking in the wide expanse of sky overhead. It just so happens that she’s in the air when multiple, bright streaks race across the sky. A meteor shower, she realizes, with a start, and an airy laugh.

“Abel, look! It’s beautiful!”

Her phone vibrates and she looks down as the screen lights up.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I love you so much I can’t stand it, the message reads.

Mei has to pause and double check, but sure enough, the contact name says Abel.

“How…” She laughs, lifts her gaze to find him in the dark, his face illuminated by his phone screen, “How can I take that the wrong way?”

“I don’t know,” Abel admits, “I’m really nervous. I’m not… good with words.”

When she gets close enough to half fling herself into his arms, Mei laughs at the way his ears turn red - from the cold and embarrassment. I love you, too, she’ll text him later, when she’s tucked into her bed, nose red and lips stretched into a giddy smile.

–

Mei has no filter whatsoever, so everyone knows that they’re dating within the week. Abel is odd about public affection, but she likes it better when they’re alone anyways. He’s gentle with her, softer somehow. Emma just smiles knowingly, and Kiku seems entirely unsurprised. Sometimes, Abel walks her to class. Sometimes, she hears people refer to them as the power couple, which she doesn’t understand until Alfred explains to Kiku, who explains to her.

Mei can live with that.

Sometimes, Abel lets her hang off of him in the halls, or hold his hand. She keeps thinking about the time they first met, her impulse decision to say something to the scary boy with the scar above his eyebrow. Now, she knows he got the scar in a childhood accident and he hasn’t climbed a tree since. Now, she knows he’s secretly a sucker for romance, from novels to songs. She sees him smiling at her when he thinks she isn’t watching, sometimes.

And she’s happy.

–

“Hey, Abel?” She asks him, months later. “What were you always writing poetry about?”