Counting The Days (MxM)

Day Two

Chapter 2: Day Two

***

“Another day!” Mason said in a super cheery mood as he danced around the kitchen and washed the dishes.

“What’s got you up so early?” Lucas asked as he walked into the kitchen while rubbing his tired eyes.

“Early? It’s already past eleven in the morning. We have to get ready and go to Uni in a bit. So hurry it up!” Mason said as he urged his friend to start getting ready.

“I’ll be done in a minute…” Lucas said as he yawned.

“You always say that! But you take so damn long to straighten out your hair and what not.” Mason retorted back to the half sleeping man.

“Yeah, yeah…” Lucas however didn’t seem to be affected at the least to his friend’s remarks. He simply went to the bathroom to wash his face.

“Seriously… I don’t even know how you always manage to sleep more than me and still be tired…” Mason murmured to himself as he continued the dishes. Despite that little interaction the author was in a really bright mood that day. Since he just got his latest story ‘Counting The Days’ signed up, he was ready to take over the world! Or at least, that’s how he felt.

“Hey, can you make something to eat? I’m really hungry, I probably won’t make it to Uni…” Lucas said in a tired tone, he seemed to still be half asleep.

“Sure, I’ll make some sandwiches, just wash up and come eat, so we can leave already.” Mason said as he quickly went to prepare the food. It was a good thing he was quick in everything he did, the sandwiches were prepared in less than 5 minutes. He made about three sandwiches for Lucas because he had the habit of eating a lot. In fact the man could probably eat about seven or ten if he was really hungry.

Both of them managed to get ready on time and leave the apartment to head to University.

“It’s just the second day and I already feel tired… This is too much like school…” Lucas complained as he walked with his hands in his pockets.

“It’s nothing like High School! It’s so much bigger and classes start at different times, the lectures are longer and the people are much kinder!” Mason quickly made a comparison that his friend was not able to relate to personally.

“You’ve always liked school, I don’t think you’d understand the struggle of a normal person.” Lucas replied while shivering at how cold the autumn wheatear was.

“What abnormal is there to enjoying studying? I just like keeping myself busy is all…” Mason said in his defense, he’d always enjoyed having something to do. So assignments and studies came easily to him and he didn’t mind any extra work he had to put in.

“Spoken like a true workaholic… How are you always so motivated? It kind of amazes me each time…” Lucas said in a tired voice while yawning in between sentences.

“I’m not that much of a workaholic… I just enjoy working cause it’s fun, I don’t see why you aren’t working a bit harder yourself.” Mason said with slight annoyance in his voice.

“I am working hard…” Lucas said as he took out his phone and showed his latest instagram post. “Look, I posted yesterday and the day before!”

“How about the two weeks previous to that in which you haven’t posted anything? Not to mention you haven’t completed the commissions you’re given.” Mason nagged the other.

“What are you? My mom?” Lucas retorted back.

“I’m your damn assistant at this point and you don’t even pay me. Just take your work seriously okay? You can’t just rely on your parents, you know?” Mason didn’t particularly want to say those words but he felt it was necessary in this instance.

 “I know, I know… I’m making some money, okay?” Lucas said in his defense. It was true he got several commissions each month but they weren’t nearly enough to cover the costs of living currently. So he worked another part time job to make up for it.

“Fine I won’t bother you about it again.” Mason didn’t feel like continuing such an exhausting conversation all the way to University. They soon enough began another topic to end the silence.

“Hey, that guy… Mick, didn’t he seem kind off familiar?” Lucas asked as he turned to look at his friend.

“Familiar to who? Like a celebrity or anime character?” Mason asked as he looked left and right at the crosswalk, then they passed the street.

“Yeah… I think he really looked like my favorite composer, you know?” Lucas said as he looked at his phone screen.

“I have no idea… Aren’t they a similar age though? Who knows, it might actually be him.” Mason said with a smile on his face.

“I wish… He reminds me so much of him that I want to believe it.” Lucas seemed to be lost in a fantasy as his expression changed.

“That composer, he’s an odd one. There is nothing on the internet about him or his personal life, it’s just his name and the works he’s been a part of.” Mason observed, since the composer they were talking about was an up and coming one, there wasn’t much on him on the internet. Yet it was strange, in such a position wouldn’t you want to become known quickly by more people? Why would he intentionally not share anything about himself besides his age.

“He’s still a student, so I’m not surprised he wants to keep his identity a secret. It’s just… I think I fell for the guy the moment I heard his music…” Lucas said as he looked off into the distance with a dreamy gaze.

“…and also looked at his abs.” Mason added in quickly while smirking at his friend.

“HE HAS A NICE BODY!” Lucas suddenly yelled, good thing there weren’t much people around them to hear.

“Yeah, yeah I know. He’s the hot stuff.” Mason agreed as there was nothing else to do at this point. “Yet don’t you think it’s weird to have a pillow of him when you can barely see his face from the mask?”

“What do you have against my pillow?” Lucas asked as if he was personally offended by the comment.

“Oh nothing against it. I have pillows of my husbandos as well… It’s just… You don’t wash yours, so it’s probably filled with all kinds of bacteria and-” Mason’s train of thought was interrupted as the other man chimed in.

“I do wash it! It’s already been in the laundry twice!” Lucas said proudly as if it was an accomplishment.

“That’s true, you’ve washed it just twice for the past 5 months… It worries me how dirty it is…” Mason commented once more on his roommate’s odd habits.

“Let me be!” Lucas said as he ended the topic at hand.

“Wait… is that why you were so lost in thought the first day? Because you thought Mick looked exactly like your composer?” Mason suddenly realized as they walked, almost in front of the Economics University.

“Yeah, they really do resemble each other greatly…” Lucas finally said as they waited on the traffic light to pass the street.

“Do you like him?” Mason asked while looking at his friend’s side profile.

“Kinda…” Lucas said as the light turned green and they passed.

After another couple of minutes they were already at their University and walking to their lecture hall.

“You guys are here early!” Mick greeted them instantly after spotting them and called them over to sit with him once again.

“Sure are! This time Lucas got up on time!” Mason jokingly said as if to blame his friend for them being late the day before.

“Ugh… how do you even get up in the morning after writing all night?” Lucas lazily asked and then his friend stood silent.

‘Did you have to mention that?!’ Mason angrily thought to himself, he hoped that neither of the other two noticed what had been said.

“Writing? Are you working on something M?” Mick asked with great interest while Edward couldn’t seem to care less about it as he continued to read his e-book on his phone.

“Ah… well it’s a passion project.” Mason said while hoping that the questions would end there. ‘Passion project that I make a living off of…’ he clarified at least to himself.

“That’s cool, you must be really passionate about it if you are willing to work during the night as well!” Mick seemed to be impressed as he spoke with great enthusiasm.

‘Well… if I weren’t to write, how else could I afford to go to University here?’ Mason thought to himself but did not voice any of it. Simply giggled as the topics changed from one thing to another. In truth he did want to share his work with others, but didn’t want to be known as ‘the gay smut novelist’ in the entire University. It would be embarrassing enough for him to have his family know, not to mention the Uni he goes to.

So in short Mason was determined to keep his work life a secret from everyone. Nobody really knew about it besides Lucas. There was no need for anyone else to know anyway. It’s not that the author was far too secretive or anything but he did not appreciate random people butting in his personal matters.

“I was thinking we can go out today! There is still crazy good café in town that opened recently, we have to go there!” Mick excitedly suggested, while Edward didn’t seem particularly interested, he did nod his head in approval.

“Good, since Ed is okay with it, how about you fellas?” Mick asked as he turned to look at Mason and Lucas.

“Sure! Sounds fun!” Mason answered in a similarly cheery tone.

“Yeah, it’s okay.” Lucas on the other hand had a more calm response. Maybe he was still affected by how similar he thought Mick was to his favorite composer.

“Then it’s settled!” Mick happily said as he took out his textbook preparing for the lecture.

*

*

*

The lecture was very long and rather boring. They studied basics of English as if none of them had ever heard the language in their lives. Everyone was bored out of their minds by the end of it and almost no notes were taken in that class. All besides Mason who thought that it was good to take notes even if you already know all the material that is being said.

“I can’t believe you were reading during the entire class Ed.” Mick said to his friend while tossing his hand over the other’s shoulder.

“Who cares if I read novels during a boring English lecture? They’re in English anyway, so it might as well count for extra study.” Edward was rather annoyed to have such a useless class.

“Why are you always like that? Aren’t you a bit too practical?” Mick didn’t think it was a bad thing but it wasn’t typical for a Uni student.

“I just like using my time productively. Something that English professor probably doesn’t know how to do.” Edward indirectly bashed at the professor.

‘Is it this guy’s personality to be rude like that?’ Mason thought to himself as he observed the other student.

“What?” Edward noticed Mason’s stare and couldn’t help but ask what it was all about.

 “I just think you’re rather rude to the professor. She was only teaching us what she was told to by her superiors.” Point made, Mason disliked when the wrong people were criticized for their actions.

“…...” Edward didn’t have anything to say to that, or maybe he didn’t feel like the topic was worth talking about and simply kept silent.

“What were you reading so much anyways? Was it Beyond The Night still? By that author Tokini Sune?” Mick either on purpose or by accident completely messed up the author’s name.

“It’s Takano Masamune, I’ve said it a million times and you still can’t remember it.” Edward said with a bit of annoyance but didn’t hold any harsh feelings towards his friend. He knew the other’s character was just like that and there was no helping it.

“Sorry, sorry, so you were reading one of his books again?” Mick asked as he moved his hand away from the other’s shoulder.

“Yes, I recently started reading his other novel called The Deceiving Woman. It’s really good.” Edward was a man of few words, only when it came to his favorite author however… You could hear him talk for hours on end. He began talking about the beginning of the story and Mick was already tired of listening to him.

“I get it, I get it, you like to read. That’s cool and all, but let’s not bore our friends here with this kind of talk.” Mick said as he looked at his friend with a pleading look as if saying. ‘Please stop talking about this author, I’ve listened to this for the tenth time already.’

While those two were bickering, the other two friends began conversing on their own.

“You know, the more I look at him, the more similarities I see…” Lucas whispered to his friend while trying to make sure the others wouldn’t hear.

“You can just ask him out you know.” Mason said as if it was completely normal, but somehow he felt like Mick was the type of man to accept such an invitation.

“I guess I could… Hey can you do me a favor?” Lucas asked once more in a whisper.

“Say the word, bro.” Mason was always more than happy to be a wingman to his friend.

“Can you entertain Edward while I get to know Mick a bit better?” Lucas asked with a light blush on his face, indicating he was serious about the person he spoke about.

“Sure thing…” Mason thought it was an easy enough thing to do. Since they at least had one thing in common with Edward and that was Takano Masamune.

“Thanks a bunch!” Lucas said excitedly and then focused on the man he had his eye on, once again.

‘How easily do you fall in love?’ Mason couldn’t help but wonder why his best friend was able to fall for someone so quickly. He didn’t believe in love at first sight, so it was a strange thing to him.

They went to the café and as promised Mason sat on Edward’s side of the table and Lucas on Mick’s side so that they could talk more comfortably.

Lucas wasn’t much of a conversationalist; however Mick was very outgoing and kept the conversation going. They chatted with each other happily.

On the other hand Edward and Mason weren’t as talkative. Edward was completely focused on reading The Deceiving Woman, while Mason just kind of awkwardly stood to the side.

‘What now… I can’t join in on Lucas’s conversation and ruin his private time. Neither can I talk with this idiot who only reads… Can’t you at least try to be social?’ Mason was becoming increasingly annoyed at the man that couldn’t seem to care less about being social.

However to Mason’s great surprise, the person in question started talking to him out of nowhere.

“You know… You had a very strange reaction when Mick first mentioned Takano Masamune.” Edward said it in passing as if it wasn’t that important. But the sheer mention was enough to put the other person on edge.

‘Calm down… There is no way he’s figured out anything.’ Mason quickly calmed himself down and began speaking. “Haha, well I was surprised to hear my favorite author mentioned.”

“Didn’t you say, you’d never heard of that author before?” Edward remarked as he clearly remembered the conversation they had yesterday.

‘Aaand I screwed up…’ Mason thought to himself while thinking how to cover up his obvious lie.

“You’re probably hiding something but I won’t ask what it is. I just wanted to mention you acted weird.” Edward said and then continued reading his book.

‘What a dick… So you just mentioned it to make me feel uncomfortable? I thought I was going to get a mini heart attack just now…’ Mason thought as he sipped on his coffee having nothing else to do. He took out his phone and loaded onto the site where he uploads his books to check out their statistics. ‘Things are going good. Hell yeah! Beyond The Night just hit 900 followers!’ The author excitedly thought to himself as he smiled at his phone.

‘What is he smiling about?’ Edward seemed to be interested in the other student’s sudden change of mood and glanced over at his phone. ‘Isn’t that…’ He instantly recognized the author and in the beginning simply assumed that Mason was just going to read, but then he noticed that the page the student was wasn’t that of a reader but one of a creator instead. ‘So that’s what you were hiding…’  Edward laughed in his mind at how obvious it was from the get go. ‘Maybe this will be fun…’