"You should talk to him, you know," Samirah drained her second cup of coffee and placed the now empty cup on the table, her eyebags even more prominent than the last time I had seen her, which was yesterday.

It had been four months since my rap battle with the god of trickery. Four months since Samirah's eyebags decided to make themselves into a permanent fashion statement under her eyes. And four months since Alex Fierro had first kissed me under the blanket in Niflheim, only to kiss me again a few days later while I impersonated a strawberry dipped in chocolate. Attractive, am I right?

A barista at the Thinking Cup came over with Samirah's third cup of coffee. I made a concerned noise at the back of my throat.

The barista tried offering me the cup, but her face slowly dissolved into horror as Samirah cleared her throat and told her that the coffee was for her. Again.

"Wow, with that much coffee, you'd get along great with my girlfriend," the barista muttered, before shaking her head and walking off.

"See, even the barista agrees," I said. "You need to reduce your daily caffiene intake, or I might have to inform Barry about your unhealthy schedule myself."

Samirah tried glaring at me, but her eyes were too heavy to come off as threatening, which I took as a sign of luck. Those were rare when I was concerned, unfortunately.

"Don't change the topic, Chase. It's going to be fine. Just talk to Alex."

My stomach did a few gymnastic stunts at the mention of his name, which probably did not sit well with the two bagels I had previously consumed.

I stared at my hands. It had been four months with no response from him. From Alex. He wanted space, and I gave it to him. I wanted to give him more, but after four months of constant teasing, bantering, holding hands at the most unpredictable moments, and a few matches of footsie to the death under the café tables, I was a little tired. Tired of not knowing where I stood, tired of wondering whether those kisses even meant anything to him.

So after a few hours of screaming into my pillow, re-watching the Princess Bride for the millionth time and repressing a strong urge to set something on fire, here I was, having a heart-to-heart with his sibling, who also happened to be my close friend. And because Samirah usually gave great advice.

I sighed, "I know, it's just... I'm scared I guess. We're great friends, and he- well he said he'd get back to me, but after four months of radio silence, it's a little hard believing he genuinely likes me back, you know? And asking him about it might just, I don't know, trigger something and then he'll close off again because he's not ready. And I can't bear to see that."

Samirah sighed and finished her cup of coffee. "I can't convince you in any way that he won't do that, can I? Look, I know it's hard Magnus, but it's been four months! You really need to stop putting yourself down like this and just ask-"

Her phone buzzed and I got a sense of déjà vu. She sighed again (she's been doing that a lot lately) before looking up at me.

"Duty calls." Her face suddenly looked decades older, as if all the burden of being an adult had hit her all at once, which I suppose it had, except she wasn't an adult. Yet.

She gave me one last sympathetic look and I waved her off.

Someday I'd ask Odin for a favour and buy her a few days off. She deserved it. The only time she got was our fifteen-minute coffee meetups and then it was back to work. It wasn't fair.

I watched her fly away, and I was left alone with my thoughts once more.

Well, that sounded great.

~~~

I walked in through the gateway to the Hotel from Forever 21, planning on trudging all the way to my room at an agonisingly slow pace before ditching that idea completely once an axe whizzed right past my ear. I didn't feel like dying yet, though I had a feeling that moment would cross my mind soon enough.

I was right.

As soon as I entered Floor 19, I bumped into Alex, who decided to accompany me on my journey to my room, which was just the thing I needed after my fifteen-minute long therapy session about him to his sister.

"Hey Mags," he grinned up at me.

I tried for a smile, "Oh, uh, h-hey Alex!"

Good job, Magnus, the tiny brain Magnus told the big Magnus, that was so convincing! No one would ever guess!

Shut up, I told tiny me.

Tiny me shut up.

"So, how's Samirah doing?" he asked.

"She's uh, she's doing great. Just under a lot of stress as usual."

"I see," Alex replied, and then we walked ahead in silence, my hands fidgeting in the pockets of my pants.

I hate awkward silences. They're very anxiety-inducing, in my opinion. It's even worse when it's with your long-time crush-partner thing that you still need to discuss your relationship status with.

Just as I was forming an immaculate 35-step plan to make an excuse and escape, Alex nudged me with his elbow, "You okay, Chase? You look like you're dying inside."

Shit.

"What? Pfft- no, I'm fine. Just uh, trying to remember when uh, I was supposed to meet Annabeth next. Yeah."

If I was being honest, I actually did not remember when we had to meet.

That was strange.

I always remembered them.

Alex raised his eyebrow, "Tomorrow, at noon."

My face turned red, and my entire body lit up like a streetlamp on steroids. "Right. Right I, uh, I knew that."

Thankfully, we had reached my room. I slid inside, yelling "See you later!" and closing the door on a very perplexed and blinded Alex's face.

I slid down against the door and sighed in relief. My glow died.

This was fine.

I tried thinking over what had occurred a few moments ago and what Samirah told me, but I no longer had the mental capacity to deal with my problems. So naturally, I fell on my bed and slept.