Nicholas was angry with him. This was making the midnight feast even more awkward than it was always bound to be.
Seiji wished he were in the salle, but he was sitting in Dante and Bobby’s room feeling uncomfortable instead. Dante, the one with the peculiar cooking hobby, was making pasta sauce over a burner. Bobby, who was very small and enthusiastic, had asked to take a selfie showing Seiji was in his room.
“Dormitory rooms are designed to be uniform and anonymous,” Seiji pointed out. “The picture could be taken in any room, including my own. It would prove nothing.”
This seemed to dampen Bobby’s enthusiasm for a moment.
“I’ll know you were here!” Bobby said eventually. “Let’s just take it!”
Seiji took the picture willingly enough, since it would please Bobby, but it was a strain to figure out how to behave in unfamiliar surroundings. The least Nicholas could do was help him, but instead he was sulking in the corner. The only reasonable explanation was that Seiji had offended him. Seiji was always offending people, though Nicholas seemed to bounce back faster than most.
Seiji couldn’t figure out what the problem was. He hadn’t said anything worse to Nicholas than he usually did.
There was the incident on Friday night with Jesse by the side of the road, but that had obviously been more upsetting for Seiji himself than for Nicholas. What reason did Nicholas have to care about Jesse? Seiji supposed that Nicholas might be sad to have an excellent fencer looking down on him, but Nicholas must accept that would keep happening until he got better.
Nicholas had no personal reason to care about Jesse. Other people cared a lot about what Jesse thought of them, but Seiji couldn’t picture Nicholas caring. Everyone liked Jesse better than Seiji, but Nicholas wouldn’t. Not even if, for some reason, Nicholas got to know Jesse and Jesse actually tried to be charming. Even then, Seiji was sure, though he didn’t have much basis for the certainty, that Nicholas would still like him better.
So it wasn’t about Jesse. It was something Seiji had done. But what?
Seiji got up, though it seemed awkward to do so, and sat next to Nicholas. He usually sat beside Nicholas, but Nicholas hadn’t explicitly saved him a seat. There was no seat to save, though. It was all floor.
Nicholas didn’t say hey or anything welcoming, like usual. Seiji sat there in silence and resented Nicholas for being angry with him.
“Want marshmallows?” offered Bobby.
That made Nicholas smile, even though he was giving Seiji the cold shoulder. “Yeah.”
Were they supposed to eat marshmallows as a side dish to pasta? That was disgusting.
“I don’t want marshmallows,” said Seiji. “Nicholas, reconsider eating marshmallows.”
Nicholas turned his furious dark stare on Seiji. Seiji stared back stonily. He didn’t even know why Nicholas was angry. People were always getting angry with him and never explained why. Nicholas was just like everyone else.
“If you want to go somewhere,” Nicholas mumbled, “you can just go.”
Many people had made clear to Seiji that his presence was unwelcome, but Nicholas never had before. Seiji glared at him and moved away. He didn’t care that Nicholas didn’t want him here. He was used to that, but he was shocked by Nicholas’s rudeness. Seiji had been invited to the midnight feast, just the same as Nicholas. This wasn’t Nicholas’s room.
Not that Nicholas could uninvite Seiji to his room. Since it was Seiji’s room, too.
Seiji nursed his justified outrage at Nicholas’s bad manners while Nicholas continued to sit sullenly in the corner. Seiji was enduring rudeness and expected to eat carbohydrates at an inappropriate hour with strangers. Harvard, who had arrived dragging Aiden behind him, went over to Nicholas and started telling jokes to make him laugh.
Seiji supposed Nicholas must have decided to be friends with the captain instead. That was fine with Seiji.
Eugene sidled over to Seiji and offered him a protein shake. Eugene had brought enough protein shakes for everyone, which Seiji found thoughtful, though nobody else had greeted the shakes with the appreciation they deserved.
“I made you hydrolyzed whey protein isolate like you like,” Eugene said encouragingly.
“Thank you,” said Seiji.
It was good Eugene was drinking protein shakes, which would optimize his performance, and considerate of him to provide Seiji with the same. Eugene was the only person at the midnight feast with whom Seiji wasn’t annoyed.
“You seem a bit quiet, bro,” Eugene remarked in a low voice. “Not that you’re what I’d describe as chatty, but normally you’d have accidentally insulted someone by now. Something wrong?”
He was tempted to snap, but Eugene was a teammate, too.
Seiji cleared his throat. “Nicholas is angry with me. I’m not sure why. Do you know why? I know you two socialize frequently.”
Eugene paused. “I don’t think Nicholas is angry with you.”
“No, he is,” said Seiji. “He told me to go away.”
“He probably just meant that you could go practice in the salle if you’re hating the midnight feast, dude,” said Eugene. “Your face went all grumpy cat when we broke out the marshmallows.”
Seiji opened his mouth to protest that Nicholas never cared when Seiji made faces, and never told him to go away, but Eugene continued.
“I think there’s something else going on.”
Seiji gave Eugene his full attention. “What?”
Eugene turned his protein shake in his hands for another moment. “We went to town Saturday, and some Kings Row guys there were awful to him. It’s been bothering me all weekend, actually. They acted like they were so far above Nicholas. They made it seem like he was going to shoplift! Which he wasn’t!” Eugene added hastily, as though Seiji might imagine Nicholas would.
The burner’s blue flame hissed. Harvard was talking about how delicious the pasta sauce smelled. Their captain was very good at making conversation.
Seiji frowned. “Why would people from our school represent Nicholas as a common thief?”
“Right? It sucks!” said Eugene. “You might know them? They were the first two guys to wash out of fencing tryouts. They think they’re so much better than Nicholas.”
“They think they’re better than Nicholas?” Seiji asked sharply. “But they can’t fence at all!”
“Bro…,” said Eugene. “I realize this concept might be difficult for you to grasp, but this is not about fencing. They were just being jerks.”
Seiji raised an eyebrow. “I’m familiar with the concept of people being jerks. Certain people on the fencing circuit used to refer to me as a samurai.”
Eugene’s open, friendly face was taken over by a confused scowl.
“Because I’m Japanese, and I’m excellent with a sword,” Seiji explained. He rolled his eyes. “Extremely droll.”
“Yeah, I’m familiar with those kinds of jerks, too. You should hear the stuff they say about me,” Eugene said, and buffeted Seiji with his shoulder. Seiji almost dropped his protein shake. “They think they’re better than Nicholas because he doesn’t have a lot of money.”
“Oh, Nicholas is on scholarship, isn’t he?” Seiji recalled. “Does his family have less money than most people at Kings Row?”
Another hissing burner silence ensued.
“Uh…,” said Eugene. “You hadn’t noticed that Nicholas is a bit different from everyone else?”
“Well, yes, obviously I have noticed that! What’s that got to do with money?”
Eugene wasn’t being very helpful.
Seiji considered this matter on his own. He supposed Nicholas spoke differently from other people, even though Nicholas didn’t come from very far away. He’d believed it must be a personal idiosyncrasy.
“Have you realized that Nicholas doesn’t have a lot of stuff?”
Seiji had noticed that Nicholas didn’t wear pajamas, like a normal person. He basically wore underwear to bed.
Was Nicholas too poor for pajamas? That was so sad.
“So, because Nicholas doesn’t have any money, these students mocked him by pretending he would steal?” Seiji clarified. On Eugene’s nod, Seiji scowled. “And now he’s upset. That’s wrong.”
To Seiji’s horror, Eugene slung an arm around his shoulders. Seiji had no idea why he was doing that. Eugene couldn’t possibly think bears would attack in Bobby and Dante’s room.
“Bro, we are in total agreement. I wish there was something we could do to get those guys back. But I guess the world sucks sometimes. Anyway, don’t worry about Nicholas. He’s tough.”
Why would Eugene have told Seiji all this information, unless he wanted Seiji to worry? Preventing Nicholas from being hurt seemed like basic friend behavior. Even Seiji could grasp that much.
Seiji squinted over at Nicholas. He didn’t appear distraught. He was laughing while Bobby dared him to stuff more marshmallows in his mouth. There was already an alarming number of marshmallows in Nicholas’s mouth.
“How would we get those guys back?” Seiji asked. “Like you were saying.”
Eugene blinked rapidly. “I was thinking it would be cool to play a totally excellent prank on them. Make them look as dumb as they are.”
Seiji shuddered. “I don’t think I want to… pull a prank.”
Pranks seemed undignified.
Eugene shrugged. “Yeah, I figured it wasn’t your scene, my man.”
My man was even worse than bro. Seiji endured.
He should’ve felt better now that he knew Nicholas was not angry with him, but somehow, he didn’t. He remained uncomfortable. Of course, he was still at this midnight feast.
Aiden didn’t appear to be enjoying the midnight feast, either. His face was stormy, when normally he was the kind of person who sailed through life on calm waters. Seiji sympathized with Aiden’s antifeast attitude, but he didn’t intend to bond with him. After all, in tryouts, Aiden had brought up seeing him lose against Jesse. He had known it would strike a nerve, and, humiliatingly, it had. Seiji had lost against Aiden, too.
Aiden’s glittering eyes always seemed to read Seiji like a book, as though Aiden saw things Seiji didn’t even know about himself.
Aiden’s lip curled back from his teeth in a snarl, distorting his face further. “What are you looking at, freshman?”
“I was looking at you,” said Seiji truthfully.
Those green eyes narrowed, seeing too much again. “Reliving the day you had to feel like a loser?”
Seiji’s gaze fell away from Aiden’s.
“Seiji isn’t a loser. Being a loser isn’t about whether you lose or win matches,” piped up Nicholas, and Harvard turned around to give Nicholas a fist bump.
Seiji frowned. “Why not? Do words just not have meanings anymore?”
He took this as confirmation, though, that Eugene had been right and Nicholas wasn’t angry with him, so he went back over to Nicholas and out of Aiden’s line of sight.
“Don’t eat an excessive amount of carbohydrates at this hour,” Seiji advised Nicholas.
“I’m gonna,” said Nicholas.
Seiji shook his head, pained. “Try some protein shake.”
Nicholas accepted the shake and took a gulp. Then he immediately spat half of it back into the glass. Seiji stared at him in dismay.
Nicholas wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “That’s gross.”
“You’re gross!” Seiji exclaimed. “That is unsanitary! Eugene, may I have another protein shake?”
“Have the one Eugene brought for me,” Nicholas urged. “Please.”
Seiji accepted this peace offering. He sat by Nicholas and drank a new protein shake, and the midnight feast was slightly improved. He declined to eat pasta at midnight. After the pasta was eaten, they roasted the rest of the marshmallows over the burner. Nicholas put his marshmallows into the remnants of his pasta sauce. Seiji was absolutely revolted.
Harvard continued to make conversation. Seiji didn’t know how he did it. People called these interactions small talk: To Seiji, the talk was so small he never seemed able to find it, or sure why he should. Harvard was discussing someone called Neil who went to another school.
Seiji tried to make conversation as well. “Ah, a fencing opponent?”
“No, Neil’s not that into fencing,” Harvard said. “He’s into art. He showed me some of his drawings. They’re really good.”
“Another unusual hobby,” Seiji remarked, and gestured to Dante. “Like Dante’s interest in cookery.”
Sitting in the far corner being tall and gloomy, Dante sighed and gave them what Seiji found to be an unfriendly look. Seiji sympathized. If Nicholas had invited his many friends over to their room, Seiji would go sleep in the salle.
Bobby shook his head at Dante, sparkly clips in his hair catching the light. “They’re welcome! Especially Seiji. It’s an honor to have you here, Seiji!”
That was kind of Bobby to say, though Seiji wasn’t sure why it would be. Seiji nodded uneasily.
“Neil did say he’d like to see one of my fencing matches, though,” Harvard continued, brightening further. He seemed to be in a very good mood.
“Oh, I see,” said Seiji. “Neil is a friend.”
Friends watched each other’s fencing matches. Seiji was aware.
“Well… not exactly?” Harvard ducked his head. Seiji stared in bewilderment.
Nicholas nudged him. “Harvard is dating Neil. The captain goes on many dates!”
“Oh yes,” said Seiji, enlightened. “I remember.”
He was grateful to Nicholas for explaining the matter so that Seiji understood. There had been a great deal of talk about Harvard dating recently. He hoped the captain wouldn’t let dating interfere with his fencing too much.
“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend, Captain!” Eugene exclaimed.
Eugene and Bobby leaned forward, both seeming extremely interested. Everyone must share Seiji’s concern about the captain’s fencing.
“He’s not my boyfriend…,” Harvard muttered. “… not yet.”
There was a loud noise. Apparently, Aiden had accidentally pulled the curtain right off the wall. Dante leaped to his feet and Aiden muttered apologies.
Seiji didn’t think Aiden was being a good guest, but he was focused on other things. He required further explanations.
“So is he going to be your boyfriend?” Seiji asked.
“I’m, uh,” said Harvard. “I’m not sure.”
“When will you know?”
“For now, we’re just dating.”
Wasn’t dating what you did with boyfriends and girlfriends? Wasn’t that what they were specifically for? Was there a probationary period? That seemed stressful. Stress was bound to affect the captain’s game. Why was nobody sensible?
Was there a probationary period for being friends? Seiji glanced at Nicholas in alarm.
Why did nobody ever tell Seiji the rules of social behavior? He’d been taught the rules for fencing, and he excelled in that. He didn’t see why everybody expected him to excel in life with no training.
“My dude, this is so exciting and romantic!” said Eugene.
“Do you like him a lot?” asked Bobby, starry-eyed.
Seiji had more questions, too. “Could you not find a boyfriend who was interested in fencing? It seems better to have a boyfriend who is interested in fencing.”
“That does seem true,” Nicholas muttered, but then raised his voice and said with loyalty to his captain: “I’m sure your boyfriend’s super nice, though!”
“He is really nice,” Harvard confirmed, sounding shy. “He’s really cool and funny. He likes comics! He loaned me some and said I could give them back to him on Tuesday. When we have our next date. I do like him a lot. So far.”
Tuesday was the day after next. How many dates was Harvard planning to have per week? They would never win the state championship at this rate.
Everyone seemed pleased—except Seiji and Aiden, whose face had darkened further. Seiji was glad to see someone else was worrying about the important things in life, but if Aiden wanted a shot at the state championship, he should practice more himself.
Seiji was about to voice this when Harvard’s phone buzzed with a text. Harvard smiled as though it was an instinct, the others said “Ooh” in a chorus, and Aiden knocked over the burner. The fallen curtain caught on fire. Dante gave Bobby a look that combined pleading and total rage.
“I’m so sorry, everyone!” exclaimed Bobby. “Especially Seiji. Fencing team, you have to leave now.”
Nicholas walked back to their dormitory, bumping shoulders with Seiji companionably in the way nobody else ever did, but he was still much quieter than usual. It was worrying. However, Seiji was able to go to sleep secure in the knowledge that at least he hadn’t been the worst guest at the midnight feast.