When Jaisen awoke the next morning, it was to Louie leaning inches in front of his face and staring with unwavering, narrowed eyes.

In their living room, Marcus peeked out curiously from behind his newspaper at the sound of their favorite redhead using a choice word followed by a smack and cry of pain. Inwardly he snickered, as he had already informed Louie earlier that waking Jaisen up in such a manner was only asking for trouble. But did anyone actually listen to him?

Course not.

"Are you crazy?! Don't ever do that again!"

Louie scowled as he rubbed his sore cheek, which he could already feel beginning to bruise. "Me crazy? Think again, dummy."

Jaisen gave him an offended look, "What?"

"Your friend left a lovely present for us on the doorstep," he snapped, "which I find quite strange. How's he know our room number, huh? Did you think it was such a good idea to tell some stranger who's probably deranged exactly where we live? Huh?! Jaisen?"

But the redhead stopped paying attention at the word 'present.' During his roommate's rant he eased himself up into a sitting position, briefly rubbed his eyes, then promptly climbed to his feet. He was already out of their bedroom before Louie paid attention to his surroundings and found himself talking to thin air.

"What does he mean by present?"

Marcus lowered the paper slowly, trying his best to come off as playfully mysterious as only his murky eyes were shown, "Out in the hallway." His eyes flicked back and forth before he covered them again with the paper, "Careful not to step on it, it could explode, y'know."

Rolling his eyes, Jaisen approached the door, just as Louie stumbled out of the bedroom. He yammered something about taking extra precaution and how totally unethical it was to talk to complete strangers, but all that whizzed right over the redhead's ruffled hair as a warm blush colored his cheeks. Slowly, he bent down to retrieve the tea cup he had shared last night along with a small piece of paper rolled up and wedged into the handle, two words written on one side in large, neat letters.

Thank you.

…

"You're somethin' else, you know that?"

Gray eyes fluttered up to him for half a second before closing, calloused fingers never stopping their intricate weaving for sound. It might have been a brush off, if it weren't for the shy smile playing on his lips.

Jaisen returned the smile as he took a seat across from him, and simply watched. The other looked completely swamped in his puffy coat, but he had to admit, it gave off a sense of youth and innocence, something he wished he could have all over again. A sigh drifted past his parted lips at the thought, causing the guitarist to stop playing and look back up again in confusion.

For a moment Jaisen sat stunned. Yesterday had been a roller coaster of ups and downs, but today he felt that it was soon about to be thrown with abrupt twists and turns. The guy seemed almost… concerned. He blushed. Hard.

"Sorry, I'm fine. Just thinking… about this and that. It's nothing," he reassured, "Please, continue."

Those eyes he adored so much kept close watch on him, not moving or blinking until he seemed… satisfied. Jaisen thought for sure that he could hear his heart pounding away in his chest. Could he hear it, too? He lowered his own eyes to pretend to find focus in his shoes. Another moment of silence passed between them until the air piped up with crystalline sound. A second sigh eased out of him, this time of content. Nothing was more sweeter than this music… except the one playing it, of course.

"Ah, hey," the redhead stuttered, willing his thoughts away before they went beyond that simple statement; the music paused. "So how'd you know what room I stayed in?" Right after he asked it, Jaisen thunked his forehead with his palm, "Oh nevermind. I forgot you don't talk. Forget I said anything."

A vague sense of annoyance settled in the pit of Jaisen's stomach as the music started back up again without any prompt. It seemed that every time he took a step forward, he found himself being pushed back. He got a laugh out of the guy, a smile and direct eye contact. Still not a word, not even a simple hello. It'd take time, he knew, but just how much? The end of the term was fast approaching, with a full month before finals. Then he'd have to wait a whole nother month before seeing him again. He couldn't wait that long. There had to be a way to break the last piece of ice…

"You're still associating with that creep?"

Jaisen startled out of his thoughts to find Louie stomping up the stone steps, his face tight with irritation. Behind him a rather big boned girl scurried after him, her own face showing unease. Jaisen immediately recognized her as being Louie's girlfriend, Aria. He liked her, even though he had only really talked to her once or twice, and as she peeked over her boyfriend's shoulder, she gave him a friendly smile. He returned it.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to-?"

"Oh shut up. He's not a creep," Jaisen replied matter-of-factly. "You're so annoying, I swear…"

"Oh yah?" Louie stepped towards the guitarist, who paid him no mind and kept his head down, eyes on the fret. Jaisen watched him tensely. "Hey, you, creep. How'd you know our room number? Jay over there tell you? Excuse me? Hey?" Rudely, he snapped his fingers right under the brunet's nose. "You deaf, too?"

"He's ignoring you, Lou, just leave."

Louie spared him an annoyed glare before returning his attention to the mute. "What, you're not telling me you're letting your boyfriend over there talk for you, are you? You letting him fight your fights, too, hm?"

"Louie!" Jaisen blurted as he scrambled to his feet, completely scandalized. "Just leave him alone!"

"C'mon punk, speak to me!"

The brunet calmly lifted his chin, his face blank except for the burning intensity of emotion shining behind his gray eyes. Jaisen bit his lip, not sure what to do. Aria stood frozen at his side, a bit of awe touching her round face alongside the nervousness. Louie just glared.

The staring contest lasted for a couple seconds more before the guitarist climbed to his feet and slung his instrument over his shoulders, his gaze on Jaisen's brash roommate the whole time. Then he broke the contact by walking around him, stunning the others when he continued over to Jaisen, grabbed his slack wrist and promptly started dragging him down the stairs. Jaisen nearly tripped over his feet, confused but heart thumping in response to the body contact and the fact that they were obviously going somewhere private. Alone.

"What the hell!" He heard Louie start after them and looked around just in time to see him reach out to grab his other arm, but the guitarist was quicker and tugged, causing the redhead to flail down the rest of the steps in front of him, his wrist still caught in his grasp.

He couldn't even feel anger at the fact that he was being treated like a hand-me down ragdoll and tried to catch the brunet's eye, but he was once again staring defiantly at Louie, who looked ready to go into attack mode.

"I swear to God if you hurt him-"

"I'm not going to hurt him."

Jaisen's eyes grew wide, a perfect reflection of Louie, who trailed off from his taunt as his mouth gaped open. Neither could believe their ears, Jaisen most of all. On top of the fact that the guy could indeed talk in perfect, fluent English, his voice had a soothing quality about it, even tempered and just as musically talented as his hands. It made his cheeks warm just listening to those six simple words.

He really could not believe it.