Firstly, why most of my inspiration has to strike between midnight and 2am, I'll never know.

On a more relevant note: Not necessarily here, but we're probably going to start seeing time in leaps and bounds a lot more then in the prequel so a heads up for that.

Also, having Millard going to Cambridge as well means you can expect a good deal more of him than I got to write before, which I'm quite looking forward to!

Enough of that. Now, onwards.

xxxXxxx

"Did I mention how incredible my campus library is? Absolutely astonishingly referenced, I swear I would very happily live in it rather than my dorm."

"You did...and that's three times now, Mill."

"Well that doesn't make it any less true."

Olive laughed quietly to herself and tapped her capped highlighter onto the open textbook in front of her on the outdoor, stone picnic table in the park across the road from her building. Millard had come to join her this afternoon to take advantage of the good weather as both their classes let out by two on Fridays. If there was ever a study partner who would actually ensure that both parties got some sort of academic benefit out of the situation, it was Millard Nullings. Having said that, after a few hours even he given in to a break in favour of a cup of tea.

After the first week, Olive had started to find her feet quickly in this new chapter of her life and something inside her knew beyond a doubt that she was going to come to love what she was doing for the next few years. It was exciting, it was new, and best of all it was hers.

"Does the Ice Queen show any signs of thawing out at all?"

"I think Althea's said about two full sentences the whole time so far but she's not exactly an unpleasant person." Olive snapped her eyes back from the grass she had been staring at and dropped the highlighter she had been idly tapping to pick up her tea instead.

"Unlike certain other emotionless husks I don't believe I need to name."

"That's not exactly fair, Millard Nullings-" She pulled a face at her friend who held up a hand defensively and interrupted.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry...Enoch talks a lot more, he's just usually sarcastic instead and there's only so much one can take in one sitting."

"You're right, that sounded much better."

"Pish tosh. Are you going back to London this weekend?"

Olive wrinkled her nose slightly. She hadn't really had the chance to think about that. Her parents had come up last week so there was less of a great rush to see her family again so soon. In theory, it sounded nice to be able to time her visits back with those of her other friends to see as many people as possible. There was Enoch there all the time, of course, and she was dying to see him but the last time she'd spoken to him days ago he'd expressed no such sentiment. She hadn't expected him to. She knew he loved her, and he's said he would come up sometimes, despite how undoubtedly busy his course was probably bound to be. But he would have told her if it was soon.
Of course, if she had a car that would put a whole other light on the idea of going back more frequently.

Millard whistled to get her attention and Olive blinked back into reality.
"Huh?"

"You haven't spoken in thirty-two seconds so I'm going to assume that you're not."

"Oh! No, not this weekend. My parents were just up last week and..."

"Dare I say the boyfriend hasn't said anything about it?" Millard tugged at his woollen vest and feigned a dramatic expression that wouldn't have been out of place in one of Shakespeare's plays. "What must it be like to be so drearily tied together? Can there not be one without the other?"

Olive kicked him under the table, very poorly as her legs didn't quite reach far enough to deliver a solid blow.
"We were nothing compared to Hugh and Fiona, thank you very much. I'm sure you'll see for yourself soon enough, and I'll thank you to keep your relationship advice to yourself then."

"You're counting chickens before they've hatched, my dear. Before the eggs are even lai-" Millard's green eyes drifted past her somewhere over Olives shoulder and his haughty expression morphed into an open jawed one of disbelief in half a second. "Well... I didn't see that coming."

"What?"

Millard just nodded over her shoulder and Olive turned her head to follow his gaze across the grass to the road. What she saw made Olive gasp in shock and stand up so quickly she very nearly toppled sideways over the bench seat.

She knew that old Ford and the tall, lean figure standing beside it better than anything.

Enoch was very good at appearing quietly out of nowhere when he was least expected and he'd done it in the best possible way right now. He was just standing there, twenty odd metres away, waiting for her to come to him. Leaving her things forgotten on the table with Millard, Olive hopped over the bench and ran with a grin so wide she might have expected her face to split in two.

"What on earth are y-" But then she didn't even finish her own sentence before her arms were around his neck and Enoch was staggering backwards a step.

"Bloody 'ell, what would ya do if it 'ad been three months?"

He was clearly uncomfortable but she couldn't bring herself to mind when he gently pried her off him and could have sworn his lips were twitching a little when he raised an eyebrow down at her. Olive loved his hair, how he kept it shorter on the sides which just made it seem curlier and thicker when he didn't sweep it away from his eyes. Or like now, when he had just spent hours in a car.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

"I did. Said I'd drive up, didn' I? Ya did give me the address."

"You know what I meant." Olive beamed and couldn't help herself hopping up on her toes to kiss his cheek, even though he was still touchy about showing any affection in public. "Are you staying? Or did you just com-oh never mind now, I just care you're here."

"Bit of a wasted trip ta only stay a couple hours, right?"

"Oh it's alright, don't you worry about old Millard, he's just peachy!"

Both Enoch and Olive looked around at the interruption and beside her, Enoch scoffed and rolled his eyes as Millard walked over with his books in his arm. "I had plans anyway, don't trouble yourselves."

"I really wasn't."

"I did know you were there, Mill, I just-"

"Don't even think it, I'd rather make myself scarce now than in approximately two minutes when one of you decides they can't keep their lips off the other one."

"Will it make you leave faster if it don't take two minutes?" Enoch snipped dryly and Olive went slightly pink at the thought, though she wasn't sure Enoch would have done it anyway unless there were a bigger point to prove.

xxxXxxx

"I dunno, I gotta be 'ome Sunday so a day or two I s'pose." Enoch muttered over her shoulder as Olive fumbled to hold her books and empty mug in one arm and turn the doorknob with the other until Enoch sighed and his arm appeared around her to do it himself.
"Is 'e 'ere?"

There was no confusing exactly what Enoch meant as she stepped in ahead of him and dropped her books on the small shared dining table and wrinkled her nose as a sudden thought struck her. He hadn't just come because Olive was sharing a flat with a guy, had he?

"Please tell me you didn't just come to make a grand statement that I have a boyfriend? You have come up in conversation, you know?"

"I didn't." For just a second Enoch looked slightly insulted at the idea before he grunted and appeared to busy himself looking around the flat instead. Olive just watched him for a second. She would banish the idea that he wasn't really here because he wanted to see her because she was sure that wasn't true. She didn't need to make him say it to know it.

Before she could say anything, a door opened somewhere and another male voice sounded down the hall, which in turn made Enoch's expression darken again.

"Olive? Althea's already agreed, as much as she ever does which isn't much, I thought we'd all go in for pizza tonight? Unless you-oh what the-hello..." Nathan's familiar mop of blonde hair came into view around the corner and whatever he had been saying trailed off the moment he saw both Olive and Enoch standing in the kitchen.

Olive bit her lip slightly and stole a sideways glance at Enoch who had drawn himself up to his full height, barely a few hairs taller than Nathan at all. His face was the smooth, unimpressed, no nonsense slate that was his usual expression and, immediately, Olive's heart leapt into her throat.
Please be civil. Enoch had no good reason not to be, but that didn't mean one jot as to how he would behave.

"Wasn't...expecting company-"

"Clearly."

Olive barely restrained herself from shaking her head at Enoch's immediate coldness. He'd taken one look at the guy and decided he hated him, Olive could see that a mile away.

"-but hello all the same, I'm going to go out on a metaphorical limb and say you must be Olive's boyfriend. Enoch, right?"

"Yes, I wasn't actually sure he was coming today either. Enoch? This is Nathan."
Olive took the chance and jumped in before Enoch could be rude. Slowly she slipped her hand down and slid it into Enoch's, hoping it would at least persuade him to ease up just a little. Unusually in front of other people, his fingers immediately closed around hers and squeezed. It was less of an affectionate gesture and more of a testosterone driven 'I got her and you don't' but it would do.

Unsurprisingly, Enoch ignored the hand to shake that Nathan had offered and instead raised an eyebrow like he wasn't sure if he should be offended or not.

"Probably best count us out," Olive added quickly and tugged on Enoch's hand to pull him away from the situation that was only serving to become more and more awkward by the second.

No sooner had she managed to pull Enoch down the hall and into her room did he let go of her hand completely and turn to glare at the door.

"Don't like 'im. 'Metaphorical limb'? Yeah, like I'd fink it was literal."

"That was kind of rude."

"Do I look like I care?" Enoch barely glanced at her as he dropped his bag on the floor beside her desk and suddenly with two people in it her room seemed smaller again. Not quite too small, just small.
Olive sat down on the foot of her bed and patted the spot beside her on the mattress. Enoch did not take it and instead chose to cast a critical eye around her personalising efforts.
"Enoch, just because there are mixed flats, does not mean that some guy has to make a move on the girls."

" 'e 'ave a girlfriend?"

What on earth kind of question that was, Olive wasn't entirely certain. "Uh...no, I don't think so."

"Then I don't trust 'im. Not sure that'd make a difference anyway."

There was absolutely no point in arguing about it, Enoch was never going to stop being possessive because that was just who he was. There wasn't much he ever cared about so what little there was, he wouldn't let go. Thinking of it that way it was kind of sweet. At times, she thought Enoch was just plain scared of losing something if he let himself care, but she hadn't dared mention it for fear he'd close up on her again. They had been together two years, and knew each other better than anyone else did inside and out. She'd seen him smile and laugh, extremely rare though the latter was, and she knew him happy which was not a word that was usually used in the same sentence as 'Enoch', but there was no doubt in Olive's mind that she'd still barely scratched the surface of what went on in Enoch's head and his heart.

The mattress sunk a little with added weight and Olive snapped out of it to look at Enoch who had finally sat next to her.

"This is it really. I know it's hardly the nicest of flats but..."

"Ya ain't at 'ome, that's still a step a'ead of me."

"Is it really still that bad? Or is it easier now you're at the school so much?"

"Betta. But soon as is realistic, I'm outta there. Can we not talk 'bout me yet?"
Enoch shrugged and the moment caused his arm to brush right up against hers. Three weeks wasn't so long really, and it seemed a little childish that she missed him so much already and knew very well she needed to get used to seeing him this infrequently, but it was long enough to be sure of how much she loved him. He could still send goosebumps up her arms just by touching her and leave her light headed with just a kiss.
Someone less of a romantic might call her a silly girl, but Olive would bet any amount of money that was how Fiona and Emma felt with their boyfriends. Only, the tiny competitive and defensive part of her piped up, her boyfriend was much better of course. But as long as she was feeling confident...

"Enoch, we have a problem." She said as sternly and seriously as she could manage.

Evidently it was convincing enough because Enoch's frown deepened and he sounded moderately concerned as he leaned away from her slightly. "...What?"

"Millard gave us an approximate of two minutes almost half an hour ago-"

"Oh." Then that was the moment Enoch saw what was coming and rolled his eyes. Olive could have dropped it then but she didn't, although she couldn't hold back her smile anymore.

"-and you haven't even said hello properly let alone kissed me ye-"

"For cryin' out loud..."

Enoch wasn't going to let her so much as finish a word before he leaned over to finally kiss her, probably a little to humour her, and Olive smiled contentedly into it. There was his hand fitting right on her hip where it seemed to habitually go and when Enoch pulled away, his expression was almost blank save for a tiny flicker in his eyes.

" 'appier now?"

"Much."