You were in your dorm on a video call with Falco, your laptop flashing a warning that soon it was going to die. "Hang on Falco, I need to plug my laptop in," you set it down on the bed, grabbing your charger from your desk and plugging it into the outlet ny your bed, inserting the charger in the laptop.

"Now, what were you say-" someone cut you off with knocking at the door. You furrowed your brows in curiosity, wondering who it was. Sasha was on a date with Niccolo and you hadn't invited anyone else over.

"One sec," you set the laptop down again and approached the door. Your heart was pounding, beating so hard against your chest you were sure it'd break your ribs.

"Y/N?" You heard Falco speak from your laptop, but you didn't reply. Your throat was closing up in fear that it was Floch behind that door.

Your fear of him popping up everywhere had started to grow, enough to keep you from leaving the dorm as much as possible.

You took a deep breath and looked through the peephole, letting it out as you noticed the familiar honey eyes staring unknowingly into yours. You opened the door.

"Hey!" Connie smiled and planted a kiss on your cheek before entering the room, setting his backpack down on the floor and noticing the other human being sort of present in the room.

"Who's this?" Connie laughed as he waved at Falco who waved back.

"That's Falco, my little brother," you replied with a smile, sitting on your bed.

"Hey Falco," Connie came beside you, grabbing one of your pillows and placing it behind his back.

"Is this Connie?" Falco looked at you through the screen and you gave him a short nod.

"But don't tell dad. I want him to meet Connie in person."

"In person? I'm meeting your dad?" He drew out the word "dad" with a smirk on his face, cocking an eyebrow.

"It's not a good thing," you fired back jokingly, nudging his arm.

"So what grade are you in?" Connie asked.

"Junior."

"Ah, junior year. Now that was a fun one," Connie laughed and you stole a glance at him, your heart skipping a beat.

You really didn't deserve him, but here he was, still with you. He still picked you. There were so many other girls he could've dated, but for some reason, he picked you. You weren't sure how to handle it.

"It's been okay so far. But I should really get going, dinner's gonna be ready soon," Falco gave you two a smile, but you saw that look in his eyes. He wanted to give you and Connie alone time.

This kid...

"Okay, I'll see you at Christmas. Love you."

"Love you too, sis," Falco ended the call after that. You closed your laptop and set it aside, looking over at Connie.

"Seems like a good kid," Connie wrapped his arm around you, but you shrugged it off as you stood up to place your laptop on your desk.

"Yeah, he is," you gave Connie a light smile, but he didn't return it.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay, because it's just that-"

"Connie, I'm fine." Your voice was tight. He shut his mouth and gave you a small nod. This conversation was over.

"I just wanted to see if you'd like to grab dinner," he finally spoke up again after a tense silence fell between you two. More of those had been happening lately.

"I really need to study for these finals, Connie. I don't think I can leave right now," you let out a sigh, rubbing your hand down your face.

But part of you did want to leave. You just couldn't, not with Floch out there. Not with another ambush. Floch was sorry, he had taken responsibility, but it all felt like he was also hoping to win you back. And you didn't want him back. You never wanted to see him again, and for some reason, Floch just couldn't understand that.

He seemed genuine that day in the coffee shop, but Floch was a master at deceiving. You'd fallen for that trick one too many times. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...

"Shame on me..." you whispered silently to yourself, completely unaware to the fact that Connie had been talking to you the whole time.

"Are you listening to me?" Connie stood up and came to stand across from you, the tension growing. You didn't respond.

"Y/N, you haven't left this room. This isn't good for you. You need to get out for a while, get out of your head. If you're worried about your finals, I promise you that you'll do just fine. You're smart," he poked your forehead which prompted a smile out of you, which made him grin too.

"There's that smile," he whispered.

There's that smile. It was getting harder to give it. The mask wasn't working. He was noticing. How many others were noticing it, too?

"Now, come on. Let's go," he took your hand, nerves shooting through you.

"...Okay."

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You were sitting in the booth at a restaurant, waiting for Marco and Jean to show up. Connie decided to call them on the way there.

"If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?" He asked, staring at you intently, a deep look in his eyes.

You looked away.

"Three wishes?" You half-heartedly laughed, not sure how to respond. If you had three wishes, three chances to make anything happen, what would you do? What would you change?

Well, make Floch disappear would be a good one. You didn't like the thought of running away from the situation and taking the easy way out, but if you could just wish him away...

"Probably for world peace," you batted your eyelashes at Connie, who scoffed at your answer, rolling his eyes.

"Everyone wants world peace, but what about you? What do you want?" He pressed, leaning towards you from the other side of the table. And this time, you couldn't look away.

Before you could answer, Marco and Jean plopped down, saving you.

"What are you guys talking about?" Marco looked between the two of you.

"If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?" Connie took a sip of his water as Marco scrunched his face up in thought.

"Easy. Money, fame, and world peace," Jean shrugged.

"Aha, see?" You snapped your finger and pointed at Jean.

"Not a stupid wish," you smirked, but Connie just shook his head.

"Yeah, but if everyone's wishing for world peace, wouldn't it just cancel itself out?" Connie's question threw you off. It was stupid, but kind of...smart?

"Well...no," Marco looked over at Connie.

"Why not?" He furrowed his brows.

"It just...wouldn't?"

"Okay, how about we talk about something else," you suggested, taking a sip of your water.

"So I started watching that titan show and it's actually pretty good. You guys should start it," Jean switched the subject, and you watched the three boys start to talk about TV shows.

It was like this for a while, the three boys all talking about TV shows, movies, other sources of entertainment while you sat back and watched with a smile. You didn't mind that you weren't part of the conversation, you just liked the distraction.

After dinner, the four of you walked outside. You were heading for Connie's car, about to open the door when you froze. Just for a second, you thought you saw him. You swore he was right there, but as you blinked, he was gone.

"Y/N," Connie's voice snapped you out of it.

He looked at you, wanting you to tell him something, anything. But you smiled.

"Let's head back, I'm tired," you opened the door and got into the car. Closing your eyes, you laid your head back, thinking about the question Connie had asked earlier.

If you had three wishes, what would you wish for...

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"Fuck finals. Fuck them so much," Sasha groaned. You glanced over at her with a small smile, feeling some sort of pity for the girl.

You were in your dorm, sitting on your bed as Sasha sat at her desk with folders and notebooks strewn across it, her laptop buried somewhere under there.

"You know what? Cs get degrees," she chirped out and pushed out from her chair, flopping onto your bed and leaning her head on your shoulder.

"What the hell is a macrophage?" She scrunched her nose up and you let out a snort, rolling your eyes.

"It's something that helps your immune system
kill viruses or bacteria so you don't, you know, die," you responded and Sasha nodded her head, acting interested.

"I really need to study Sasha, so if you're just going to be a distraction-"

"I know, I know," she replied and lifted her head off of your shoulder, sliding off your bed. She went for her laptop and headphones, settling on her own bed and most likely watching a movie or some food TV show.

You continued to study, and after a while, you decided to take a break. Needing to use the restroom, you went to leave the dorm, but as you opened the door, Niccolo, Connie, Jean, and Marco greeted you with big smiles and bags of food.

"We thought we'd bring over some dinner since you guys forgot your phones existed," Niccolo walked in, moving past you. Marco and Jean followed him, but Connie stayed in the doorway. You swallowed.

"Why haven't you answered any of my calls today?" He shifted his feet, narrowing his gaze at you.

"Sorry, I've just been busy studying all day," you gave a weak smile and stepped out of the room, but Connie grabbed your wrist before you could head off to the bathroom.

You turned to stare at him, his eyes begging you to say something, anything. But you stayed silent, and when he realized you wouldn't tell him what he wanted to hear, he let you go. His jaw clenched and he tore his gaze away from you, stepping into the room and out of your line of vision.

You hurried off to the bathroom, and once you were finished, you caught yourself in the mirror. It was so hard to look in one these days.

"You okay?" You flinched when you noticed someone standing next to you, their eyes concerned.

"Fine," you quickly responded and left the bathroom, your cheeks burning. How embarrassing.

Entering your dorm, you sat on your bed, ignoring the plate of food Niccolo had set out for you. You needed to get back to work, to distract yourself, because as long as you were distracted, you didn't have to feel anything. You didn't have to think of him, Floch.

"You're not hungry?" Niccolo cocked a brow and you shook your head, giving him a smile.

"I've been snacking all day, I'm good. Thanks, anyway," you grabbed your laptop and opened it to the slide you had last been studying.

The rest of them silently conversed, little outbursts of laughter here and there, so you stuck your headphones in and turned on some soft music while you continued to study.

You would have gone to a study room, but the thought of Floch ambushing you yet again scared you into staying in your room. You only left for class and to use the bathroom.

After some time, the boys filed out with Sasha. They wanted to go bowling and had extended the offer to you, but you declined.

"Connie, you coming?" Jean called out, poking his head back into the room.

"In a second," he gave Jean a tight smile before settling onto the bed next to you.

Your heart rate picked up, your gaze glued to the laptop. Connie reached out and shut it, his hand gingerly holding your chin and turning your head to face his. What you saw made your heart want to stop beating. You'd never seen Connie so concerned, so conflicted.

"Are we good?" His voice was thick with emotion.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been distant again. I know something's bothering you, and frankly...I can't keep doing this if you don't tell me what's going on. I can't just know these things," he removed his hand from your face, his eyes flashing with a sense of hurt.

"We'd been doing so well...what happened?" Connie was begging for an answer now.

"Connie-"

"Is it him? Are you wanting to go back to him?" Connie suddenly blurted out, and all the air seemed to be sucked out of your lungs. You felt like you couldn't breathe.

After everything you had told him, everything that he had seen Floch do, you were shocked he would even ask that question. But you gave him reason to. Nonetheless, it still burned.

"How dare you," your voice shook.

Your breathing was ragged now as you slid off the bed and grabbed his coat, handing it out for him to take. You were furious.

"Y/N, you've been so cold with me ever since Floch ambushed you at the coffee shop. What else am I supposed to think? He's here on campus and you won't answer my calls or my texts. I'm worried about you, about us, but you don't seem to care, do you?" Connie didn't take the coat.

"I want you to go," was all you could say.

Connie stood and pushed his coat away, walking towards you and forcing you against the back of the wall.

"Y/N I'm in lo-"

"Please don't say you love me," you shut your eyes for a moment, your mind racing. But Connie didn't stop, he continued.

"Then do you love me? Because I love you. I know what I feel. I know what I want. You told me all you wanted was me, and I'm right here. I'm right here, and I'm asking you to take me. I'm asking you to love me. I want you to love me. Do you?"

You were silent, staring up at Connie, his eyes suddenly realizing. It's not that you didn't want to love him. You wanted to, so badly, but something was keeping you from taking that step. All your fears you thought you'd overcome still had you chained down. You couldn't do it. You couldn't commit.

Something in you broke as you saw his eyes cloud over. There was nothing else there to see.

"Connie-"

"No. I should go," he took the coat from your hands, his eyes squeezing shut before he looked at you one last time. You were inches apart, breathing becoming impossible with him so close yet so far away.

Connie leaned his forehead against yours, just for a second, just for a moment before his warmth suddenly left you. And when you opened your eyes, he was gone, the sound of the door shutting reverberating in your ears.

Tears formed in your eyes but you didn't let them fall. You didn't let yourself feel. Instead, you got back to studying.

It was better this way. You convinced yourself that it was. You convinced yourself that you were right, because somewhere down the road, this was what would've happened anyway. People always left, so it was your job to make them leave before they decided to do it.