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Even if William had crystal clear hearing right now, he wouldn't have heard a thing.

He was staring at his computer screen, jaw twisted into a frown, brows furrowed as he read the email over and over again.

He didn't know why it boggled him so much. The email was simple enough. Too simple, in fact. If he was going by logic alone, he would delete it. After all, all the other applicants had emailed him with a little blurb about what they were interested in, what classes they had, how they wanted to help someone less fortunate and/or add volunteer work to their resume. A few people had even sent their resume's.

But this boy, Lucas Cali had only written one line.

Dear William Hunt, I can write your notes.

That was it. No reason or explanation was given. No name was supplied, no list of classes he was currently in. If it weren't for his email address, LucasCali(at)UMail.com, then William wouldn't even know what his name was.

That wasn't what was getting to him though. No. It was the group he'd seen hovering around his flyer. The brunette that had tumbled into him and ate his food and smiled like it was the best day of his life.

He could see him writing something like this; something direct and honest with none of the professionalism that everyone else wrote to him with.

A smile tugged at William's lips. But would he apply to write someones notes?

"Lucas," William said softly, trying the name out as he thought of the boy. Sunshine suited him better but he doubted that there would be any parents cruel enough to name their child that.

"What are you smiling about?"

William started and looked up to find his mother standing in the open doorway of his room. He took after her in a lot of ways, especially appearance, which wasn't necessarily a good thing for a boy to look like his mother. Right now she was watching him with a bemused smile in her blue eyes.

"Do you need something?" he asked, choosing not to humour her.

"I brought some food home, if you're hungry?" she asked, use to his moods.

He thought for a moment, eyes darting back down to the screen and his unmade decision.

"I'll be down in a minute," he said.

She nodded and left and William bit his lip as he wrote a reply.

Are you available tomorrow to meet and discuss what I am looking for?

William hit send and shut his laptop, unease swirling in him. If Lucas wasn't Sunshine, then he would say no and move on to the next person he'd arranged to meet.

If it was him, then at the very least, William would know his name.

He chewed his lip as he went down stairs, his appetite leaving him completely, nerves filling his stomach instead.

He was being a bit ridiculous really, he didn't know the other boy at all and he didn't know if Lucas Cali was even the person he thought he might be.

Finally, his nerves began to settle as he prepared for bed but then Lucas Cali sent him his number and William was a mess all over again.

He read the email over and over. The reply was a simple, Sure. When? Where? Here's my number.

William put the number into his phone. He shut off the light and climbed in to bed and then reached for his phone, staring at the digits.

Lucas was definitely still up. He'd only emailed him a few minutes ago.

Taking a deep breath, he quickly typed out a message and hit send, not giving himself long enough to second guess it. 8:00 at The Grind Cafe?

The reply was instantaneous.

From: Lucas (sunshine?)

In the morning?

William laughed out loud. The nerves that had been buzzing inside him turned giddy and happy. This was definitely him. William was sure.

To: Sunshine

Would noon be better?

The reply came just as quickly.

From: Sunshine

See you then.

***

William ended up at the cafe in the morning any way. He'd arranged to meet three other people first to conduct interviews of a sort.

All three were girls, each the academic type. And each of them would be perfect. One of the girls only had one of his current classes so that made it a bit easier to narrow down.

He found himself lingering over Lisa's resume as noon drew near. The girl had a big smile and kind eyes. She was neat and put together, but she also seemed bad at taking a hint.

She didn't seem ready to leave at all and remained glued in her seat, sipping slowly at her coffee and chatting easily, well after William had finished asking his questions.

"So have you been struggling a lot with classes so far?" she asked.

William tried not to sigh.

"Yes," he said. "Just in the big classes though. I can still manage, but its time consuming trying to learn everything on my own from the text books."

She nodded thoughtfully.

"Well you can keep these notes to start with," she said. She slid over the samples she had brought with her.

William bit his lip.

"I don't think it would be right to take any until I decide on who I will pick."

"Oh."

She looked away, clearly taken aback and they sat in awkward silence until she finally finished the last of her drink.

"I should get going," she said finally.

Relieved, William nodded.

"Thanks for coming," he said.

She smiled and pushed to her feet but didn't leave. Instead, she looked down at William with a shy smile.

"There's something else," she said.

William finally caved to the desire to look at his phone. There were no messages and the time was eleven fifty. There was still ten minutes.

With a touch of relief, he looked back up at Lisa.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Well, I'm actually part of the sign club," she said.

William was instantly on guard, all of his defenses flying up around him despite himself.

"It would be really helpful if we could practice on someone," she said. "You should come to our meetings."

"But I can hear," William said. He could feel his voice trembling, hear the vibrations and insecurity in his own ears but wondered how clear the sound was to her. Why did his words instantly feel like a lie?

"Yes, but..."

She fell silent and shrugged.

"Anyway, if you want to come, we meet on Wednesdays."

William didn't respond, couldn't respond in fact, but thankfully she didn't drag the conversation on any longer, turning on her heels and leaving. William sank in relief as she left, forehead dropping to the table top.

Lisa was probably the right choice. But if he picked her, then he would have to see her regularly. He didn't know if he could handle that. She was draining. She required conversing and straining to hear her soft voice, eyes glued to her lips to make sure he was hearing her right. The thought of it was exhausting.

William looked at his phone again. Five more minutes and Lucas would be here.

He glanced around, not seeing the other boy yet and then, despite himself, he looked at his reflection in the glass of his phone, attempting to see if he looked alright.

He didn't know what he expected. There was no sudden appearance of a disfigured scar across his face. His hair was sitting the same as it was this morning. Nothing was in his teeth but he also hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

He put the phone down, feeling ridiculous and waited.

Twelve o'clock came and went.

At ten past, William's legs were jittering. Another five minutes and he was biting his nails.

At twenty past, the disappointment sank in.

Lucas wasn't coming.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated. William jumped, nearly dropping it in his eagerness to see who it was.

From: Sunshine

Almost there!

William's heart sped up threefold and a moment later, the door burst open, the bell jingling loudly, and Lucas fell through the door, panting and gasping.

He doubled over for a moment and then looked up through the brown waves of his hair and saw William sitting there.

An immense grin took over his face and he gave a small wave as he approached the table. He dropped into the seat and threw his head back still catching his breath.

"I am so sorry I'm late," he said. "I missed the bus. Then the next one was taking so long I was like; fuck it and started walking. Then, right when I walk away, the friggen bus passed! I chased it for like a block but I couldn't get to the next stop on time."

William felt like a statue. He was pretty sure everything in his body had paused to absorb the moment. He was positive that his heart had stopped beating and he was positive that he wasn't breathing. He didn't move at all, just watched Lucas and listened and realized that the other boy was just as vibrant and energetic as he'd thought he was. And then, out of no where a chuckle escaped him, bubbling up unexpectedly from deep in his chest.

"It's fine," he said.

Lucas smiled warmly and leaned forward.

"Bet you didn't expect to see me," he said.

Right. Lucas had no idea that William had seen him looking at his poster. How was he supposed to know that William had been obsessing about him since then?

Lucas' face fell.

"Wait, you do remember me, don't you?" he asked.

William finally found his voice.

"Y--yes," he said. "You fell on me."

Lucas laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I don't make the best first impressions."

He pulled his back pack onto his lap, unzipping it and pulled out William's lunch bag.

"I wanted to give this back to you," he said, sliding it across to William.

William took it back awkwardly. He had so many lunch bags and so much tupperware, he'd forgotten about it. Inside, everything was clean and neatly stacked.

When he looked up, Lucas was biting his lip, looking at William nervously.

Just like before, William found himself completely taken aback by the other boy. He'd never met anyone so easy to read in his whole life.

"What is it?" William asked hesitantly.

Lucas took a breath, visibly readying himself. He was flustered even before he said a word.

"I just never said thank you, and I feel really stupid and rude. I mean I just barrelled into you and took all your food and didn't say sorry or thank you or anything. Man, my mom would freak."

Before William could respond, he rushed on.

"Its just that, ugh! My life, right now is not going smoothly and I've been really overwhelmed and distracted, y'know?"

He waited just long enough for William to give a startled nod.

"I just lost another job and I haven't been eating much and my power's about to be shut off and my phone's about to be disconnected. Then I ran into you and you were really nice and I didn't even say thank you."

"You still didn't say thank you," William pointed out.

Lucas Flushed bright red and actually face-palmed himself.

"Get it together Lucas," he muttered to himself.

When he looked up at William he seemed to have finally calmed down. He looked William straight in the eyes and William found the focus in his hazel gaze immediately overwhelming. His heart erupted into a frantic rhythm but he couldn't look away.

"Thank you," Lucas said.

The two words were so heartfelt that it shook William.

"It's fine, really," he said, trying to reassure Lucas.

Lucas finally looked away and William could breathe again. The rest of Lucas' speech repeated in William's head, the meaning amplified. Lucas must be really going through a hard time.

And then he realized what Lucas was saying and despite himself, disappointment filled him.

"Is that why you came to meet me?" he asked. "To thank me?"

Lucas shook his head.

"No, that's only part of it," he said. "If you'll let me do it, I really want to be your note taker."

Relief flooded him.

"Okay," he said, back on familiar ground. "What classes do you have right now?"

Lucas quickly listed them off. He had three of the same classes. Hm, too bad that two of them were at different times than when William had them. He imagined that it would be nice to sit next to Lucas for over three hours a day.

He shook the thought away.

"Do you have any samples of your notes?"

"Samples?" Lucas asked blankly.

William tried not to smile.

"Any notes will do. I just want to see how easy they would be to follow. Do you have any with you?"

"Uh..."

Lucas opened his bag and shot William a look before reluctantly pulling out a notebook.

He hesitated for a long moment before sliding it across the table.

William almost had to yank it from Lucas' grip.

He looked down at the book. It was faded and rough. There were stains and rips around the edges. A deranged doodle of a llama was eating the word notebook.

He glanced at Lucas, who shrugged nonchalantly, feigning disinterest. But still, he watched from the corner of his eye as William opened the front page.

William tried not to let his shock show; Lucas seemed distressed enough.

Still though...

"I don't think I've ever seen notes like these before," he said.

And it was the truth. The writing itself was on the rough side, but aside from that, there seemed to be words everywhere. They ran up and down the columns sideways and all along the margins. In some areas the lines were used twice, one sentence crammed above the other and neither were connected in any way. Arrows pointed in every direction, one arrow even attached to another arrow. Stars and hearts seemed to act as Asterix all over the page.

Stunned, William flipped through a few pages of the book, finding each one just like the first, if not worse.

He couldn't use these. There was no way... disappointed, he looked up at Lucas, finding the other boy chewing his nails nervously as he watched.

"So..." Lucas said, breaking the silence. "I know they're pretty messy..."

"Could you be neater from now on?"

He didn't know why he said it. Lucas' notes were not going to help him get through this semester. He had three other options from three other people who all wanted to do a good job for their resume's.

But then Lucas brightened up, his eyes glinting, his whole body seeming to swell with eagerness and William knew that he'd already decided.

"Yes!" Lucas said. "I'll do way better and I'll write everything down and I'll never miss a class."

William chuckled and bit his lip to stop himself. He hadn't meant to laugh but Lucas' energy was infectious.

"I guess that settles it," he said and reached across the table, offering his hand to Lucas.

Lucas took it at once in a warm, firm grip, but then, instead of shaking it, he put his other hand over the back of William's, and leaned across the table.

"I've already decided what I want for pay," he said earnestly.

Caught off guard, William only nodded. His eyes kept flying to their clasped hands. He was torn between yanking it away and running or sitting here forever, feeling Lucas' warm skin against his.

The second option won out and he found himself sitting as still as stone, unable to move as he stared across the short distance into Lucas' deep eyes.

"I want more food," Lucas said.

William stared.

"What?" he asked as his brain fought to catch up.

"That lunch you gave me was so good!" Lucas enthused. "I'll write your notes for as long as you want if you bring me a lunch every day."

William's jaw dropped as he processed it. Of all the things that Lucas could have asked for.

A laugh left him in a breathless huff and William couldn't stop.

He nodded through the laughter and Lucas burst into a grin, his hands squeezed William's briefly before he let go. He pumped a fist into the air and whooped loudly.

Everyone in the cafe turned to look but Lucas didn't seem to notice the attention.

"Yes!"

He grinned at William as he packed his notebook back up.

"You will not regret this!" he said, jumping to his feet.

He reached out a hand and this time, when William took it, he shook it properly.

"You won't regret this!" he repeated as he went for the door.

He waved as he left and William sat there, completely flabbergasted.

He felt like he'd just gone for a run, invigorated and tired all at the same time. His heart was racing and his head was spinning. His hand was tingling from Lucas' touch.

He looked at the door Lucas had left through, unsure what to do.

They hadn't arranged anything. They hadn't made a plan for when William would get his notes. They hadn't figured out when Lucas got his lunches. They hadn't worked out if it was a weekly or monthly or daily thing. He hadn't told Lucas the points that he struggled with and what he needed emphasis on. He hadn't even said goodbye.

Lucas could think what he wanted. William was already regretting this.

~

Thanks for reading! Please remember to tap that star! ;)

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