The group sat or stood around the large-sized dorm’s living room, all of them dead silent as they waited for Rylan to confirm or deny Valus’ claims. The boy swiped back and forth across his holo-pad, his expression turning more and more frantic. A depressed sigh escaped his mouth as he muttered, “Oh no…”

Thomas looked anxiously to the others, the two whispered words from Rylan sending them on high alert.

“What?” He exclaimed urgently, and Rylan bit his lip.

“Valus is right. This isn’t the right video file. I - I got hasty – I must’ve gotten too excited seeing the file on the headmaster’s computer and I…” Rylan stammered, his head hung low and his jaw clenched in self-hate.

“It’s…okay.” Thomas comforted Rylan stiffly. It had been an honest mistake that anyone could’ve made – who was he to judge? But at the same time, he was heavily disappointed… not in his friend, but the situation.

“I’m sorry guys,” Rylan whispered shakily, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his fists. “I…we-we’re not going to be able to do this again any time soon-”

“Rylan – it’s okay!” Lylith soothed, placing a hand on Rylan’s shoulder. Not once having seen her friend beat himself up like this, she was heavily concerned. “You formed our plan. You snuck into the building with David. You made one small, easy mistake! So don’t feel bad, alright?” Lylith asserted, looking into the boy’s golden eyes,

“Y-yeah.” Valus pitched in, pausing for a moment before awkwardly hugging Rylan, giving him janky pats on the back – their roles now reversed.

“Thanks guys,” Rylan mumbled, looking slightly better, though still quite gloomy. “It means a lot.”

Thomas turned away from the scene as he heard Javqua sigh, her green-scaled head dipping ever so slightly.

There was a sullen expression on her face, deep emotion churning inside her eyes. It was like looking into a stormy sea, contained within her sapphire orbs.

It was at that moment that Thomas realised the true depth of the situation for her, and how much it meant to her personally. The years she had spent at this school alone, silently suffering…it just made him want to wrap her up in a bear hug… which he did.

Though the affectionate gesture looked awkward, looking more akin to a child hugging their parent than an intimate relationship, both Thomas and Javqua didn’t care. The krakovak understood that the human was doing what he could to make her feel better, and it was working quite marvellously.

She took her time to soak up his natural heat, letting him wash away her depressing emotions, before chuckling softly. “You know, I wasn’t mad at Rylan for his mistake. It was…the situation.”

At that, Thomas leaned further into the hug, and Javqua began to feel fully relaxed.

Aside from everyone else in the room, David was the only one alone, sitting awkwardly by himself as Thomas and Javqua hugged, and Rylan, Lylith and Valus shared a meaningful conversation.

“... you good David?” Thomas questioned hesitantly, not entirely sure how to handle the situation.

“Yes.” David replied stiffly, only to gain a blank look from the pale blond teen.

“Right…” As if taking that as their cue, the group slowly started pulling away from one another, and the silence was broken by a very contemplative Rylan.

“Am I the only one who thinks this entire situation feels like a crappy, badly written rom-com?”

The resident Canadian raised a singular brow at her friend. “Of course, you would say that Ry…though you're not entirely wrong…”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“I’d say it's more like a shitty slice of life, that can't figure out which genre it is…” Thomas offered, without hesitation.

Clicking her tongue, Javqua caught everyone’s attention. “Moving on…I feel like we need to slow down a bit,” she sighed. “How about we try to slowly get more information on the headmaster over time? It'll be easier and a lot safer that way.”

Thomas looked over to her, perplexed, “You sure? I thought out of all of us, you’d want this over with the fastest.” He said.

Javqua just looked at him with a sad yet caring smile. “I do. But I want all of us to be stress-free. We’ll get the ‘bird-brain’, as you guys say it, in the end…but just not with so much risk to us all.”

Looking over the group, she could see they all understood her intent, but of course, Rylan had to break the serious atmosphere.

“So that means no more jumping into trash chutes, David!” The boy remarked cockily, back to his normal self. His comment earned a disgruntled grumble from the German, who muttered something along the lines of ‘ungrateful bastard’.

“What happens now?” David demanded, still sounding peeved from Rylan's remark.

Lylith frowned. “Nothing, for now. Like Javqua said, we’re gonna take things slower, so…I guess we just prepare for tomorrow’s class. Speaking of which…do we have a science test tomorrow?” She asked suddenly.

“...well, fuck. Do you think our teacher will accept our excuse of breaking into his boss’s apartment?” Rylan asked, tapping on his holo-pad as he searched for the given material.

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Thomas lay staring at his dorm's ceiling as time slowly ticked by. The night had come and gone, and the sun could be seen peeking over the horizon through the room’s window. He knew he still had a few hours till he had to get up, so he just laid there – enjoying the feeling of Javqua’s scales against him as he relaxed.

He knew for a fact that their relationship had moved quite quickly but then again, they were also really the only ones that could interact with each other. Thomas had tried to reach out and befriend his other classmates, but they had all politely declined or ignored him, some even outright refusing to look into his eyes. And from what he could tell, krakovaks had a faster pacing for relationships, including intimate ones.

Then once you added in the fact that he was also a heat source… the two of them sleeping together meant next to nothing to krakovaks. And although Thomas had explained to Javqua what the action meant to humans, he had a small suspicion that she was actively seeking for them to share the same bed more now that she knew.

Still – with nothing better to do, Thomas allowed himself to enjoy the morning tranquillity, as he waited for Javqua to wake up. Almost all other species on Clevin 4 were sound asleep as well, and most businesses and schools wouldn’t open for another hour or so anyway.

The vast diversity of the galaxy’s species was something that’d never cease to amaze Thomas. Even something as simple as sleep varied greatly. Some species, like humans, woke in the early morning, and then retreated to bed in the late evening. Most species, however, required more rest. And then some species were nocturnal, some species stayed awake for several galactic standard days at a time, originating on planets with slow rotations, and some species were the complete opposite, and… yeah. You got the idea.

Not wanting to take from his girlfriend’s much-needed rest, Thomas didn't attempt to escape her tight embrace. Nevertheless, his bladder was arguing against his decision, and so was his stomach, rumbling softly.

His dilemma was solved when Javqua shifted, the bottom of her snout messing up his already messy pale-blond hair further. Sluggishly untangling herself from him, she looked down at his pale face. “Morning, Tom.” She grinned lazily, getting a chuckle in return.

“Good morning to you too,” Thomas replied, a smirk on his face. Getting up and stretching his body, he stumbled over to the bathroom.

Seeing Javqua’s disappointed look as he took his body warmth with him, he said, “I need to use the bathroom. Then, I’m making us a traditional British breakfast.” Thomas left the room, leaving an excited reptilian in his wake.

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Javqua rolled over to Thomas’s side of the bed, spending a few minutes trying to soak up the last bits of excess heat he had left on it, before reluctantly getting up.

Dragging her sufficiently warmed body out of bed had become a lot less of a hassle once he had joined her in her room, as both a boyfriend and a biological radiator.

Stretching herself as well, she took a moment to look out the window blearily. The sun had risen enough that it warmed her body, and she took a moment to bask in its rays. Still, she preferred her boyfriend’s body heat… for many reasons.

Her claws scraped across the floor as she shuffled out the room, a yawn forcing her mouth wide – revealing a terrifying set of razor-sharp teeth and a long, thin tongue. Or at least, terrifying to most - but not Thomas, or his friends… he had actually told her he found it… ‘cute’.

Making it into the lounge, she flopped onto the bark coloured couch and waited patiently for Thomas to begin cooking.

It had come to the point that he would cook most if not all meals for them, with most of them being delicious to her. Of course, she could only eat the meat portions, but every once in a while, she’d also eat the non-meat parts - not that she could properly digest them or gain much nutrients - but they still tasted…interesting to say the least.

She heard the flushing of a toilet, and moments later, Thomas exited the bathroom, his earlier drowsiness gone. Drops of water still clung to his face from the human wake-up routine of splashing water on themselves, giving him an almost ethereal shine.

“I hope you’re ready for a proper English breakfast! Eggs, sausages, bacon, beans, toast, with a side of sliced tomato and a couple of mushrooms.” He declared, moving to the fridge to get the human ingredients he had ordered.

A slight chuckle left Javqua’s throat as he passed. She certainly couldn’t wait to see what the meal was like.