Almost every morning, after Jacques returns from Sulu's hideout—usually around 6 a.m.—he stops by Marry's Breakfast. It sells local breakfast food like toast and drinks based on local culture. It's not Jacques's favorite, but before 7 a.m., it's the only place open in the area, so it becomes the default choice.
When he enters the shop, the bell chimes, and he's welcomed by a cute boy with bronze hair who's mopping the floor.
"Are you open?"
"Yeah." The boy adjusts his eyeglasses.
"What do you have?" Jacques glances at the menu on the wall. The prices are cheap—just right for his monthly allowance from his mom.
"We've got rica.... If you're not familiar with rica, we have burgers too," the boy says with a smile.
"Sure. Let me have some rica. Which one's your favorite?" Jacques smirks at the boy, and the boy shyly looks down at the floor, fixing his big glasses again.
"I like the cabbage rica," he says.
Jacques isn't exactly a fan of vegetables, but he adds to the order anyway.
"Let me have that—with mozzarella, hams, salami, and eggs."
The boy smiles comedically, "rica is for vegan, I can give you burger instead."
"No, I want to try rica, but life is boring without meat. Just add them in it, and I'll give you extra charge," Jacques smirks, he love to mess around with vegans.
"No, I'll give you burger," The boy turn into the kitchen.
"Why not combine it instead?" Jacques shouts before he disappear behind the door.
When his burger arrives, Jacques notices the boy's nursing student uniform with a name tag pinned to his chest: "Ethan Shaw." With his brown freckled skin, the boy is clearly from the original culture of Planet Alayan—Chungwa. They are exotic and rare. Dark brown and yellowish skin but considered light color, and freckles all over their body except their palm. But they have bright blue eyes.
"Are you in nursing?" Jacques starts the conversation.
"Yeah. It's in demand, well paid, and promising for stability," Ethan answers politely while mopping the floor. "Are you in engineering?"
Jacques smirks. Something about being seen through makes him happy.
"No."
"Oh, I thought…"
"What gave it away?" Jacques asks, still chewing the vegetable rica with mozzarella.
"You've got dirty oil on your cheek… and under your nails."
Jacques stops eating and checks his nails, raising his eyebrows when he realizes how dirty his fingers are.
"Good observation. I'm in the police academy, but I've studied engineering in alternative ways," Jacques explains.
Ethan stops mopping, his tone suddenly more interested.
"Oh, that's good… Why the police academy?"
"Because back then, I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. Only later did I realize how much I wanted to be a voyager," Jacques smiles as he continues eating.
"I see… Must be fun, being able to travel anywhere and make it your lifestyle," Ethan says, looking down, sounding somewhat sad.
"Do you like traveling too?" Jacques catches the sadness in his tone and asks.
"Hmm… not really. I mean, I'm the kind of person who prefers stability and predictability. I used to have a boyfriend when I was 15, but we broke up because he wanted to live a traveling life. But I'm scared of height. My nightmares always includes sky and space... they frightened me especially with those accident news....," Ethan says casually with sad face.
"Wait… when you were 15?" Jacques looks up in surprise, turning to study Ethan more closely. He doesn't look older than 15. "How old are you?"
"I'm 17," Ethan chuckles. He knows his small frame and cute face often make him seem younger than he is—but he doesn't mind.
***
Charles arrived at his dorm and found something unusual—Jacques, sitting at the desk, studying.
Oh, you're studying now? What inspires you? Stalking me and Mourice? You think I didn't see you looking at us from a distance? Yeah, dream on, loser! You'll never be Mourice!
Charles dropped his body onto the bed, put the back of his palm on his forehead, and closed his eyes, trying to relax. He was still upset about what Mourice had said to his girlfriend.
He's literally trying to make me his secret lover!
If I let it keep going, one day he'll marry a woman and keep me under his bed. How low does he think I am?! He's not the only hot guy around!
…Though he is the smartest.
But if I let a smart guy like him walk over me, he'll keep doing it.
I don't care what his reason is—I don't want to be someone's secret love.
I know his dad is the chief commander of the intergalactic police, but still—who cares?!
I don't care even if he's a prince—no one treats me like that! Too much drama, I don't have time for that!
He better apologize to me tomorrow and leave his girlfriend!
But the next day, Mourice just pretended not to see him, which upset Charles even more. Back at the dorm, he lay down on his bed, silently crying. He didn't make any noise, but the scattered pieces of tissue made Jacques realize he was upset.
"What's going on here? Are you crying?" Jacques, who had just come out of the bathroom, asked. He could guess it had something to do with Mourice—and it was probably because Mourice wouldn't let go of his girlfriend.
"Go ahead and laugh at me—I don't care anymore!" Charles hid his face in the pillow.
"I don't laughed at you? I told ya, he's bisexual—you wouldn't listen," Jacques leaned on the bunk bed, smirking.
"I don't need to see your ugly face to know that you're laughing at me. Just leave me alone!" Charles wouldn't show his face to Jacques because he didn't want anyone to see him having an emotional breakdown. He wanted to lock himself in the bathroom, but since Jacques was there, he couldn't get in.
Jacques stopped smiling.
He then left Charles alone in the room and walked to the library to study. But as he sat on the cozy sofa, the quiet atmosphere, the comfort, the air… he became sleepy and couldn't focus on learning.
He fell asleep.
It hurt Charles even more when, the next day, Mourice started sitting with his girlfriend again, acting all lovey-dovey as if nothing had ever happened between them. Why is he acting so unbothered? Am I that easy to forget? Am I not worth fighting for?
Then, they almost bumped into each other in the bathroom. Mourice glanced at Charles but immediately avoided him and walked away.
His attitude crushed Charles—not just in his heart but also in his pride. He began to regret ever getting involved with Mourice if he was that replaceable.
On Saturday night, Charles noticed Jacques getting dressed up. He even combed his hair.
And that's when Charles realized—Jacques had already stopped being lazy about his dirty laundry.
Oh no! Does Jacques have a date now?!
This was terrible. How could he, Charles—once the one being fought over by two handsome boys—now be the only one single among the three of them?
"Where are you going?" Charles asked, only to regret it immediately because he now sounded like a curious ex.
"I've got a date. It's the weekend," Jacques said calmly, even whistling a tune. He was clearly in a lighter mood.
"Oh? Someone wants to date a stinky armpit like you?" Charles chuckled.
"Yep," Jacques answered briefly and then left.
Charles couldn't focus anymore. His mind was floating everywhere. He got up from the bed and peeked out the window. Across the dormitory wall, he saw Jacques talking to a cute boy—kissing lips to lips—before they drove off together.
Fucking player! Charles rolled his eyes and flopped onto his bed again. Oh, just let him be—he'll get dumped by that boy in two days.
But Jacques didn't get dumped. He was actually getting closer with that boy, who was apparently from a different academy—a nursing academy. Charles didn't know how they even met since the medical academy was far from the police academy, but something about it made him uneasy.
It hit him that he was about to be single. No one was chasing him anymore, and the two guys who used to fight over his attention were now drifting toward new love.
This left Charles feeling devastated.
How can he, who got fight over, now end up alone and unwanted?
He can't let this happening. Especially Mourice, he can't let him go. He is just perfect! If only he was brave enough to own his sexuality, to get out of his fear coming out to his father, everything will be perfect, and he will definitely choose Charles, and they will be together.
It's fine if Jacques want to leave, but Mourice? No, he can't leave! He got what Charles need, all of it. And Charles also believe that they can be happy together, he can see the future with him.
All Mourice need is a little push.
But to do that, Charles will need a help from someone.