---

---

☿

Travelling abroad to study in Europe had been an enormous leap of faith for Ami. But, it had been too great an opportunity to pass up. Though it had meant leaving her friends behind, she had been accepted to one of the leading medical schools in the world, right in the heart of London to boot. Just as Mamoru had left to study medicine in the United States, she was here in Merry Ol’ England, about to embark on the course that would either make or break her. She was set to committing the next four – maybe five or even six – years of her life to this odd new country and culture, to throw her weight into her studies and pursue her ultimate dream of becoming a doctor.

Some might say that being Sailor Mercury allowed her to help more people than being a physician ever would. However, she had not needed to transform in nearly two years. Needed to, at least. She had done it once or twice, just to make sure she could but there was no threat that made it a requirement. After spending her formative teenage years fighting to defend the Earth, the Solar System and all time and space from Chaos, she told herself she was ready for anything, and everything university life threw at her. 

Studying would only get her halfway, though, she realised. The other half would rest on her ability to connect to, interact with and ultimately help actual living people. She would have to tailor herself to patients. Since she first set her heart upon becoming a doctor like her mother, this was the one area where she knew she fell short. Thanks to Usagi and the others bringing her out of her cocoon, Ami hoped it would be possible to knuckle down and know her patients well enough to win their confidence.

Yes, as she sat in the large auditorium for her introductory ethics lecture, Ami knew –  just knew  – she had it all in her. All smiles, she had faith in herself to go it alone. Gone were the days where she leaned on Usagi, Mina-P, Michiru, and everyone else, looking to her friends to lead the way and here were the times she would stand on her own two feet.

That was when she saw him.

Casting her eyes absentmindedly about the hall, she had spotted the young man sitting several rows ahead of her. An eerie déjà vu washed over her as her brain tried to place the face. That refined, almost haunting beauty so rarely found in men. Her earlier determination and confidence began to falter. That face she had seen only briefly… it all came back to her. 

She tried to make excuses to herself for why it couldn’t be him. After all, he was dead. Venus had killed him. Perhaps from where she was sitting the physical similarities between this man and him were blurred and undefined? 

Once I get a closer look at him, he’ll look completely different, she told herself.

Though Ami was trying not to let the face of a former enemy distract her, she found her eyes drifting back to him again and again.

The blond man shifted in his chair as if he knew a pair of eyes were boring into his back, but etiquette forbade him from turning around to check. She wondered what he would do if he did see her. 

If he sees me, will he make a scene?

He scribbled notes blindly, instead of looking down at the paper. Ami found it interesting that he was hand-writing his notes, rather than typing on a hefty laptop like many of the other students were, including herself. 

Still, they look a bit messy…

He flicked a strand of long pale caramel hair out of his eyes before taking a rare moment to look down at what he was writing. He frowned but didn’t seem confused or concerned about the state of his notes, as messy and harried as they seemed from her perspective. Twiddling his pen a moment, he finally went back to watching the lecture and writing his observations, though now shielding his words from her view with his non-dominant arm.

He’s left-handed, Ami noted.

Realising she was paying him more attention than her teacher, Ami hurriedly looked up, terrified she would lose her place.

Dr Imogen Roser was the lecturer today. An attractive, middle-aged woman with a cool voice but a warm smile, she had actually been the one to interview Ami for her place at the Queen’s London School of Medicine. She had been impressed by her academic record but expressed (fair) concerns about whether Ami had the interpersonal skills required of a doctor. Thankfully, she had given her the benefit of the doubt, confessing to taking a shine to Ami and expressed a desire to accept her then and there; she received the confirmation of an offer a few weeks later. 

Thinking of that, Ami felt reasonably guilty about staring at that boy when she should be focusing on the speech of this remarkable doctor.

Enough! Dr Roser deserves my undivided attention.

Still, Ami kept glancing over at him. How he fidgeted. Rocked back and forth in his chair. Took long, frustrated sighs, as if he just wanted to jump out of his chair and run out the door.

Ami pensively chewed her lip. 

This man was certainly as handsome as the youngest servant of the Dark Kingdom had been – but was it actually Zoisite? Was he there as part of some great coup, the Dark Kingdom revival? The battle with Chaos should have eradicated all the enemies for good, shouldn’t it? Or had Sailor Moon’s desire to return to Earth after the universe was reborn out of her desire to save everyone bring back all their old enemies, too?

The lecture ended.

Ami packed her bag up, all while staring at the mysterious ‘Zoisite-lookalike’, trying to train her ears for anything he might say – or have said to him.

Another male student who Ami didn’t recognise – definitely not the other three men she remembered serving Queen Beryl – came up behind “Zoisite” and slapped him on the back. She could just about hear their conversation.

“You awright, Hugh?”

This ‘Hugh’ nodded, mouthing a “yeah” to his ‘friend’.

“Coming to the library after this?”

“Might as well,” the blond sighed. “Got that first essay due, haven’t we?” 

His accent was an exotic mixture of well-to-do Londoner and a slight, romantic lilt of a different tongue that Ami did not know. His timbre was soft as liquid gold, piercing the air around him and making her shiver. It was just like Zoisite’s voice had been – even as he threatened to kill them all unless they handed over the Legendary Silver Crystal.

It made her heart gallop. She had to keep an eye on him.

As comfortable in this environment as ‘Hugh’ seemed to be, he could just be an outstanding actor. Wasn’t that a skill he had employed to serve the Dark Kingdom, too? Mind manipulation and disguises? Ami suspected that Zoisite could blend into any crowd and look like he belonged.

That was when she realised he was skipping down the stairs to leave the theatre.

Shoving the rest of her belongings into her bag, Ami quickly made to follow. She hovered a few people behind him, trying to keep him in her line of sight.

‘Hugh’ nodded swiftly to Dr Roser as he passed her, but did not stop to say hello. This prompted a head shake and sigh from the good doctor. “Have a nice day, Hugo.” 

‘Hugo’. ‘Hugh’. Ami guessed the former was his full name. It sounded odd –  though it was silly to assume that he would actually call himself  ‘Zoisite’ if it was him.

Dr Roser’s eyes drifted from him to rest on Ami. “Ms Mizuno,” she said, smiling at the young woman. “How are you? Settling into living in London OK?”

Ami’s head snapped to look at her teacher. 

“O-Oh! Yes, very well, doctor.”

“I hope you aren’t finding the structure too different from Tokyo?”

“Not at all,” Ami promised quickly, glimpsing to see if Hugo was still in sight; he was lingering with some other students in the atrium. “I am enjoying it so far.”

“I believe you will be in my Biomedical Science seminar, so I am hoping to see a lot more of you,” Dr Roser resumed. She glanced in the direction Ami kept looking, smiled faintly but said nothing.

Ami blushed, embarrassed to have been caught staring at a random classmate 

“Well, if you ever need advice you are welcome to come and see me during my office hours,” Dr Roser said. “Enjoy the rest of your day. I’ll see you soon.”

Ami bowed then made a hasty retreat. 

Sadly, by the time she made it outside she could no longer see the Zoisite doppelgänger. Her heart pounded as she rushed towards the door and into the reception area, scanning the tops of people’s heads for either him or that guy he had been speaking to. Not a trace. 

He is quick on his feet, it seems.

Her chest settling down, she immediately thought to find a quiet spot and scan the area for any abnormal energy or activity… 

But even if she found some, she would have to deal with it alone. The girls were back in Japan. If something was about to go down here in London, she was the first and only frontier.

Ami knew she had half an hour before her next class. In the meantime, she would do the scan. If this man really was a threat, then everyone in this university, hospital, city could be in grave danger.

---

☿

Hugo was in Ami’s gross anatomy group. It was like it was meant to be. As though some divine force knew she wanted to keep an eye on him and so placed him in the perfect position for her to do so.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye, still trying to compare his physical characteristics with what she remembered of Zoisite, all while trying to listen to Dr Finley’s – their pathology tutor’s – introduction.

“The human body is nothing to be frightened of,” the stout, bow-tie wearing doctor announced. His smile did not blend with the task at hand. His eyes wandered across the laboratory, at the groups of students lined up behind their assigned cadavers. “Whether you go into consultancy, surgery, or general practice, you will all benefit from the lessons you will learn from this exploration. This is the most traditional of teaching methods for future doctors.”

Ami nodded. Macroscopic analysis of the bodies of those who had left theirs to medical science was a morbid study, but one her mother had stressed she should undertake at whatever medical school she picked. Leaving a body to medical science had always been something Ami thought she would do herself. Until she realised that her own body was different from other humans; being a living demigoddess meant it would be improbable for her body to grace a future medical student’s table. 

They might not even know what they are looking at.

Her eyes wandered back towards her quarry. 

Hugo was listening intently. His impractically curly hair had been swept back under the surgical hood but was so wild that tiny strands still peeked out from underneath. From this view, she could see the bright lights reflecting off his eyes. They seemed less marble green and more olive. That was at least one difference. Moreover, she had scanned the area with her supercomputer and detected nothing.

Maybe his resemblance to that person is a coincidence…?

“Incidentally!” Dr Finley went on, voice dragging Ami back on topic. “These subjects you see before you are yours. They are all unique to your groups and you will discover differences. Never be afraid to compare or ask the advice of your peers. Trust me, in forty years you will still be switching charts of your patients,” and he winked, “You can never be too sure as to a diagnosis, after all.”

Everyone instinctively nodded, including Ami, and a few even tittered. Hugo did the latter, his eyes creased with a true smile. A genuine smile – and Ami felt an uncanny warmth upon seeing it, one that caught her off guard. She couldn’t help but smile too.

It must be a coincidence. Must be!

But then, Hugo caught her staring and all she felt was the cold.

But is it him?

“Last but not least,” said their teacher, loudly, pulling their attention back to him. “This is going to take up five hours, three mornings a week so you better get used to each other-” another cheeky smile. “Your teammates, as well as your cadavers.”

Another wave of chuckles washed over the room.

“I highly recommend you form study groups, if you have not already, to keep your minds focused and motivated. Take a chance today to get to know your fellow lab partners. Discussion should be open.”

There was a collective murmur as everyone looked between themselves. 

Ami looked down at her body, to the knot of tension inside her stomach. She had never been keen to work with other people, but it was a necessity for her degree.

A thought then occurred to her. 

A study group. That’ll be the perfect opportunity! her inner self declared. This is how you find out who Hugo really is. Her mind sounded so confident, yet her heart had reservations. It won’t be that easy, will it? If it is him, he won’t want me of all people to be in a group with him–!

She didn’t have an opportunity to think much further on the matter, as an outstretched hand jerked her out of her internal monologue. It was the other student from the lecture, the one who had left with Hugo. Standing between Hugo and herself, he beamed brightly.

“Hi!” he began with a bright smile. “I’m Dan—”

Hugo tutted, and gently shoving his friend’s hand back. “I think the good doctor meant after he’d finished introducing the class, you twat.”

Their eyes met again. 

Ami bit her lip, thankfully hidden beneath her mask. Hugo’s expression was unreadable. She wasn’t sure whether there was a look of recognition or just curiosity as he addressed her for the first time. 

He nodded apologetically to her nonetheless.

“Thank you, Hugo.” With that, Dr Finley walked back to the front of the lab. By his desk, he pointed to a life-sized mannequin”Now, time to get started. First, direct your attention to the mannequin. There are several areas I want you to you palpate on your cadavers – or indeed, on yourselves.”

“Or each other?” Dan suggested with a chuckle.

“Daniel!” Dr Finley scolded, a little sterner now. “Calm down and focus, or get out of my lab. I know every village needs a fool, but fools do not last long in this field, I can assure you.”

The last member of their lab group, a pretty dark-haired woman about Mamoru’s age, giggled lightly. Ami had not even noticed her hovering beside Hugo until now. Her lovely blue-mauve eyes sparkled with mischief above her surgical mask. 

“Don’t mind him, sir. He hasn’t been laid in a while.”

Dan smiled sheepishly as his cheeks darkened red, Hugo shook his head with an amused, scolding “Kris!”, and the rest of the class laughed. Ami wondered whether that was supposed to be a joke. While her English was well above the requirements for admission onto the programme, the British themselves had such odd colloquialisms.

“Alright, alright, settle down!” Finley called, exasperated.

Patting his pink cheeks down, Dan nodded respectfully. “Pardon me, I’ll be quiet now.”

“We live in hope, Daniel,” said Dr Finley.

Like a switch had been flicked on, Dan seemed entirely focused as his teacher began to run his pointer over the bare skinless mannequin to point out where he wanted their focus to be.

Dr Finley nodded, satisfied. “Good. Now, these bony landmarks are the clavicles, the sternum…”

The female student delicately glided her fingertips over the bones Dr Finley pointed out, taking it all in slowly. Ami made a note to speak with her later – perhaps she already knew Hugo, and might know some information about him? Whether he was real…

Their first gross anatomy session was dedicated to initial impressions of and the actual opening of the skin, examining the skin and nerves, first, the chest, then the abdomen. 

Hugo marked out the guidelines for them with Dr Finley’s instruction, deftly and without hesitation. Then, thanks to Dan’s earlier snark, Dr Finley had suggested that he perform the first incision.

“Show us there’s more going on inside that head of yours, eh?”

Dan scowled. He held the scalpel above the lines, clearly hesitating. A few more seconds of that and Hugo rolled his eyes, carefully taking the instrument from his friend’s hand.

“Why send a muppet to do a man’s job?” he mumbled.

Dr Finley smirked, “You are your mother’s son, alright.”

The good doctor then turned to check on another group of med students.

Hugo took a deep breath and set about the first slice. Ami kept her eyes on his face, taking in all the seriousness and concentration spread over it. It was foolish, considering that she should have been making notes or at least paying attention to what his hand was doing. He seemed just as determined as the rest of them to bypass the human aspect and see the deceased before him as just what he was – a subject.

Would Zoisite be this dedicated to his act?

Once he was done, he cast his eye over the group and seemed to smile. Ami guessed that her eyes had to have the same disbelief in them as the others at how easy Hugo made the first incision look. 

“Just think of this as a piece of machinery,” he told them. “What made this guy a person has long since passed on to something better; this is just the vassal that carried him.”

Ami felt a little dazzled by how eloquently he had put it.

“Beautifully put, sir,” the dark-haired beauty chuckled. “Only you could make gross anatomy sound like computer mechanics as told by T.S. Elliot.”

Hugo scoffed, “Whatever. We’re going anti-clockwise around the table so, you’re up next, Christabel.”

The young woman nodded. Christabel – or ‘Kris’ as she preferred – took up her scalpel to continue the initial exploration of the corpse. Ami watched, silently making notes of her initial observations. Hugo was also making notes just as he had in their ethics lecture, blindly, watching Kris instead of his hand.

Kris glanced up, watching them side-by-side, eyes twinkling.

“Ooh, I see you’re a habitual note-taker, too,” she indicated Ami, then remarked to Hugo, “Two on one lab team will make it easier for Dan and me.”

“Hm?” Hugo stopped writing, blankly staring at her. It took him a moment to even register what she had said. “Oh, yeah, well, if you think you’ll be getting free worksheets outta me, you can bugger off!”

Kris fluttered her vast violet eyes at him, “Charming! Anyhoo, I think I can see the outline of the rib cage now…!”

“Great.” Hugo then looked over to Ami, speaking to her directly. “Ms Mizuno, may I – we – call you Ami?”

It was the custom of the West for peers to refer to each other by their first names. Seeing as she would presumably be calling him ‘Hugo’, it seemed only fair she conceded. 

“If you wish,” she replied in a formal tone.

Hugo nodded. “Ami, be careful of these two. They are good at the technical stuff but rubbish study partners. Don’t let them take advantage of you.” 

“Perish the thought!” Kris held, jokily. “Advantage? Moi?!” Dan gasped comically.

Hugo ignored them.

“That is an open invitation to join our study group, by the way.” He clicked his pen to start writing again, avoiding eye contact with her. “We could use another person, and it makes sense since we’re all in gross anatomy together.”

Ami was surprised. This had moved faster than anticipated. She had thought she would have to work to get into Hugo’s good graces, which would have been a challenge in itself, before she would receive such an invitation. Zoisite – the one she had known who served the Dark Kingdom – would likely not have been so direct or forward with his approach. This further implied that he wasn’t Zoisite, as he would surely recognise her. 

This is good, isn’t it?

It was easy for Ami to overthink this situation, though. On the one hand, the fact that Hugo had casually asked her to join their study group suggested that he had no reason to fear her. Then again, perhaps this was his way of drawing her in, getting her off guard and then when she least expected it he would slice her open with a crystal shard without hesitation.

As she thought it through her silence became palpable, and she realised that Hugo, Kris and Dan were all staring at her.

Hugo cleared his throat, scratching his brow with the end of his pen. 

“No pressure, though. We meet every day at six, or we’ll probably meet up after this, seeing as we’ve just had lab…?”

He said this questioningly, looking up to the others. Kris shrugged to a lazy affirmative, and Dan shook his head, “Dinner first, then more study.”

“How could you be hungry after doing this?” Kris mumbled.

“Um, because it’s a five-hour-long session?” Dan replied sarcastically.

“Either way,” Hugo said, looking back to Ami. “I’ll give you my email, Ami.” Then he turned to the task at hand, “Right. Let’s peel back old Bernard’s skin flaps and get a look at the superficial fascia. Dan, do the honours, will you?”

Dan raised an eyebrow, “Oh, you really do hate me, don’t you?”

“I love to hate you, though,” Hugo chirped. “Besides, I already did the hard part.”

“Bernard?” Ami questioned, picking up on the previous statement.

“Yes,” Hugo chuckled. “I thought it’d be nice if we gave him a nickname. We’ll be spending a few weeks with him, and it seems rude to refer to him as ‘the cadaver’, right?”

“He’s a corpse, not a puppy,” Kris rebuked. “What happened to treating him like a machine?”

Hugo said nothing, watching as Dan began to ‘clear the way’ so they could get a close look at the chest. It made Ami shiver a bit, and she couldn’t help but remember that the hypodermis – the layer of fat between the skin and the fascia – was just as much in her body as it was in ‘Bernard’s’. 

Hugo noticed her discomfort and smiled kindly. “I nickname everything. My laptop’s name is ‘Harvey’.”

Then he winked, and Ami blushed.

---

☿

Once class ended, they all met up in the waiting area outside the laboratory and Ami got a good look at everyone for the first time. 

Without their masks, Dan and Christabel were revealed to be even more attractive than she had initially thought. 

Kris had a well-defined heart-shaped face, full lips and naturally long eyelashes. Her hair was a wave of darkness that flowed over her shoulders and to her waist, once she pulled the pins out to release it. It made Ami feel a bit tomboyish in comparison.

Dan, on the other hand, had a tiny, delicate face comparable to the beauty of Hugo’s. It was shorter, though, with lower cheekbones. It went well with his deep grey-green eyes and his just-off pallid complexion. Together with his child’s shade of blond hair, he looked younger than his age. His small and cheeky smile just added to this – looking as if he always had a secret to reveal.

They were both inquisitive individuals.

She dared to take another look at Hugo, this being the closest she had been to him without a surgical mask on or his hair swept away.

It had been five years since the Dark Kingdom had tormented Tokyo. Zoisite had stuck with Ami somewhat even after all this time. The youngest and most attractive member of the group, he had an almost haunting look about him. Lissom and delicate with long, willowy limbs. Waves of cold caramel curls, longer than most women’s — he could easily have been mistaken for a girl at a distance. Yet it was his glassy green eyes that still made Ami shiver. She had only caught a glimpse of them, but there had been an emptiness reflected there, almost as though he were not entirely human.

Hugo, though… 

Ami looked him up and down. He was dressed like a ‘hipster’, the fashionable rogues of the western world. A sea-green t-shirt under a flannel shirt. Dark tight fitted trousers with green, red and black tartan turn-ups, and perfectly polished and well-maintained dark-tan boots. Everything about him screamed ‘posh boy, non-confirmer’ – and it suited him. 

“Y’know, they make them in women’s sizes, too.”

Ami looked up at him so quickly her neck snapped. “S-Sorry?”

“My boots. Only, I noticed you staring. Nice, huh? They’re German-made and unisex.”

Blushing deep red again, Ami realised that she had, indeed, been staring at him an abnormal amount of time. “Yes, they are nice,” she quivered back. “They really suit you.”

His eyes, she observed, were green like leaves in late August. A more wholesome hue.His hair was the same shade as Zoisite’s, a cold, pale copper, and as long, wavy and untameable as she remembered. But, it looked less doll-like and more… real. 

Truly human.

“Mainstream fashion’s too bourgeois for Hugh’s taste!” Dan laughed. Gazing at Ami, he tilted his head as he, too, seemed to take in Ami’s face for the first time. “Ha, you look even cuter with your mask off. Nice mouth!”

The words caught her off guard as she felt her cheeks turn red, and her neck started to itch. Even after all these years she still had an aversion to random compliments and allergies to love letters.

Hugo was her saviour again:

“Leave it out, Dan.”

Dan pouted. “Can’t I give compliments anymore?”

“There are compliments, then there’s cringe.” He then offered Ami a small, kind smile. “Don’t be too flustered, Ami. Dan’s just a natural-born flirt.”

She couldn’t help but smile in return. Her neck even started to settle down –  as if he had a magical healing property. 

Kris gave a knowing look, folding her arms and leaning to one side. “Danny’s just Danny. He’s an equal opportunist flirt.”

Hugo muttered in agreeance and began fishing in his pocket for something. 

“He came on to me and even Hughie when first we met,” she added.

Daniel’s tiny little smile grew a millimetre wider. “What can I say? You are all such beautiful people.” He bowed his head to Ami, too naturally, making her guess he was reasonably familiar with Japanese culture. “My sincerest apologies, Ami.”

She shook her head, “Not at all.”

Turning back to Hugo, Ami saw him pull out a packet of loose tobacco, filters and roll-up paper. “You smoke?!” she gasped without thinking.

Hugo stopped abruptly, surprised at her outburst. “You sound like my sister!”

All three of them watched him as he licked the paper. 

“Jesus, you lot! I don’t smoke that much.”

“She is right, though, Hughie,” Kris weighed in. “It doesn’t look good for a med student to be rolling his own cancer sticks.”

“Hey! These ‘cancer sticks’ got me through some tough times and I’m not gonna quit now,” he stated firmly, but playfully. 

Dan tipped his head, cutely, “We just don’t want to see you die, Hugh.”

A tiny smile crossed Hugo’s lips, and he quietly whispered. “Oh, I don’t fear of death anymore…” and his eyes fell on Ami, making her feel momentarily cold to the bone.  Did he mean something by that?  Was that smile indicating something? 

He cleared his throat. “Just let me have this pleasure. I don’t ask for much in life.”

Then, he placed the completed roll-up in his mouth as he shrugged his jacket on, before removing it again. “Well, shall we head over to the library, gang?”

“Seems like a plan,” Kris said, shuffling forward.

“If you’re having a cig then I’m getting coffee,” Dan declared.

Hugo purred enthusiastically, “Get one for me too. Black as a witch’s heart.”

“Latte for me,” Kris’s voice throbbed deliciously. “I could slaughter one right now.”

“You two are taking advantage of my good nature!” Dan boyishly sulked, but it only lasted a moment. “Ugh, I guess we all need coffee for our study session though so… alright. My treat.”

“Now you’re talking!” Kris giggled, hugging his arm.

“You’re a good man, Daniel Bright,” Hugo agreed.

Silently, Ami watched their exchange. They were so familiar with each other. So comfortable. It occurred to her for the first time that these three actually knew each other. They had mannerisms and quirks. Like real people. That was reassuring: if this was Zoisite, would he go to the trouble of establishing roots here?

Didn’t he just mention he had a sister, too?

As if knowing he was all that filled her mind, Hugo pulled out a tiny notebook from his inner pocket – she wondered how many pockets he had hidden about his body – and scribbled something down. “Here, I said I’d give you this, right?” he said quickly. He ripped out the page and gave it to her. Looking down, Ami saw it was an email address. “I check it every day so, email me sometime?” 

He stepped back and smirked, watching her expectantly.  When all he got was a smile and a tiny ‘thank you’, Hugo nodded awkwardly. “Like I said no pressure. Hopefully, my smoking and Dan’s perviness hasn’t put you off – we’re okay, really!”

With that, he slowly turned to leave.

Ami bit her lip. She wasn’t sure how she mustered the courage to do it but – it just came out. So quickly she almost said “kenkyū” instead of “study”:

“Actually!” she blurted. “I’d love to join your study group!”

Hugo blinked, amazed at her sudden passion.

“L-Like you said before, it makes sense we should all form one,” she reasoned.

Kris dropped Dan’s arm and sauntered over to Ami, taking hers instead. “Wonderful news! It’s about time we had another girl in the group. We just seem to scare them away.”

“Correction: Dan scares them away,” Hugo appended.

“Piss off, Hugh!” the tow-head chortled.

Hugo pulled out his lighter and pointed towards the door, talking with the cigarette between his teeth. “Great. Welp, come on, let’s go. I really need a coffee. No, scratch that. I need a fag and a coffee.”

“Four coffees it is, then,” Dan agreed, stretching. “Like I said, I’m paying this time. Let’s head over to the SU and grab some. Oh, and stand downwind of us, Hugh. I don’t want to catch your second-hand smoke.”

A gentle eye-roll later, Hugh opened the door for them all. 

“How about you piss off, Dan?!”

---