And Rashel has Thuria with Kay. Woo!

(She actually quite likes Thuria. Languages are fun.)

(And people actually use them daily)

((Kay would make a joke about Ev and Krian's chemistry, but alas he can't read the narration))

Is there a free space next to Ev where Krian could sit, maybe exchange notes and the like?

There is, actually! The teacher's quite nice in this class too, and they have big tables instead of individual desks. People usually try to get on with the work so it usually works to have people sit wherever, and Ev's table indeed has a spare seat.

Ev sits at the corner of one of the tables, so Krian can just sit the other side of the corner. No-one's sitting there right now.

Krian sits next to Ev planning to pay attention to chemistry and nothing else until the end of the class.

That is, until he remembers something from yesterday.

Now he is occasionally giving thoughtful looks to Ev, like he wants to ask something.

Ev notices the look. And in response to the look, he smiles at Krian slightly.

He's not sure he really wants to talk about it – he can guess that it's about Thar, though he's not totally certain – but he supposes he maybe should.

Is there enough opening that they can talk about it? Or at least ask Ev for a "let's talk later?"

Yyyeah, there might be enough of an opening? But there are other people around, so it's probably best to ask Ev to talk later. Like, after school, since this is the last lesson of the day.

This is okay with Krian. He waits until the end of the lesson.

The lesson does eventually end! And people gradually start filtering out of the classroom, but if this is going to be a quick chat they can probably use the classroom for some privacy.

If it's going to be a bit longer, Ev recommends that they go out into the hallway and find somewhere less populated that's also not a classroom where they can speak.

Krian is not sure. As far he knows the entire thing could take less than five minutes.

Weeelll, in that case they can stay in the classroom, hope the teacher doesn't mind, and leave if it takes too long.

"So," he says. "I can guess what you're going to ask about, but just in case, can you clarify?"

"Well, I noticed that Thar might have a crush on you. What I want to ask about is more... I want to know how I'm supposed to manage Kay in relation to it."

Ev blinks at that. "Okay, but I don't really get what you mean by that. As in, how you need to deal with him since Thar might be otherwise interested?"

"More of... I want to minimize high school drama because Kay lacks anything resembling sensible judgement. And now I am trying to address failure modes related to Thar being interested in you while Kay is interested in Thar."

"Thar can be interested in multiple people at once. I'm not sure how interested he is in Kay, at least not right now, since Kay came on a bit strong for him." He shrugs. "I don't think I'm going to do anything with Thar like that, and he's looking at other people too – like Matil – so, uh, yeah. I don't know, really."

"I understand. It's just that Kay has the subtly of an active volcano and I don't know the," Krian makes vague waves, "social dynamics here and would hate if Kay sabotaged himself in the first week."

"Well, uh. Thar's usually pretty quiet about who he likes? Like, seriously, him mentioning that he liked amber eyes and a runner's build is possibly the most he's spoken about who he likes so far. He doesn't really get into relationships, he doesn't seem to want to, he seems sorta content to just sit on the sidelines and… pine?" Ev makes a face. "I don't know how to make it sound better than that? It's basically what he does. And then I've already explained me and I think Kay is probably coming off a bit strong."

Krian frowns and shrugs. "I don't think he is a good match for Kay if that is the case, or at least I can't know in advance."

"Yeah. I don't know." He makes a bit of a face. "Maybe not."

After a pause. "Thank you, for hearing me out."

He smiles. "No problem. Now, it's been a few minutes since the bell so we should probably– go."

Krian smiles reassuringly and they leave.

That they do.

And the next day, Thar and Rashel can be found talking, again! This time they're standing next to Ev, though, and he's participating in the conversation where applicable.