Page 42 of Spoonful

Moments later, Carlos texted,got it!,and nothing else.

Okay. Jaylin determinedly shoved his phone into his pocket. He had asked for help, given the time and place, and now he needed to not think about it anymore. Even just dictating the initial plea had been so difficult he could barely do it. Asking for help was such a foreign feeling to him. Until just recently Jaylin had known it to be a waste of breath to try.

But he had friends now. And maybe… maybe that meant something.

Either way, now it was done.

He left the kitchen to rejoin Hiro in the living room again.

Hiro looked up from the laptop he had open and smiled. “Hey, there. How’d it go?”

“I did it,” Jaylin mumbled, crawling back onto the couch. “I don’t know if anyone will show up but… but I asked.”

“I know that was really hard,” Hiro said quietly, reaching over to touch Jaylin’s shoulder. Hiro had been giving Jaylin gentle little touches all evening, including another hug that Jaylin had sunk into with a bitten-off whimper. He didn’t know what he’d suddenly done to deserve the gift, but Jaylin was drinking in every moment of contact. “I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks,” Jaylin said, curling his arms around himself.

“And I just finished pulling up all the forms you’re going to need to fill out,” Hiro said. “We could work on them now, if you’d like. Unless you’d like to head back to your place and start packing.”

“No,” Jaylin said in a rush. “I’ll–I’ll feel better if those are done. And it, um, it’d be easier if you helped me. If that’s okay.”

“Of course it’s okay,” Hiro said. “Why don’t we start with the application for your school’s honor student scholarship, since that’s the easiest? We’ll get it out of the way and then we could work on the others.”

“Okay,” Jaylin said, scooting closer to Hiro so that he could get a better view of the laptop screen.

Hiro had looked into it, and it turned out that Jaylin’s college actually provided a whole variety of scholarships to “qualified students in good standing” and Jaylin qualified for nearly all of them. He was within the income threshold and had the required 3.5 minimum GPA most wanted, and it didn't take long at all for Hiro to help him submit for the honor student scholarship. From there they moved on to working their way through the foundation scholarship list, and got most of their way through Jaylin’s FAFSA application before Jaylin noticed Hiro trying to cover his yawns.

Jaylin was feeling pretty tired himself in all honesty, and he checked the time on his phone, eyes widening in horror as he realized it was almost midnight. “Shit! Shit, I’m so sorry, it’s so late–”

“It’s okay,” Hiro said. “Seriously, it’s no big deal. I’m a lawyer. You think I’m a stranger to working late?”

Not for Jaylin. Jaylin wasn't worth losing sleep. Especially since hedidknow exactly how hard Hiro worked. “Still–”

“I want to do this,” Hiro said firmly. “I want to help you however I can. But you’re right–it’s late. Let me drive you home?”

“That’s okay,” Jaylin said quickly, not wanting to put Hiro out even more. “Seriously, that’s—I can just get a ride.”

“There’s also the guest bedroom,” Hiro offered quietly. “If you wanted to stay tonight.”

Jaylin licked his lips and dared to consider it. Regardless of what they planned on tomorrow, if he stayedtonightit wouldn’t just be out of necessity. He could very easily go back to his own place for one last sleep. “I…”

“No pressure,” Hiro said, and his smile looked sad. “Just wanted to give you the option. You can spend the night and then we can head over to your place bright and early to start packing up, or you can go home now and I can just meet you tomorrow.”

“I… I guess I could stay,” Jaylin found himself saying. “If it isn’t any trouble.”If you hadn’t planned to lose your space yet.

“You’re never trouble,” Hiro said easily, closing his laptop. “C’mon, let’s get you settled. You’ve got a busy day ahead of you.”

Jaylin’s nerves came back full force as he followed Hiro up the stairs, where he’d never yet ventured before, but he tried to swallow them down. He wasn’t going to make anything weird. Couldn’t.

“My room’s just at the end of the hall,” Hiro said, pointing out a closed door. “If you need anything, just grab me, okay? I won’t mind.”

“Okay,” Jaylin said weakly, absolutely certain there was nothing that could happen short of a house fire that would cause him to rouse Hiro from bed.

“Bathroom’s right here,” Hiro said as they passed another door. “And here’s the guest bedroom.”

He opened the door to a very nicely-sized room, flicking on the lights and showing Jaylin inside. “Make yourself comfortable, okay?” Hiro said. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Jaylin said, biting his lip. “Thank you.”

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