Before Dusk (ClockwiseDream)

''I still don't understand why exactly you cannot come down to the cafeteria, Michael'', Samael said into his phone, frowning slightly as he tried to decipher the truth hiding behind his brother's quite weak and obvious excuses. ''I'm sorry, something, uh, something came up'', his brother said, his voice apologetic, yet not really. He was obviously in hurry to get to something other than getting his brother off his case.

''You do realise I would be missing dinner for this, right?'', the older brother said as his final attempt to get his brother away from whatever it was he intended to do and down here to pick up his books. ''Also, your books are heavy.''

''Good thing you're already in a cafeteria, then, isn't it?'', the younger boy asked in an irritatingly cheerful tone. ''And they can't be that heavy, especially if you're running home.'' Giving up, Samael sighed as he tried to figure out if the place was still truly open for eating. Coffee and other drinks he knew they still sold, but food, he wasn't sure. The trip back home have never been long enough to excuse him from sitting down and having dinner with his parents before he either started working or closed himself in his room to study. Not that he actually wanted an excuse to miss family dinners, anyway, unlike his brother who had moved away from home into the dorms the minute he started high school and was now ditching his own brother for whatever drunken college shenanigans he had in mind to do tonight.

''Just be careful doing whatever idiotic thing you're planning to do'', Samael said in the end, sighing, as he gave up. He would just have to eat here, or something, before heading back to the city for work in an hour or so. ''Will do, big brother'', Michael's still overly cheerful tone came over the phone once more before the line went dead.

''Great'', Samael said, rolling his eyes at the phone. His brother, it seemed, had no intention of growing up, ever. Well, he thought, he would just have to pay for this by going back to the city to get his books when he actually had time for them. Samael had no intention of carrying them all the way to the campus again.

His eyes still cast down and focused on his phone, Samael barely caught the sudden movement coming from his left. ''I apologize'', he said, he coffee he had knocked over in order to avoid doing the same to the person holding it now nothing but a warm, liquid puddle spreading slowly between the two of them. ''I wasn't looking where I was going'', he said, frowning. He honestly knew better than to walk around with his head in his phone. This was all Michael's fault.

''Let me buy you another one'', he said, raising his eyes to the man he had almost literary bumped into, which was honestly something that had not happened to him in a very, very long time, if ever. ''And I should probably find a way to clean that up'', he said, talking about the puddle he had created on the floor. ''Honestly, I'm really sorry. I should have known better.''


@"Trahnael": I apologize for the needlessly long post, I needed an excuse for Samael to be here and then I needed a reason fro the two of them to start talking and I chose the that was most cliché. It was the only thing that came to mind, though, so yeah, apologies for that

''Still'', Samael said as he put his book-filled bag onto the chair by his side, the one on the opposite side of the table the other man had just gotten up from. ''Just about to finish isn't the same as being to made to drop it'', he said, cringing slightly at himself. He couldn't believe he had actually almost bumped into someone in the cafeteria that was not only huge, but mostly empty as well.

''Here, I'll help with that'', Samael said following the man as he headed towards the marked 'staff only' which hopefully hid a mop behind it rather than the entrance to the kitchens. ''It is mostly my fault anyway. People shouldn't have to look as they stand up to leave while looking where you are going is mostly accepted to be a common thing.'' Unless you are on the phone with your slightly idiotic, slightly lazy, just-started-college brother. Actually, no, it is considered normal even then. He was just too focused on the fact that he would have to carry Michael's too heavy books back to the city as well.

Books which, he realised, he had left lying on the chair as he went to find the mop. Well, if somebody was crazy enough to try to steal that, let him try, he thought as he turned back towards the man he had almost bumped into.

''I really would like to buy you another coffee'', he said once they had reached the door. ''Perhaps it would make me feel less stupid about this whole thing'', he said, with a smile, hoping to turn what sounded as a selfish demand into a joke.

@"Trahnael"

Despite wanting to, thinking still how it was his fault after all that the mess was made, no matter what the other man said, and being more then used to whipping floors at the bar when helping with the clean up and set up, Samael failed to grab the mop from the other man after he had acquired one from one of the cleaning stuff and quite easily at that. The woman who had handed it to him along with a bucket of water did not even scold him for making a mess in the first place,simply instructing him instead what to do with it afterwards.

''Sounds good to me'', he said, as the man turned back towards him after he had finished with the mess and put away the mop, asking him whether he would be okay with sharing the coffee instead of simply replacing it. ''I was about to find something to eat anyway'', he added, his eyes glancing first towards the table where he had left his bag and finding it there, then towards the small line of students at the other end of the room.

''I though you were about to leave though'', he said, his eyes finally settling back on the man, a small smile on his face. ''That's why I simply offered to buy you a drink. Well, part of it anyway'', he laughed lightly, offering his hand to the man. ''I'm Samael'', he said, introducing himself. ''And I'm not usually this clumsy. This was sort of a one time deal.''

''In a moment'', Samael said, reaching into his beg suddenly, fighting with the weight of Michael's book so he could reach the walled buried under which held both his money and the student ID, one of which he would need for the coffee the other for the food, as the meals were free for the students of the Academy, but the various additional warm beverages were not, though the prices weren't all that high for them either.

''Alright, let's go'', he said then, heading slowly towards the line, hopping it wouldn't take them too long to reach the end of it if Eros-Erasthai, he tried on in his mind, wondering if he were pronouncing it right, for it was obviously a foreign name-truly was about to leave for something it that required he be there on time, considering he had said that he was both about to leave and could spare a few minutes. With this in mind Samael decided he would wait for them to part in order to actually get something to eat, settling on simply buying a coffee for himself as well.

''Do you mind me asking about your name?'', he asked curiously, but politely, as they stood in the line. ''It's just that is very unique, so I'm curious'', he explained.

A descendant of Greek god, Samael thought as they approached the end of the line. The Island really was full of people with most interesting histories, he hummed to himself as he caught sight of wallet in Eros' hand. ''You can put the money away'', he said, looking at the said item. ''I'm paying for this one, remember?'', he said, smiling as he added his own order of a biggest chocolate hazelnut caramel coffee combo the cafeteria had just to be sure. If he did not manage to get dinner before heading out for work, he share amount of sugar he was about to ingest will be enough to hold him through.

''Here'', he said a few minutes later, after he had been handed their orders. Moving away from the line, he offered Eros his foamy white coffee. A glance towards the table by which they had 'met' told him that the book bag he had left there was still keeping it free, so he slowly headed there after handing Eros his drink.

''Also, I do not think that your name is exactly stupid'', he said after a few steps, looking back to make sure that the other man was still there. ''It's interesting. And the meaning is nice'', he said with a smile, before laughing lightly. ''Then again, I might be a bit biased'', he added, taking a sip of his drink. ''As my own name isn't all that common either after all'', he explained, thinking of all those occasions on which he had introduced himself only to be met with the exact same question he was asking now.