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The deliciously earthy-fruity-divine smells of various teas hit Colin's nose as he was heading to the food-court for a quick bite; the mall wasn't unusually busy but it was busy enough that he'd found himself swept along by the tide of humanity. But when the rich scents of teas hit his nose, he slowed and veered into the wide-open and welcoming "doorway". There was a little display with a carafe labeled "Snow Geisha" that had little paper cups for a single-serving sip of the promotional tea!

Colin felt like he was in heaven; he poured his sip and savored it for a moment. As he moved blissfully deeper into the store with his eyes half closed in appreciation of the complex flavors that comprised Snow Geisha, he did something exceptionally stupid: He bumped into a short, dark-haired someone!

A sharp - familiar - voice started growling at him that he should watch where he was going, but fell to silence near the end as recognition blossomed in the dark-haired boy's eyes. Colin grinned broadly as he too recognized the youth he'd bumped into - it was Zac!! As recognizable as Zac was (with his short stature and sense of style - that single braid was really attractive!), Colin Hargrove himself was just as much so: a dancer's body, curly golden hair and luminous green eyes: he got quite a few doubletakes from those walking past him.

"Zac! Oh man, I'm so sorry! I was blissing out to the Snow Geisha samples by the door and...totally didn't look where I was going. Are you alright? Can I get you anything?" Colin reached worriedly for some of the napkins in a shining silver dispenser of the sort one saw at just about every establishment in the mall (on the planet?) that served food or drink or both. "It's uh, been a while."

He brushed his empty hand back through his curly hair and shook his head; "Man, I would have rather we met up again without like, nearly costing you your drink." Because he was a dancer and they [dancers] were supposed to be graceful or something like that.

"So beyond shopping for tea and being knocked over...what's up with you?" They'd never been close or anything like that, but Zac had definitely been one of those people that the dancer had no problems talking with; he liked Zac, enjoyed chatting with him about games and movies and - when they had discovered their mutual affection for it - tea.

Colin's smile was easy, open and with no guile - just as it always had. For him, the idea that anyone he met might be a senshi was fantastical; he wasn't going to just up and ask, but...he saw the glass as half-full (of senshi, rather). He chuckled a little bit and crushed his now-empty paper cup in a fist before carelessly tossing it into a nearby trash can (filled already with hundreds of the same.

"It's fantastic, I think I'll end up buying some to take back to the dorms. I don't get to drink as much tea as I used to - my room mate says that it all tastes like dirty grass clippings with sugar." The blond laughed and nodded at Zac; they could settle into a table there, claim the space, and then he had to make an order. "Give me just a minute, I'm gonna order a Milk Tea for while we catch up."

There was only one person ahead of Colin at the register - the others in the store either busily perusing the various tea-related knick-knacks and articles or trying to decide which tea they wanted to have a cup (or a packet, parcel or pound) of. He ordered the Milk Tea, a canister of the Snow Geisha and then asked that they also bundle up the usual amount of Silver Needle White, Spice of Life White, Cha Yen Thai Black and the Toasted Nut Brulee Oolong teas (he really liked tea! Okay, so some of them weren't for him, but a present for his little sister or mother...but anyway). By the time he was done ordering, his single serving cup was ready for him to grab and sip at. He picked it up and returned to the small table where Zac awaited him.

"Sorry about that, I always end up ordering a lot. My little sister and mom love it, but can't get over here often." He sipped carefully at the Milk Tea and savored the unique flavor. "Oh wow, you weren't kidding - this is really good! Thanks for the head's up, Zac." The blond was energetic, even saying thanks; just like a puppy - eager and trusting to those he knew (or thought he knew).

Colin glanced about the shop thoughtfully as he listened to Zac talking about this 'interesting' blue tea. "Blue tea, huh? Never heard of it, but then I'm usually so busy with school and stuff." He shook his head a little bit; drugs and stuff like that just weren't really his thing, though one might have thought someone so easily talked into various things would be. Colin treated his body very well as a rule; meditation and dance pretty much assured that he did.

It was nice seeing that Zac felt the same way. "I just...don't see the point. But I guess some people have questionable tastes."

Quiet questions brought a little chuckle from the curly-haired dancer, "Yeah, still standing - for now. Though the freshman dorm had some issues, some wiseacre keeps dropping cherry bombs into the plumbing." He sipped his tea blissfully, then sighed in a happy manner before continuing, "Mom and Miri're doing great! It's been weird not going to school with her anymore, but I actually like not having to deal with my little sister all the time." Hillworth might have been horrifically stodgy about everything, but he didn't have to worry about his little sister - which was a big relief.

"What about you? Been up to anything wild and crazy? I like the braid - it looks good on you."

Too bad Zac couldn't put that kind of thing on his resume, huh? 'Graduated General King' might have gotten him some very interesting looks, at the very least. Oh, the things that Colin didn't know about his friend - and visa versa! He wouldn't have demonized the Negaverse officer, but he definitely would have had a great deal of questions for him.

"Congratulations Zac! It sounds like you're doing really really well - I hope I'm that lucky when I get out." Colin laughed and shook his head a little bit; a new job, the potential of a new place and a scholarship for his music? It sounded like a dream come true for any normal person; weren't they both trying to be 'normal'?

"I here you there. I do. Its gotten really dangerous out. I don't know if I'd still be jogging in the morning without my roommate. You know those online MMORPGs always have that massive fighter class that functions as a tank? That's my Björn. No joke." Talking about Björn brought a brightness to the dancer...and was that a little blush? Did he realize that he'd called him "my Björn"? Nope, not at all; clearly he was quite fond of his roommate.

To Colin's defense, he wasn't waxing romantic over the bigger boy; just talking about his roommate, whom he happened to have a crush on. Sometimes it was just nice to see someone thinking of another romantically without being forced to see all the disgusting, slobbering, drooling bits that most people tended to throw into there. Generally speaking, Colin wasn't big on that sort of thing himself - he'd had girlfriends that had made him uncomfortable with how gooey they got (and then left them for that very reason).

"Hmm? Oh! Did I say that?" He looked sheepish and the faint pinkness blushing his cheeks brightened and spread until he was quite red with good-natured embarrassment. "Whups." Colin took a moment to sip studiously at his tea while he regained his composure - wow, talk about a slip! But then again...he had been thinking a bit more possessively about his roommate. "Yeah...well, he's a great guy. Too bad Hillworth's so hard-nosed about everything." Relationships were frowned on, at ye olde boy-prison. Anyway. "Well, that and...I don't know if he'd be interested."

"A year more. I"m a junior this year." He looked back up, cheeks still pink but at the very least he wasn't ashamed; plus, it didn't seem like Zac was disgusted at the thought either, which was nice. One never knew if someone was going to react badly to the thought of two guys together.

"Yeah, trust me. I've thought about that. But it'd be harder for him than me, 'cause I could always go spend some time at the studio." Well, technically Björn could always go hit the gym or something, if he wanted some time to himself, but he did get what Zac was saying. When you lived with your boyfriend (or girlfriend), things could get tense very quickly and very easily. Colin leaned so his hand was resting on his chin, glancing around at the people coming in and out of the tea shop for a moment; so many people going about their daily lives, most of them never knowing about Senshi or Negaversers...

He quirked his lips a little bit and gave Zac a bit of a look. "I have caught him looking at my a**." Zac knew he was a dancer - like that other guy, the one that dressed in drag a lot - so he'd have an idea of the sort of things the dancer might wear (though he'd probably never seen the short shorts he wore that caused Björn to pause with whatever he was doing and stare dumbly). Okay, there. That was as um...raunchy as Colin planned to get, and he wouldn't have said anything except that Zac had mentioned asking the guy if he were interested.

"Not just girls, just mostly girls up to now." Certainly that's all most people had ever seen him 'going out' with. "That'd be fun, I'd love to get together - I don't get out nearly enough anymore." Partially due to being a dancer, partially due to being a student...and partially due to being a freaking Senshi.

Right. The guy with the make-up and Mary-Janes. Oi, he'd been really surprised to see the staff allowing that sort of thing. "I think his name is Paris or something like that. I see him sometimes at dance competitions, he's not bad but...I don't get the whole make-up thing." Nope. Not at all. Colin might swing both ways,but he didn't do drag, unless it was for a job.

Poor Zac, coughing on tea wasn't pleasant, but considerably more-so than coughing on some sort of carbonated beverage would have been. Nasty business, that burning-fizzing sensation up in one's sinuses and nose! "I think you're probably right." He had the decency to look sheepish at Zac's discomfiture towards their conversation heading. "Um...yeah. I think so. But he's pretty used to people staring at him. He does a lot of those "Strong Man" type things, apparently. Like bending golf clubs or dragging heavy things."

Aw, it seemed like Colin wasn't the only one at their table that didn't have a lot of "free time" to do things like movies. When he said the part about it being sort of like a double date - but sneaky - the blond couldn't help it, he almost snorted his tea too! "Oh ho, I like the way you think, Zac!" But then he recalled just how BIG the Swede was and how much trouble he had with 'normal mortal sized' chairs and frowned.

"The only problem with that is um...he's really big. Pretty much any 'normal' sized chair is going to be super uncomfortable for him." Which really sucked, because that kind of killed a lot of the usual 'date' spots, didn't it? "We could always hit up one of those 'family' entertainment places? They usually have hinky themed restaurants, but also a lot to do...like mini-golf, laser tag, movies, skating, bowling and all that crap."

Not the coolest places for guys out of - or almost out of - high school, but also not the worst places...after all, they were still at the age where they were more like big kids than young adults, right?