You automatically regret holding the eye contact with Dominic and strutting over to him when he waves you over but a slight glance to Stuart, who inspects you carefully with a frown, spurs you on to make your way over. You're curious to see what he'll do next, and the glare on his face is almost too perfect. It doesn't help, you suppose, that you even did your hair for the occasion.

 Dominic is oblivious the entire time you 'laugh' with him and you keep giggling, tilting your head and tucking your hair behind your ear. You find the courage to stroke over Dominic's arms and compliment him on his sizeable biceps while you're getting into eat, your eyes flickering to Stuart and watching him holding his fork with white knuckles, his mouth moving in small, controlled movements that are clearly his jaw tightened.

 You flap in a panic inwardly for a moment, worried if you're doing the right thing, but there's just something about the way he seems jealous (you hope) that makes you want to pull a further reaction out of him; you've waited long enough for a real sign other than the surprise attempt at kissing that he likes you the same way you do.

 The answer to working out what kind of passionate reaction you can bring out of him is evident when you are on your lonely way back to the library: Stuart disappeared shortly before the clock turned one. You are just sighing with exhaustion from the effort of appearing into Dominic, deciding you miss your friends too much to spend a third lunch away from them - texting is so not the same as speaking in person - when you are yanked against the wall, pushed aside though there are no other people down the corridor at this point.

 You look at Stuart's vexed expression, the frown still cutting deep as he breathes hard through his nostrils, and he folds his arms, audibly grinding his teeth.

 "Dude!" is all you can gasp, wishing you could just hit him from the shock, but something flashes in his eyes that makes you hold your tongue.

 "Who the hell was he?" Stuart asks curtly. Before you can reply he continues with, "Must've been pretty special if we're not even worth sitting with anymore."

 You laugh. "Stuart, he's just some guy I was talking to."

 "Oh, really? Some guy you started feeling up saying, 'Oh, your arms are so big, do you work out?'"

 You pull a face. "You were eavesdropping."

 Stuart tilts his head back and forth briefly. "Lip reading. But that's not the point. What is he, your boyfriend or something?"

 "No," you reply automatically, honesty making you sound defensive.

 Stuart takes in a deep, fuming breath and says in a low voice as if you both aren't alone and against the wall, "Is that why you wouldn't kiss me?"

 You laugh with legitimacy this time, but Stuart looks more anxious and riled. "No! I don't even know the guy, he spoke to me ages ago once and then asked me to sit with him so I -"

 "Don't you see the way he looks at you, like you're some kind of piece of meat?" Stuart rants, interrupting you. "It makes me sick. And you, dribbling all over him -"

 "Oh, like you with those strippers?" you retort, and Stuart sighs with a groan, rolling his eyes heavenwards.

 "I was drunk, y/n, that's completely different." He pauses before he says his next sentence, voice dropping with held in anger. "I don't want him near you. Or talking to you. I am not happy."

 You freeze a heartbeat, swallowing from the way he's looking at you, his beautiful, anguished eyes and lips far too close to yours, but you manage to say, "He spoke to me first, I can't help that!"

 Stuart nods and steps back away from you, muttering, "Right" in an ominous way before walking off quickly, leaving you on your own and trying to force your legs to take you away into the library instead of stuck in the corridor on your own with a slightly shocked expression on your face.

 Hours later and minutes before you're off work, a text from Neha makes you almost fall off your seat in shock. The seconds tick by almost endlessly and you practically sprint from the library to the work station of your friends after going there a few times previously.

 When you get there, attempting to slow your breathing to mask the fact that you actually ran through the entire Google building to get to them and knocked a coffee cup out of Zach's hand onto Graham, Neha straightens up from her crouch in front of Stuart, who sits with his back to you, and she visibly sighs, walking towards you. The others are dotted around the room talking quietly to themselves, and you slide your bag off when Neha goes over to you.

 "What an idiot," she mutters, raising her eyebrows at the back off Stuart's head.

 "What happened?" you ask breathlessly, clutching your chest before your lungs fall out.

 "He just started saying stuff to that Dominic guy and it got physical. There was some shoving and then he managed to get himself elbowed in the face." Neha sighs again and folds her arms crossly. "He's smart enough to know not to pick on bigger people," she tuts.

 Your stomach clenches and guilt flows through you. "What was he saying?"

 Neha shrugs but locks her eyes with yours as if hinting. "I don't know. Something about you, I think he said your name. And then there was something about not wanting something or he should back off. I don't know."

 You bite your lip. "I should talk to him."

 Neha pats your shoulder. "Good luck. He bit our heads off every time we spoke."

 You take the challenge anyway and walk towards him, coughing to signal you are there. When he doesn't turn around you step in front of him and look down at his face. A darkening mark on the side of his face, right on his cheekbone, glows at you and you wince.

 "Ouch. You okay?" you ask timidly. Stuart just looks at you, sarcastic as ever, and leans back in his chair.

 "Perfect. You could have warned me your boyfriend was an absolute idiot with no idea where to place his elbows," Stuart huffs.

 "Not my boyfriend," you remind Stuart in a sing-song voice and he scoffs, looking away from you moodily.

 "Why would you do such a stupid thing?" you blurt before the silence gets too pressing. "You knew when it came to fighting he had the upper hand, right?"

 "I didn't want a 'fight', y/n. I was just telling him to back off and leave you alone, okay?"

 "You didn't have to do that," you reply, voice cracking from your feeble attempt to keep it casual.

 "Well, I did. You wouldn't tell him to leave you alone," Stuart accuses. You're both silent again before you say in a quiet voice, "You don't have to be intimidated by him."

 Stuart laughs sharply. "I'm not!"

 "Then you don't need to be jealous," you continue. "Do you?"

 "I don't know, don't I?" Stuart replies, looking back up at you. Your feet shift as you struggle to come up with a response.

 "I...I don't like him. I was just being... It doesn't matter." You drop your head and wrap your arms around yourself.

 "Good," Stuart mutters darkly. "You're sitting with us tomorrow."

 "Of course."

 "That's not a request," Stuart says. "I, I mean...Neha missed you." He looks at the time on his phone. "I've got to go."

 He gets up, stretching slightly, and begins walking away. His name leaves your lips without your mind's permission, and he turns in the doorway, hand on the handle.

 You want to say some ridiculously romantic thing, just like they do in the movies, but can't think of anything. Instead, you smirk and say, "Wish I was there to see the testosterone. I would have kissed you for sure."

 Stuart blinks, thrown for a moment, then opens the door and walks away, only allowing you to see the hint of his lips quirking before they extend into a full smile before he leaves.

Doo do-do doodoo doodoodoodoodoo.

^Anyone know that song?XD