"That is it for today. Make sure to contact your group members before Wednesday. Can't have you guys slacking."

Professor Aino stood at the front of the classroom behind a podium. With a projection of their class assignment across the board. Áurea took this moment and gathered her belongings into her taupe-colored mesh tote bag. The sounds of rushing students and airy chatter reverberated off of auditorium walls. Áurea turned around only to bump into someone's chest, a common occurrence she is now noticing.

"Woah there, Rea."

To Áurea, the person's voice sounded like the embodiment of a warm summer in the South. She recognized the voice and the hint of flowery peach perfume. Standing right in front of her in a yellow two-piece mini skirt and blazer with black trimming paired with a white blouse underneath was Ai. Áurea's best friend was gently holding both of her arms gracefully⏤she never questions how, but she began to pick up the fact Ai was graceful with all of her actions⏤and towered over her in black pumps.

She had a love-hate relationship with Ai, unbeknownst to the Japanese-American. She loved her as a person, hated the fact she felt inferior to Ai. Ai was everything Áurea wasn't. Beautiful, had the underside of her hair dyed white⏤Áurea wished she could do without dealing with her kinky curls⏤, compassionate, straight-A student, and friendly. She always wore clothes that made her look like she belonged in a high-class environment without spending the high-class type of money. Áurea wanted to be that but settled for wearing 90s inspired jeans and oversized graphic tees.

Ai knew she was beautiful and Áurea knew she was an acquired taste. Being black in Japan did not broaden her dating pool as much as she liked. In America, she knew in some places she might have been the standard. In Japan, only girls that looked like Ai were the standard. These nasty thoughts kept Áurea from being heartbroken if Ai ever thought she wasn't good enough. Self-deprecating, she knew that.

"Sorry, Ai didn't see you there."

"Don't sweat about it! I just came over to ask who you got for the project."

Walking towards the back of the class, Áurea pointed behind her back to a shaggy hair man hunched over his laptop, rapidly typing away like there's no tomorrow. This action received a snort from Ai.

"Bless your heart. Trust that you will get an A, but at what cost."

"Who cares. Who'd you get?" Áurea asked while reaching into her bag for a phone. Since that night, she noticed that she stopped getting texts from the bathroom guy. Áurea would sooner jump off a bridge than admit the fact that it saddened her. She thought to herself that maybe she shouldn't have threatened the man's life. He might not have deserved it, but it left Áurea with a good feeling in her chest, knowing she didn't shy away from a challenge. This challenge being, do not let a man walk all over you, something taught to her by her papai.

"Hanzo Hoshino." With Ai's southern drawl and the way, she pronounced the name seemed almost, almost sultry. A shit-eating grin slowly mounted onto her face.

"Who?"

"Come on! Only the guy I have been raving about for the past two weeks."

"Oh, him and the thirty other guys you have talked about; My favorite had to be the 50-year-old man from the grocery store."

"Get off it, you warugaki. For your information, Shimada-san is 45 and a DILF."

Ai hooked her arms with Áurea and went towards the exit. They walked past a man at the edge of his table, gathering his books. To Áurea, he looked eerily familiar but could not for the life of her figure out why. She made a face of displeasure which caused her eyebrows and nose to scrunch up. An unattractive facial expression she made way too often unconsciously.

"Now, now don't make that face at me. I reckon that he is packing." Ai replied in response to the face Áurea was making. Misunderstanding the reasoning behind it and made a crude sexual gesture. Now Áurea made the same face just at the implication Ai had about a man old enough to be her father. This thought caused a shiver to run down her spine. She could never picture dating a man who was the same age as both her parents. She suspected this thought process had to do with Ai's daddy issues, but she wasn't going to be the one to open that pandora's box.

"Nasty, Ai. Just straight nasty."

"Whatever hunny bun." Ai managed to pinch both of Áurea's cheeks when Áurea grunted and rolled her eyes at the aforementioned nickname. Ai always made it her mission to give Áurea weird nicknames in favor of seeing the ridiculous reactions she received.

The conversation between the Áurea and Ai never stopped, even when they made it up the stairs to their apartments. Not wanting to end their conversation, the girls decided to enter Áurea's apartment. The most guest-friendly apartment. Ai, no matter how neat she presented, did not have a clean apartment.

"I am telling you, Robert Downey Jr. could get it-oh hello, my pretty kitty." Ai proclaimed for all of the residences of their complex to hear. Artemis, as usual, welcomed the girls home, rubbing his body along their legs and weaving in and out. He stopped to meow up at Ai, kneading her shoes for attention.

Ai reached down to grab Artemis from the ground before continuing, "I mean, did you see him, Iron Man? What a hottie."

"Ai, I know that you know that I love you with my whole heart," she connected her dark brown eyes to Ai's even darker brown eyes, "but I have to judge you. What is up with you and men who are the same age as your otou-san?"

Before Ai could defend herself, a ping sounded off of Áurea's phone. Both girls looked down at the phone. A confused look appeared on Ai's face; she knew Áurea didn't have any friends outside of her⏤she tried to get the girl to socialize with their classmates but failed⏤she also knew that the Nikiforov Reyes family was sound asleep.

"Did I forget to mention that I wrote my number in the bathroom stall at the club on Saturday?"

"Áurea! You did not!" Áurea gave the giggling girl a sheepish look before telling her more information.

"It gets better. It was the men's bathroom." This new information had Ai laughing so hard she had to steady herself on Áurea.

"That-is-so-out-of-character-for-you." With every word that slipped out of Ai's lips, she had an intake of air to steady her breathing.

"I know, but this number texted me. We've been texting since Saturday." Áurea omitted the fact that she mildly flirted with the anonymous texter.

"Well, let's see what he has to say."

▐ AUTHOR'S NOTE

Word count: 1154

I was thinking what Hogwarts houses they would be in and I knew immediately Hanzo was Slytherin and Ai was Hufflepuff (if this was a Harry Potter AU, the sorting hat would be stuck between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw for her). When it came to Áurea, I was stumped. Then I remembered that the house attributes are things you valued and not just how you present. Áurea is 100% Gryffindor without a doubt. I do love Slytherin and Ravenclaw's relationship more, but the way I write my characters build on their own.

Story translations:

Warugaki ⏤ brat

San ⏤ honorific that you add to an ending of a name to be respectful

Otou-san ⏤ dad

Story references:

Professor Aino ⏤ Another Sailor's Moon easter egg. She is based on Minako Aino (Sailor Venus) from Sailor Moon.

Shimada-san ⏤ For Hanzo Hoshino, I was stuck between using Hanzo as a first name or using Shimada as a last name. Since I went with the first name I knew I had to reference the Shimada last name. Shimada-san is based on the Shimada brothers (Hanzo and Genji) from Overwatch.