The halls always remained so unbelievably crowded, as per usual for a school as large as this one. Of course, most of the time, the amount of people crowding him, suffocating Herchel in a tight group or against a wall, usually correlated with his mood. The more people surrounding him, the more irritable he got. Fortunately, too many of the students milling about seemed too invested in their troubles to be paying any mind to him. Popularity wasn't a thing he valued high, but apparently he had at least a modicum of it. Guess that came with being a jock and a rich kid, both combinations that held such a high standard in high school. That Herchel could never really fathom.
With his slip up out of the way, Herchel felt more than glad to see a familiar face—well, one that actually knew him as Herchel and not Rich Kid McJockpants. "
Am I happy to see you," Herchel greeted the moment Reece approached him, tacking on a, "
Nerd," at the end of his sentence. Shoving him lightly and with a playful simper tugging his lips, Herchel mocked, "
You got my lunch money and-or drugs and-or alcohol? Or do I need to beat it outta you?"
After a small laugh, Herchel leaned against the wall, moving back some to avoid anyone who wanted to sit before class started. His mouth opened to speak, but it snapped shut the moment the other student stepped into few, taking up the space between he and Reece without a concern for the other guy. Well, stepping a few feet away from him didn't bode well and even though he did kind of slip into the crowd, it wasn't a surprise that he jumped right there two seconds later. He may or may not have heard the guy's shout, though the only thing that registered was the 'baby' part. He chose to ignore the, "Let's make this a thing," bit in light of greeting Reece.
If anything, Herchel had to give it to the kid. He was persistent, but this was likely a mark he'd lose traction over; there were plenty of
his kind around the school and plenty of them were also relentless in harassing Herchel. Of course, they usually stopped after the first week—there was a lady who kept it up for almost a month before calling him an 'Ass' and saying that he, 'wish he could tap this ass.' Hopefully, the guy currently pursuing him, wasn't at all like that. Another look at his face kind of shattered his hopes. This guy was almost definitely like that.
"
It's Herchel," was all he spared before looking around, hoping to maybe find the twins roaming before class. God, this was the exact time he wished they were being little shits. Of course, knowing Muriel, something likely told her that's exactly what Herchel wanted and, thus, she denied him that—Balthazar merely tagged along for lack of anything better to do.
One more look over and Herchel could only roll his eyes, his head dipping to the side a bit before leaning back to look down at the other student. They flicked up just for a moment to stare at Reece, a slight exasperated light in them. "
I feel like I know what you're looking for," he said, leaning down as his hand found their way to the small of Macius' back. He tugged him forward, nearly flush against him, before touching his cheek-to-temple and whispering, "
And I can tell you now: it's a long and barren road before you get even an inkling of affection from me. That's not even half of it, so I suggest you pack up what you can and walk away."
Leaning up, Herchel gave a curt pat to Macius' shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze. "Nice chat, bud," he finished before eyeing Reece and gesturing toward the class room. He gave a light bump to Macius' shoulder and a wink before slipping in and taking a seat near the middle. Herchel was nothing if not direct, but that was hovering on the side of flirtation and, hopefully, the other guy didn't take that as a hint to continue his likely tiring game.
