Mina was late. Nico had expected him to be the last to arrive, considering the time he spent fixing his appearance before arriving here. He was eager to see what she thought of his latest garment. It was completely overkill to use it at an informal dinner at the cantina, but that was exactly the point.

As expected, he was a magnet for all nearby eyes. The obvious reactions were the expected mix of jeers, amusement and stares. He made appropriate responses to his audience. A theatrical bow to the girls who giggled at him. A kiss blown to a guy that glared at him.

A group of four boys openly derided him. He had no doubt they'd show their dislike in a more physical fashion if they were anywhere else. But here on the campus, deriding him was all they dared to do. He turned away from them in the most dramatic way possible, just to make it extra clear he ignored them. Unsurprisingly, it did nothing to improve their mood.

He noted some attraction, mostly from the usual suspects. In addition, two girls and a guy he was unfamiliar with. He committed the guy to memory. Potentially someone to seek out later.

Practically everyone knew of him. The gay one. Well, the openly gay one. He knew more than a dozen other gay guys, and suspected several others, too. That was not even mentioning the bisexuals and the lesbians. But he was the one that matched or even exceeded all their prejudices.

The flamboyant one.

After he was involuntarily outed out, he stopped hiding and embraced it instead. He had always been fascinated by Eric, the headmistress’ secretary at Dawn hill, and kept an eye on him for many years. When he got outed, he started emulating that behavior, but very soon he cranked it up to eleven.

What started as a coping mechanism had grown into a lifestyle. Whenever a choice presented itself, he would always choose the option that most closely resembled the stereotype. He gave people what they expected and then some.

What most failed to understand was that the effeminate gay stereotype had few roots in reality. Despite what people thought, most gays were not attracted to femininity. Why would they be? Then they wouldn't be gay. Most gay people got turned on by the opposite, masculinity. But who gave a flying toss about reality? Certainly not prejudiced people taught by the popular media.

It was quite entertaining to see how people reacted, or often failed to react, to his theatrics. The shock value quickly wore off, so he constantly had to outdo himself to get the desired effect. It had to stop at some point, but not today!

How would he have acted if he hadn’t been outed? Probably a lot more subdued. Did it matter, really? This was who he was now. He had always had fun pretending to be flamboyant in the company of friends, and now he could do so publicly, too. All in all, a net positive. Only for the price of a few lost friendships.

On the topic of a friend that had not betrayed him, there was Mina. The attraction towards him was obvious. The lines clearly drew her towards him. She was a very useful test subject to interpret the different lines of attraction, since she didn’t harbor romantic feelings for him. If she did, he would have known by now. One of the few advantages of her easily leaking her feelings.

He mimed throwing a lasso at her, and then pretended to pull in the rope as she approached. She, in turn, mimed reloading a pump action shotgun and blasting his head off. He mimed putting on a new head.

"I have to warn you, Glitterboy," she said with an amused smile, "if you've turned into a mime, I have to put you out of your misery."

He just mimed shock.

She pretended like she had an idea, and then drew invisible lines around him.

"Now you're caught in an invisible box, which only prevents mimes from passing through. I'm hungry. Come join me when you're ready."

He did his best 'how could you?' impression, which she ruthlessly ignored. With no other option, he shrugged and pretended to take off his coat, hung it up and followed her.

"Welcome back," she dryly commented when he caught up with her in the queue. "I have to say, that is quite an outfit."

"Ah, and here I was afraid you wouldn't notice."

“Yeah, there's always the risk that I suddenly contracted acute blindness. Otherwise, I don't see how it's possible not to notice it."

"So, what do you think?"

He made a twirl, showing off his current attire. Mina looked amused.

“You look like a contestant from the Eurovision Song Contest,” she said, “Is that supposed to be a Victorian style outfit under all the glitter and color? I’m surprised no one has gotten an epileptic seizure from looking at you.”

He made a deep, elegant bow. Considering the Eurovision Song Contest was a favorite among gays, he took it as a compliment. He would be the first to admit his outfit was not particularly nice. It was created for the shock value, and at that it succeeded. Maybe he’d go for something based on a tutu next.

"How many outfits did you bring to this place?" Mina asked, "Last time I checked, there weren't a lot of shops around here."

"I get them delivered, of course. Like everything else in life, money and connections can solve all your problems."

"Gee, that sounds nice. I'll have to try that sometime."

"You should. Though you should beware, they say money can't buy love."

"I've heard that. But money can buy chocolate, which is a good second best."

"Beware of diabetes. I’d personally rank sex higher.”

"Color me surprised. No, wait, don't."

“I’m confident your ranking list is going to change once you lose some of your inhibitions. Not all of them, though, the world is not ready for that."

“I can already imagine it. During the day, she’s a prudent girl. But at night, she becomes… the Werewoman!”

“The werewoman?”

“Got any better suggestions?”

“Plenty. But nothing for your underage ears.”

“Let me guess, they involve derogatory terms for females?”

“Maybe. Anyway, I’m going to be sorely disappointed if what you describe is not the plot of at least dozens of porn flicks.”

“I’m sure your faith in humanity is not misplaced in that regard.”

Among their group of friends, Mina was absolutely the lowest in terms of affluence. Everyone else came from unveiled families. Kiri was the closest one to Mina, but still ahead of her. He knew she barely had enough to go around yet seemed for the most part not bothered about it. Admirable for sure.

“I’m sweating just looking at you,” Mina said, “How did you survive the blazing sun?”

“With my sparkling parasol, my sweet chocolate cake. I’ll show it to you afterwards.”

They both picked Chicken Shawarma for dinner. She added a big slice of chocolate cake for dessert. Or were those two pieces stuck together? The way she avoided meeting his eyes spoke volumes about her feeling of guilt. It was sad to watch, really. As her friend, he didn’t care what she weighed or how she looked. He’d support her regardless. More than likely, she had gotten comments or ‘feelings’ from others which made her feel self-conscious. He’d try to bring up the topic in private later.

“So, on a scale from one to hell, how bad was the test?” Nico said as they sat down on a table. It was a common, recurring PE test. He had done it six times since he started here.

“Well, I’m still alive,” she sighed. “That’s a plus.”

“Oh? What was your time?”

“18 minutes, 43 seconds. Last by a wide margin. And I still got praised, if you can believe it.”

“Do tell! I’m all ears.”

“Well, after I forced myself across the finishing line, I threw up on the track. And then the teacher, Richard, praised my effort.”

“He did? He always clamps up when I’m nearby.”

“Let me take a wild guess. He’s a complete homophobe, and you’re doing everything you can to make him uncomfortable? But since we’re not living in prehistoric times anymore, he’s not allowed to treat you like dirt anymore?”

He put his hand to his forehead like a faux fainting.

“What an absolute tragedy! Those poor, poor teachers can’t even get away with calling me faggot anymore. This must be the end of the world as we know it.”

“The sarcasm is strong with this one,” Mina said in good spirits.

For all Mina was in tune with others’ feelings, she could be woefully out of touch with her own. When he had pointed out that she seemed lonely, she had been completely blindsided. She was obviously missing her friends from Dawnhill. This place was a lot more competitive and hostile, and with hardly any friends and a lot of hostility, she was often down. At least she had Alysia the Amazon on her side, and the other girl, whose name escaped him.

They talked pleasantly throughout dinner. Nico made sure they stayed on relatively safe topics. As much as he burned to share the latest news with her, he had to wait until they were out of earshot of other people.

He asked for and got one of the chocolate cake slices. It tasted good, but more importantly, she didn’t need to feel self-conscious about eating cake while her dinner date watched. As a bonus, he had an excuse to give her some pocket change for the cake.

He retrieved his parasol from the storage box on his way out.

“I admit it looks rather nice,” she conceded, “but also expensive. How much?”

“Do you really want to know? ‘Cause I sure don’t. You know my family is rather affluent, right?”

“I'm starting to get the impression that everyone here except for me is rich."

"Probably not far from the truth."

They walked out the door side by side. It was early evening by now, making the temperature a lot more tolerable, even without the parasol.

"So, how does your family fit into the 'hierarchy of affluence’?"

“I’m not privy to the exact numbers myself, but we’re definitely in the top 5%. I guess most of the students here belong to the top 10%, so it’s not that different from most others here.”

"I'm surprised you get to see any of that money, considering you're born out of wedlock."

"Well, it's a complicated and pointless story. The short answer is that my father encourages competition among his children, so I’m not left completely dry. Enough about that.”

“You’re awfully evasive every time the topic is brought up. What sacrifice would be required to learn more of you, oh great prophet.”

“Your firstborn will probably suffice.”

Thankfully he could joke about these kinds of things to Mina, and be certain she actually understood it was a joke. Some people were just too thin-skinned for their own best.

“One day, Nico… I’ll pry open your secrets. Until then; if you had the money, how come you used to live a relatively humble life at Dawnhill?”

“I didn’t want to alienate everyone. White people don’t like others being richer than themselves. And many people of color feel submissive around rich people. I wanted to blend in.”

“I guess that makes sense. And now…?”

“Now I don’t give a flying fuck anymore. I’m fabulous, darling!”

Besides, he had a lot of friends now. All of them gay, lesbian or at least bi-curious. As the most openly guy around, he seemed to attract others like honey to bees. Even those that weren’t really into him would often seek him out, just to have someone to talk to.

Too bad most weren’t really compatible with Mina. Oh, they could be polite and all that, but Mina’s hypersensitivity meant that she picked up on all their often repressed emotions, and she was not too fond of it herself.

He stopped and stretched, making sure to show off his butt. It was really just an excuse to see if anyone followed them. If he could unnerve someone watching, that was a bonus. He didn’t want to share the news with anyone else if he could help it. No one seemed to be actively following them, but they were still not completely in the clear, so he changed topic again while they strolled on.

“Yesterday, we had shooting practice. Ever held a weapon before, Mina?”

“No, and frankly, I would probably be happy if it stayed that way. Too bad it’s mandatory in the second year.”

“Right. Has no one told you that you can’t hate something before you’ve tried it?”

“I’m pretty sure that saying applies to food, and not instruments of violence.”

“I’ll be the first one to agree with you that guns are dangerous. But they can be fun, too. My family went clay pigeon shooting before we started here. It was pretty entertaining, actually. You feel like a total badass the first time you nail your target. Never mind that I missed ten times before that.”

“Pretty sure I’m going to miss twenty times and then give up, myself.”

They had reached one of the concrete obstacles that could function as a bench with some goodwill. Nico sat down and looked around nonchalantly. Finally, no one was nearby.

“Never mind that, now. I’ve got news. Juicy news. So fresh they’re still dripping.”

Mina sat down next to him. She didn’t look particularly surprised. Knowing her, she had probably picked up on it based on some weird hint already.

“Okay, I’m all ears. Unless it’s about someone taken with their pants down.”

“Not that kind of news. Although I always love gossip about someone getting taken literally with their pants down…”

“I know. Earth to Glitterboy, you had something important to share.”

“I haven’t forgotten. Listen, this is super secret, okay? Someone could get into serious trouble if this were to leak early. Not me, really, the one I heard it from.”

“My lips are sealed. Remind me to ask how you learned this information if it’s such a big deal.”

“My otherworldly sexiness. That’s all you’re getting out of me.”

“Nico, are you fucking any of the teachers?”

Nico mentally sighed. That was the problem with having Mina as a friend. It was near impossible to keep secrets. He could try to lie, but that would just annoy her.

“I solemnly swear I am not fucking any of the teachers.”

“Someone else on the staff, then?”

“Techically, he is doing the fucking…”

Mina sighed. “I know you’ve turned eighteen, but it’s still not okay for one of the staff to have a sexual relationship with one of the students.”

“It’s not an old pig, if that’s what you’re wondering about. Don’t worry about it. I can assure you that, despite me being fucked in the ass, I’m getting the better deal out of it.”

He loved sprinkling in dirty phrases like that. It was always funny to see his conversation partners unnerved. Too bad Mina was mostly immune to it.

“I’ll take your word for it. So, what is the actual news, besides the budding scandal that soon will get one of the staff fired?”

He had no particular reason to get the guy fired. On the other hand, he had plenty of blackmail material ready should he try anything untoward.

“Okay. Strap yourself in. A small group of students will be chosen to participate in an extra-dimensional expedition!”

That surprised even his cynical friend.

“Extra-dimensional? They are planning to send students through one of the gates? Are you serious?”

“Look at me, girl. Does it ever look like I’m not serious? Wait, don’t answer that.”

“Okay, more details. Who? Where? When?”

“Calm your tits, girl. I’ll share all I know."

Nico retold everything he had heard: Over the course of the following weeks, there would be a selection process in which a large group of students were narrowed down to a smaller number. The final group would be allowed to enter a gate and visit an alien world as guests for a short period.

“I’ll admit that sounds interesting. So many questions...” Mina said, “For a start, how is the initial group chosen?”

“I don’t know, exactly. My partner in crime had some clues, though. Age is irrelevant, so you're just as likely to be chosen as the third-years. There are three other deciding criteria; ‘course’, ‘potential’ and ‘predictability’. And guess what? With ‘course’, they mean ours! This is only for the diplomacy course students. We’re the best! And with ‘we’, I of course refer to ‘I’, but you’re not too bad yourself.”

Mina snickered.

“Yes, the royal ‘we’, the correct way to describe you. Did your friend know any more details about the other two criteria? There are dozens of ways to evaluate potential, and I don’t even know what they mean by predictability.”

“Nope, he lacked all the details. But fret not! The initial group is big! Like, possibly half the students on our course. No doubt we’ll be picked, don’t worry about it.”

“I wouldn’t say I was worried, but ok. And the next step in the process, the narrowing… what about it?”

“Well, that’s a bit more iffy. There will be a group of full-fledged agents that come here to evaluate us, and it's up to their discretion who gets eliminated and who stays.”

“Wow. I hope they are super professional or they have some oversight, otherwise this could turn into Bribe City. Population: Not me.”

“Listen to you! If you were a superhero, I’d dub you Pessimist Girl. ‘The robbers are breaking into the bank. What do we do?’ ‘It doesn’t matter, everything will probably end up in the shitter anyway.’”

“Maybe I could share my point of view with the robbers? 'You know how this will pan out right? One of you will get too greedy and backstab the others. Or one of you gets caught and snitches on the others and everything falls apart. Just go smoke some weed instead.'"

"Hey, that sounds almost watchable. Original, at least. Anyway, I will obviously be chosen, because of course I will."

“Humility, thy name is certainly not Nico.”

“How dare you! I resent that accusation. I humbly accept that I am not perfect in all ways. Just in all the ways that matter.”

“Right. Of course, Arrogant Boy.”

“I prefer Flamboyant Boy, if you don’t mind.”

“Let me guess, you’re going to dazzle the villains with your fabulousness and then take the sexiest man home?”

“Why limit myself to one? My desire to rid the villains of their evilness knows no bounds. Or perhaps just my desire to ride the villains.”

They shared a snicker at the horrible jokes. One advantage with a friend who didn’t get easily rattled was that you could freely share dirty jokes.

“Now, if you do your best, I’m sure you too can join me on this glorious adventure to a foreign world! I hope the aliens are as fuckable as they are in schlock movies.”

“I hear you have your priorities in order. To be serious for a moment; I can easily see you being chosen. Your ability to notice attraction would help give a clue how the aliens feel about us. Assuming it works on aliens?”

“I don’t see why it shouldn’t. It works on animals.”

“Good point. I can’t say I have your confidence. I mean, I can barely parse the feelings of animals, outside the very obvious ones.”

“Have some ambition, will you? Or just some curiosity. Tell me honestly, would you pass on the chance to go to an alien world?”

She paused, considering it for a moment.

“It sounds equally scary and interesting. The finger on the scales is Mom. Who knows how long this might take, with the training and the trip and everything. I don’t want to leave her alone.”

He had met Mina’s adopted mom once, before she got cancer. It was heart wrenching to see how quickly a life could be fucked up. It wasn’t just the cancer, it was also some settlement with an ex. She had sold off the farm and still fallen into debt. Nico had convinced his father to put some weight in and scare the ex, without informing Mina. But even with that out of the way it was still not good tidings. The two rounds of chemotherapy had taken a serious toll on her body. She had no real income, and had moved in with a friend to not wind up on the streets. He would have stepped in if that happened, but his father had forbidden him from going overboard.

“Come on. Stop moping and think for a moment. What do you think she’d rather see before she kicks the bucket? That you stayed as much as possible by her side, or that you succeeded so she wouldn’t have to worry about you anymore?”

Mina sighed.

Suddenly, waves of sorrow and regret washed over him. His breath quickened, his eyes teared up. Everything was just despair.

“I guess it would be good for her to see me succeed,” she muttered.

“Mina! You’re leaking!”

“Sorry, sorry,” she apologized. The torrent of misery dried up, leaving only a tiny stream left.

He had been the target of Mina’s projections a lot of times. At this point, he was pretty good at both recognizing and resisting her attempts. But spontaneous feelings like this where she acted unconsciously? Those slipped right past his defenses.

“It’s fine, girl. If you can control it, your talent would be great for alien diplomacy.”

“I’m not sure. Maybe they will consider it a sort of attack? I see the potential for a diplomatic disaster if I am to join the group.”

“A little less pessimism, please. It’s not like they’ll be sending us to anything real important. They’ll just have us tour whatever place we end up in, letting us soak in as much as possible. Why would you even think they’d let a group of students handle the serious stuff?”

“That’s a good point, actually.”

“Obviously. Did you forget who you’re speaking to?”

“I bow to your infinite wisdom and sexiness.”

“That is appropriate. I accept your offer to build a temple for this God of Fabulousness.”

“Okay, maybe you can dial it down a notch now.”

He pretended to be offended, but didn’t protest.

“So, anything more you can tell me about this selection process?” she asked.

“No, I think that’s about it. No worries, we’ll learn about it really soon.”

“Say… not that I know anything about the world of alien diplomacy, but isn’t it kind of strange that they would prepare potential participants for that only weeks in advance? In human politics, at least, these things are planned months in advance, often years.”

Nico shrugged.

“Maybe? I hadn’t thought about that, to be honest.”

“Well, thanks for the heads-up, regardless. I’m heading back to the dorms, provided my legs are still heeding my call. How about you?”

“I’m afraid I have to leave you on your own, Sweetie-pie. You see, I have a date.”

“Oh? Are we talking about the staff guy?”

“We’re not a thing. This time, it’s Michael, a third year from the combat course. Doubt you know him. Splendid flexibility. He’s even able to suck his…”

“STOP! I get it. No need to elaborate. Good luck on your date, and try not to catch any STDs. It would be possibly the stupidest way to not be allowed to join the expedition.”

“Don’t worry, I’m the epitome of carefulness, too.”

Mina just rolled her eyes and left.