Ezra Cole was the kind of person who made every room feel safer just by being in it.
That was the thing about his older brother that Seb had always loved. Ezra had this way of standing like nothing could get past him. Warm eyes, easy smile, the kind of guy strangers asked for directions because he just looked like someone who would actually help.
So when Seb spotted him outside the dining hall that afternoon and Ezra's face did something complicated the moment their eyes met... Seb noticed.
He always noticed.
"Hey." Ezra pulled him into a hug, the kind that lasted a second too long. "You made it."
"You say that like you weren't sure I would."
"Long drive."
"Ezra. It was four hours."
"Traffic."
Seb pulled back and looked at him. His brother looked good. Same familiar face, a little older, a little more tired around the eyes maybe. He was wearing a Crestwood hoodie and had his hands in his pockets which was something Ezra only did when he was holding something back.
Both hands. Deep in his pockets.
"You okay?" Seb asked.
"I'm great. I'm happy you're here." He smiled and it was genuine. Mostly. "Come on let's get food. I want to hear about your first day."
They went inside and loaded their trays and found a table near the window. Marcus appeared out of nowhere like he always did, dropped his tray across from them and immediately started talking about his morning like they had asked him to.
"My roommate," Marcus said, stabbing at his food, "owns three different types of protein powder and has already told me his sleep schedule. His sleep schedule, Seb. Who tells a stranger their sleep schedule on day one."
"Some people are just organized," Ezra said.
"He color codes it. There's a chart."
"I think that's impressive," Seb said.
"I think that's terrifying." Marcus pointed his fork. "How was your morning?"
"Interesting."
"Define interesting."
"I met two people who already knew my name before I told them."
Ezra went very still for just a second. Just one second and then he was reaching for his drink and the moment was gone.
Seb filed that away.
"That's just Crestwood," Ezra said casually. "Word travels fast here. Scholarship students get noticed."
"Both of them felt like more than that."
"Who were they?"
Seb watched his brother's face. "Caspian Voss and Damon Ashford."
Nothing dramatic happened. Ezra didn't drop anything or choke on his food. He just took a slow sip of his drink and set it down carefully and said, "Hm."
Just hm.
"Hm," Seb repeated. "That's what you're going with."
"I'm just saying hm."
"You're saying hm in a very specific way Ezra."
"You're reading too much into a sound."
"I'm a criminology major. Reading into things is literally my career plan." Seb leaned forward slightly. "You know them."
"Everyone knows them. They're kind of hard to miss."
"Do you know them personally?"
Ezra met his eyes and for a moment something real sat right there on the surface. Something that looked a lot like guilt. Then his older brother smiled the way he always did when he was redirecting a conversation. Easy. Warm. Completely deliberate.
"Eat your food Seb. You just got here."
Marcus, who had been following this exchange with his fork halfway to his mouth, slowly lowered it. "Is something happening right now? Because it feels like something is happening."
"Nothing is happening," Ezra said.
"Something is definitely happening," Seb said.
"Can you two not do the twin thing you do. You're not even twins."
"We don't do a twin thing," Seb said.
"You absolutely do a twin thing. You just had an entire conversation with your eyes."
Ezra laughed and it broke the tension the way he always intended it to. He asked Marcus about his roommate and the color coded sleep chart and Marcus was off again, talking enough for all three of them.
But under the table Seb opened his notebook to a fresh page.
And wrote his brother's name at the top.
After dinner Ezra walked him back toward Greystone Hall. The campus was getting dark, old stone lanterns flickering on along the paths, the fog coming back thicker than the night before.
They walked quietly for a while the way brothers do.
"I'm glad you got in," Ezra said eventually. "Genuinely. This place... it's good for certain people."
"Certain people like me?"
"Certain people who notice things." He said it carefully. "Just... give it time before you start pulling on threads okay? Let yourself settle in first."
Seb looked at him sideways. "What threads?"
"Any threads."
"That's a very specific warning for something that's supposedly nothing."
Ezra stopped walking. They were at the fork in the path, one way leading to Greystone, the other going deeper into campus. He turned to Seb and for a moment the easy smile was completely gone. Just his brother's face, tired and honest in the lamplight.
"I need you to trust me for a little while," Ezra said quietly. "Can you do that?"
"I always trust you."
"I mean really trust me. Like don't investigate, don't push, don't make that board you definitely already have on your wall..."
Seb said nothing.
"Seb."
"I don't know what board you're talking about."
"You have one word written on it don't you."
"...it might say why."
Ezra closed his eyes for exactly one second. "Please."
The word landed different than Seb expected. Not frustrated. Not exasperated the way it usually was when Ezra said please about something. This one was quiet. Almost like it cost him something.
Seb studied his brother's face. "Ezra. What aren't you telling me."
"Nothing that you need to know right now."
"That's not the same as nothing."
His brother looked at him for a long moment. Then he pulled him into another hug, quick this time, and stepped back. "Go get some sleep. You've got class tomorrow."
He walked off in the other direction.
Seb stood at the fork in the path watching him go until the darkness swallowed him up.
Then he turned and walked back to his dorm.
Went straight to the paper on his wall.
Added his brother's name under the others.
Stood back and looked at all three names.
Caspian Voss. Damon Ashford. Ezra Cole.
Three people. First day. All of them looking at him like they were waiting for something.
He picked up his pen and drew a line connecting all three names.
Then in the middle of the triangle he wrote one question.
What do they know about me?
He stared at it for a long time.
Behind him Marcus came in, looked at the wall, looked at Seb, and said, "It grew."
"Go to sleep Marcus."
"It definitely grew."
"Goodnight Marcus."
Marcus got into bed, pulled his blanket over his head and said something that sounded like a goodbye to a normal life.
Seb turned back to the wall.
Three names. One question.
He was going to get an answer.