The report is perfectly formatted in APA. It’s creative, witty, and a little cheesy. A literature review of poetry or quotes that reminded Jason of Clive and figures that include text message conversations with Farrah and his other friends. A conclusion that Jason is an idiot and deserves to be in the dog house but truly wants to be in Clive’s life.
Clive reads it again. And again. He picks up his phone, stares at it, and then falls asleep on the couch with it clutched in his hands, the corners wrinkled from how much he’d flipped through it. He doesn’t touch the dinner Jason left, outside of putting it in the fridge (because he would never disrespect Jason’s food by letting it go bad) and doesn’t even bother changing outside of the clothes he’d worn to the university.
The next day, he does something he hasn’t done in years. He calls in sick.
A modern day AU where Clive is a lonely researcher and Jason works part time at a dumpling soup shop and at an office supply store.
Clive only goes out for three things - food, office supplies, and basic necessities. Somehow he runs into Jason doing all three of these. And somehow, the chef/server who will let Clive rant about his research, coworkers, the university (all while looking very interested), remembers his name and says hi to him every time they see each other.