Chapter Text
Science had never been Wylan's favorite subject, but it had always been one he advanced in. Chemistry, especially, because word problems were few and far between. He just had to memorize the components, easy as that.
This was why he was going to win the senior division of his school's science fair, just as he’d won the junior division the year before, and second place the year before that.
He walked into his science classroom exactly three minutes before the bell rang, sliding into his seat and setting his notebook neatly on his desk. It was a deep green, and the pages were filled with mostly doodles and scribbled nonsense.
Sighing, he leant back. His shoes scuffed the floor. Students filed into class, and he watched them, inspecting their faces. Upset, tired, chatting with friends, upset, extra tired, etc. Wylan kept his expression straight, staring vaguely toward the door.
At the last minute, a slender figure slid into the room. Tall and flustered, he smiled at the class.
Wylan scoffed. Jesper Fahey was almost always late. He was the most chaotic person Wylan had the displeasure of knowing, and he had been since freshman year. Most of the time, Wylan ignored him. And most of the time, he ignored Wylan.
This was one of those times. Wylan rolled his eyes softly, looking up at the teacher. She grinned at the class tiredly, tapping a marker against her whiteboard. “Good afternoon, class!” she said, just like she did every day. The class responded in mumbles.
Looking at the whiteboard, Wylan’s eyes lit up excitedly. The words ‘SCIENCE FAIR’ sat there in big, bold letters.
The teacher cleared her throat. “You all know what time it is,” she said, droning on with her usual spiel about the fair and the rules. Her mouth moved, yet Wylan heard nothing sans a few fleeting words. He was too busy thinking about his project, what he’d do to win.
Through his hazy daydreams of another award, another medal, another half-smile from his father, Wylan heard one simple sentence.
“Everyone will be partnered up this year.”
He laughed under his breath. God, what a funny thing for his mind to conjure up.
“Is something funny, Mr. Van Eck?” he heard, the soft voice of the teacher getting closer. He looked up.
“No,” he said, slow and easy.
She nodded. “Right, okay. Let’s pick partners, shall we? Groups of two to three, please! And they have to be in this class period, for my sake. Thank you!”
The classroom bustled around him, people getting out of their seats to collaborate. Wylan stayed in his, stunned.
This had to be some sort of sick joke.
After a few moments of sitting, he pulled himself from the chair and walked toward the teachers desk. “Hello, ma’am,” he said, as politely as he could. “There isn’t a chance I could work alone, is there?”
Before his teacher could answer, another voice rang out from beside him. Wylan startled. “Hey, how come we can’t work with other classes?” Jesper Fahey bounded up toward the desk, a frown on his lips. “Kaz and I-”
“Jesper, Mr. Brekker already has a group, and even if he didn’t, I wouldn’t let you work together,” said the teacher. She sounded half assumed, half tired.
“Then who am I supposed to work with?” Jesper looked around the room.
“Work with Wylan,” the teacher suggested, a torn look on her face. “He needs a partner.”
“Wait-” said Wylan.
“Uh, no?” interrupted Jesper.
She looked between the two of them, eyebrows raised. “It’ll be good for you, Mr. Fahey. Maybe you’ll have a passing grade for the project this year.” Then, she turned her head toward another pair of students, leaving Wylan and Jesper standing there awkwardly.
Jesper was the first to move. He gazed down at Wylan, an unreadable look in his deep eyes. “We don’t have a choice, do we?” he grumbled.
Wylan glanced at him, arms crossed. He said nothing.
“Wow.” Jesper laughed a little. “You’re stubborn, you know that?”
“I’m not,” said Wylan.
“You aren’t?”
Wylan rolled his eyes. “No. I’m thinking.”
With a slight nod, Jesper's lips curled into a smile. “Thinking?”
“Yeah,” Wylan snapped. “Something I suppose you don’t do often.” He watched as Jesper's smile fell. He didn’t care to apologize, not in the slightest. “Here’s how this is going to work. We do my idea,”
Jesper scoffed. “Disagree-“
“We follow my instructions,”
“Hard disagree-”
“And we win.”
At that, Jesper paused. “That’s the first agreeable thing you’ve said, like, ever.” He took his lip between his teeth, like he was having some sort of great debate in his head. “What if we did a volcano?”
Wylan stared at him blankly. “No,” was his immediate response. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not?” Jesper whined, shooting a little glare toward Wylan. “It’s one of the best science fair projects ever thought of.”
Sighing, Wylan glared back. “It’s boring, for one. And two, it’s not win-worthy. A 12 year old could make a volcano. It’s so easy.”
“Why does it have to be hard?” Jesper let out a huff, crossing his arms. “I’m sure we could win with, like, a big volcano.”
Wylan was two seconds away from throttling Jesper in the middle of the classroom. He took a breath, willing his temper down. “We can workshop it,” he grumbled.
Jesper grinned. “I’ll get the baking soda.”
~
Wylan sat waiting, hunched over his notebook. He scribbled furiously, one headphone in his ear telling him the information he needed to hear.
He glanced around, lowering the brightness on his computer, and clicked the next section of text to be read aloud.
As the clock ticked, he scanned his notebook. His numbers were all jumbled up, overlapping equations laid in scribbles on the page. He sighed.
“You’re going to hurt your neck like that,” came a voice, startling him from his text and making him jump in his chair. He looked over, frowning when he saw Jesper grinning at him ear to ear. “Seriously, Van Eck. Your posture is terrible.”
Wylan flushed a crimson and continued to frown. He spoke to Jesper in a hushed whisper. “We’re in a library,” he hissed. “And my name is Wylan.”
“Okay, Wylan,” said Jesper, his voice dropping down to match the whisper. “No one actually talks like this in the school library.”
“I do.” Wylan looked around. “Sit down.” He gestured toward the chair next to him. “We have work to do.”
“Bossy,” Jesper mumbled, sitting. He swung his legs over the chair, facing entirely the wrong way. The back of the chair pressed against his chest as he smiled over at Wylan. “We could’ve done this in class.”
Wylan rolled his eyes. “You were too busy flirting with the other groups, Jesper.”
Shrugging, Jesper smirked. “It’s not my fault they were doing a project on carbon dating. That’s the perfect pick up line!”
“You’re so stupid,” Wylan muttered, looking down at his notebook. “It was a terrible line.”
“Okay, Mr. Chemistry nerd.” Jesper hummed a little, like he was thinking. “Be careful, you might cause a reaction in my heart.”
Wylan did not blush at that. He stayed staring at his notebook.
Jesper continued. “Do you have 11 protons, sunshine? Because you’re sodium fine.” He paused, and Wylan could feel his grin. “Should I keep going?”
“No,” Wylan huffed. He tapped his fingers nervously on the table. “I’m surprised you even know the composition of sodium in the first place.”
Laughing, Jesper brushed off the remark. He leaned in toward Wylan, impossibly close. “Whatcha listening to?”
“Nothing.” Wylan closed his laptop as Jesper tried to peer at it, the screen slamming shut. He flinched at the sound, looking around to see if anyone had heard, and then turned back to Jesper. “Music.”
“Hm.” Jesper gave him a curious look. “Taylor Swift?” He watched as Wylan frowned. “What, not a swiftie? Let me try again. Classical stuff?”
“Sure,” said Wylan, trying to get Jesper to drop the question.
“Knew it,” Jesper hummed. “You have piano fingers.” He glanced at Wylan’s hands.
“Piano fingers?”
Jesper nodded, reaching out to catch Wylan’s wrist before he could pull it under the table. “The hands of a musician.”
His grasp was soft of Wylan’s skin, fingers grazing his wrist. Wylan swallowed, slowly pulling away. “Stop looking at my hands,” he muttered. “We have work to do.”
“We have over a month for this project,” said Jesper. “And a week before proposals are due.” He stared pointedly at Wylan. “I think we can take some time to chat.” Before Wylan could interject, he spoke again. “Maybe somewhere else, though. It’s too quiet in here.”
“It’s a library,” Wylan said. He watched as Jesper laughed.
“My point exactly.” Jesper stood, his chair squeaking and nearly tipping over with his quick movements. “Let’s get a coffee or something.” He held out a hand toward Wylan, fingers stretched downward. “Come on, sunshine.”
It took Wylan five seconds to give in. He grabbed his laptop and notebook, shoved them into his bag, and stood.
The two made their way out of the school library in silence. Jesper led Wylan to the parking lot, humming under his breath. “Do you drive?”
“No,” replied Wylan.
Jesper nodded. “Right, so we’ll take my car.” He pointed to an old jeep sitting alone in the senior spots. “She’s a beaut, isn’t she?”
Wylan simply agreed, eyeing the car. It looked nice enough, just a little rusted, the color worn down with time. “Does she have a name,” he asked, immediately regretting his question.
Smiling, Jesper took a long stride toward the car. “Her name’s Nina Jr.” He watched as Wylan’s eyebrows raised, and then laughed. “Names after the one and only Nina Zenik, of course. Da didn’t have a name when he drove her, but Nina insisted she get one.”
Wylan knew Nina Zenik. At least, he knew of her. She was a senior as well, and he’d had a few classes with her in previous years. They’d never really talked.
“Are you guys…” he trailed off. “Nevermind.”
Jesper barked out another laugh. “Dating? God, no. Nina is darling, but her heart belongs to another.” He pretended to faint dramatically, catching himself before he fell. “Plus, she’s not my type.”
Momentarily, Wylan wanted to ask what Jespers type was. He shook that thought from his head. “Where are we gonna go?” he asked, sliding into Jesper's car. It smelt of air freshener and fast food fries. “Which coffee place, I mean.”
“Crow club,” was Jesper’s answer, a quick thing that tumbled out into the air as he started the car. He turned to Wylan. “I get discounts.”