Chapter Text
Micro pulled up outside Thomas’s apartment building, his heart beating a little faster than usual. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but he hoped this study session wouldn’t be a total disaster. When Thomas opened the door, there was a brief, awkward pause, neither of them quite sure what to say. Thomas stepped aside and motioned for Micro to come in.
As they walked through the apartment, Micro couldn’t help but notice how empty it was. The walls were bare, the rooms echoing with silence, almost like no one really lived here. It felt strange, but also kind of peaceful in a way. Then they reached Thomas’s room, and everything changed. The space was alive with personality: posters plastered on the walls, vines wrapped in soft LED lights snaking around the ceiling, rows of vinyl records lined up perfectly by the record player, and shelves crowded with figurines and collectibles. Micro’s eyes lingered on the details, a pang of envy hitting him. He wished he had the freedom to decorate his own space like this, to make it truly his.
His own room was very minimalistic. It wasn’t anything special; it had a desk with a simple office chair and his closet.
They both dropped down onto the floor in the middle of the room, settling into a comfortable silence for a moment. Then, breaking the quiet, Micro asked about Thomas’s family. Thomas shrugged. “Well, my father is completely absent. I haven’t seen him since I was five, and, well, my mother is a workaholic. As for the topic of siblings, I’m an only child.”
“What about you?” the brunette asked, clearly invested in what he had to say.
“Uhm—” he hesitated at first, then, “Well, my father is a workaholic, and as for my mother, she’s absent as well.” Micro huffed. “For siblings, I don’t have any. I guess you can count Saps, my cousin, but yeah, that’s it.”
“Huh.” Thomas caught the look on his face and said, “Guess we do have one thing in common at least.”
Micro didn’t like the way Thomas said it, like they might never really get along. “Don’t say it like that,” he replied quickly. “I’m sure we have more than one thing in common.”
Thomas grinned and leaned back on his hands. “Okay then, Micro ghost, what do you like in terms of, quote-unquote, nerdy interests?” he said as he made quotation marks with his hands.
Micro smiled, feeling a little more relaxed. “Well, I really like the TV show ‘Trained Life.’”
Thomas’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re messing with me? dude that’s my favorite show.”
“Nope,” Micro said. “I’m really into the whole murder mystery theme. It’s super cool.”
“Okay then, who’s your favorite character?”
“Timothy Von Kruger,” Micro answered without hesitation.
“No way,” Thomas said, shocked. “He’s my favorite too.”
“See? We do actually have something alike,” Micro said, feeling a little victorious.
Thomas tilted his head, curious. “Hmm, what’s your favorite thing about him?”
“Well, he’s really fucking gorgeous, for one, and the character overall is awesome—” Micro began to ramble about the character.
Then Micro said something that made Thomas freeze. “You know, you look like him a lot, like you could be mistaken for his twin.”
Thomas immediately felt his cheeks turn a shade of pink. Was he implying he was gorgeous too? the brunette thought.
“We’re getting extremely off track,” Thomas said quickly, trying to change the subject. “Did you get your math textbook?”
“Uh, yeah, one sec,” Micro said, pulling the book out of his bag.
They got to work, the earlier awkwardness melting away as they studied together. It all fell into place; the nerves from earlier completely disappeared. It was as if it had always been like this.
While Thomas was multitasking, clearly focused on his own work in front of him, Micro was too busy trying not to look at Thomas. His brows would furrow while he was thinking, and he would slightly nibble the eraser of his pencil. His hazelnut-colored eyes would light up whenever he finished calculating the answer, like he had won a prize. Micro was supposed to be finishing a really ‘hard’ practice question, but how could he when there was a really cute brunette in front of him, with most of his attention, in his defense.
After the session, Thomas walked Micro to the door. “Hey, thanks for helping me study.”
“Yeah, of course. Oh, and message me whenever you want the next session to be,” Thomas replied with a smile on his lips.
Micro found that that smile was deadly. He was about to start short-circuiting because of that. When Thomas’s smile faltered, he realized that he was staring at the brunette.
“You—you’re really nice to talk to, by the way. Uhm- uh- see ya!” Micro said quickly as he turned and speed-walked away. God, I was staring for too long, wasn’t I? He swore he heard Thomas chuckle as he left, feeling embarrassed. Once he calmed down, Micro hoped that maybe this could be the start of a good friendship.
From then on, Micro would come to study at Thomas’s house four times a week, and the two only got closer and more comfortable around each other. They spent ten minutes at the start of each session on Wednesdays talking about the newest episode of ‘Trained Life.’
Micro’s grades on quizzes saw mild improvement. The session after he got his quiz grade included ice cream along with the studying as a reward from Thomas. But the real reward for Micro was seeing the brunette without him looking stressed over work and just enjoying himself. He liked seeing Thomas.
One day, a week before finals, when everyone was stressed and cramming hard, Thomas was helping Micro understand complex numbers during a study session. As the pressure of the upcoming exams weighed on them, Micro suddenly looked up and asked, “Hey, Thomas, do you wanna go out once finals are over?” Thomas lifted his head up from the textbook, and before Micro could look at his reaction or wait for his response, he added, “As friends, of course.”
“That’d be nice,” he simply replied, and went back to explaining.
Micro was over the moon. He really wanted to get to know Thomas more, his favorite drink, his favorite spot, or personality-wise. But he was also dreading that day.
For now though, he had to focus on the upcoming finals, along with a big football game against the rival school.