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Rohan hated science. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. He didn’t hate science, he just didn’t care to have more than surface level knowledge about it. Unfortunately for him, his university required that all undergraduates complete at least one science course, regardless of their major. The reasoning was that taking courses in all subject areas would produce more well-rounded, marketable professionals. Rohan didn’t see how taking a science class would make him a better illustrator, but the decision obviously wasn’t up to him.
This bullshit policy is how Rohan ended up in Intro to Bio as a junior illustration major. He sat in the rightmost row far enough back to avoid unwanted attention but close enough to the front that he could still see the board. Despite the fact that he did not want to be there, Rohan was determined to do well enough in the class that he wouldn’t have to repeat it.
Rohan was just pulling his notebook out of his messenger bag, when the most attractive man Rohan had ever seen sauntered into the lecture hall. He had silky dark hair held back by a flat-brimmed hat and was easily half a foot taller than Rohan. The man cleared his throat and said, “Good morning everyone, Dr. Komijiri is running a bit late so he wanted me to go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Kujo Jotaro and I’m a PhD candidate with the biology department. I’ll be your TA for the semester, so feel free to contact me if you need any help with the material. I’ll also be leading weekly optional review sessions, so don’t forget to take advantage of those.”
Jotaro wrote his name and email on the board then took a seat in the corner and pulled out his laptop. Rohan had a feeling he would be attending every one of those review sessions.
-
Four weeks into the semester, they had their first exam. Rohan came out of it with a solid D, and decided action needed to be taken if he was to pass the class with a C or above. He had been attending all the lectures as well as Jotaro’s weekly review sessions, yet he was still struggling to grasp the basic concepts. Rohan swallowed his pride and sent Jotaro an e-mail.
-
Rohan showed up five minutes early to the library study room where Jotaro had agreed to meet him to find his tutor already there. “You must be Rohan,” Jotaro nodded at the open seat beside him. “I’ve seen you at the review sessions.”
Rohan chuckled. “And you haven’t memorized my face yet? I’ve been told its not easily forgotten.”
Jotaro blushed. Blushed? “I recognize you,” he admitted. “I’m just horrible with names. I normally can only remember names of the students that I privately tutor.”
Rohan smirked. “Well, looks like I’m in luck then.”
Jotaro raised his eyebrows so they disappeared beneath the brim of his hat but said nothing. “Alright, so which concepts would you like to focus on today?”
Rohan pulled out the notebook with his bio notes and skimmed through it. “To be honest, I’m having a hard time even figuring out how to study for this class. I’m an illustration major, and this is the first science class I’ve taken since high school.”
Jotaro nodded. “Okay, do you remember how you studied in high school?”
Rohan snorted. “I didn’t. I skipped most days and barely squeaked through with a C.”
Jotaro laughed. Actually laughed out loud.
Rohan frowned. “Hey, don’t laugh at me. I’ve just always been an artist and have never cared much about any other subjects.” These STEM types could be so full of themselves.
“No, no,” Jotaro said quickly. “I wasn’t laughing at you. I was laughing because I used to skip classes all the time in high school.”
“Really?” Rohan asked skeptically. “But you’re about to be a doctor.”
Jotaro laughed again. Rohan decided he liked the sound. “Yeah, of marine biology. Biology was the only class I ever cared about enough to attend. But anyway, I can give you some study tips and then we can review the new lecture content. Sound okay?”
Rohan nodded.
“Okay, biology is unfortunately a lot of memorization, especially the introductory stuff. I like to make flash cards for the simpler stuff and spend time writing out the concepts that I need to focus more on. I still have my old flashcards that I made back when I took intro; I can bring them next time to show you, or you could even borrow them for a bit.”
“Yeah, that would be great, thanks.” Rohan was exceedingly glad that he had reached out to Jotaro for help. Not only was the TA stupid hot, but he also seemed to genuinely care about Rohan’s success.
“No problem,” said Jotaro. “So, in lecture on Monday, Dr. Komijiri introduced cellular respiration. This is usually one of the more confusing concepts for students, so I thought we could walk through what has been covered so far.”
“Okay…” said Rohan hesitantly.
“Don’t worry about remembering anything right now, and make sure to let me know if I’m going to fast or if you have questions.”
Rohan did his best to concentrate despite Jotaro’s close proximity. He tried to remember the different components of glycolysis, but the words pyruvate and fermentation meant little to him with Jotaro’s intent and encouraging gaze on him.
“Okay, so what is the input of glycolysis?” Jotaro asked.
“Glucose,” Rohan answered confidently. Finally, something he knew.
“Yup, and what is the output?”
Rohan frowned in concentration. “Is that the pyruvate?”
“Yeah!” Jotaro looked genuinely excited. “For every molecule of glucose, two pyruvate are produced. And do your remember how many ATP are produced?”
“I think it was two.”
“Close,” Jotaro replied. “Two ATP are used during glycolysis, and four are produced, giving a net production of two ATP.”
Rohan sighed. “You’re starting to lose me, Jotaro.”
Jotaro smiled gently. “That’s okay, how about we stop for today and meet up on Thursday? We’ve been here for an hour already.”
“Wow, really?” Rohan thought it had only been about twenty minutes. “Well thank you so much for helping me out, I really appreciate it.”
Jotaro shook his head. “No problem at all, Rohan.”
Rohan liked the way his name sounded in Jotaro’s deep voice. “You’re really good at this teaching thing. Do you want to be a professor?”
Jotaro blushed. “Maybe, but I really want to work in ocean conservation.”
Rohan was suddenly struck by what a genuinely good person Jotaro was. He volunteered his time to privately tutor students at no extra cost, and he wanted to save the oceans. What a big softie. Rohan was fucked.
-
A month later, it was the night before the second bio exam and Rohan was panicking. He had been studying several times a week with Jotaro and felt much more prepared than he had for the first exam, but he was still incredibly anxious.
Rohan sent Jotaro a text: Hey man I’m kind of freaking out about tomorrow’s test…are you free to help me cram? (Jotaro had given him his number a few weeks ago under the pretense of easier communication, and they had been texting frequently ever since.)
You don’t need to cram, Jotaro responded almost immediately. But yes I’m free.
Rohan smiled to himself and flopped back on his bed. I’m living in the upperclassmen apartments on the south quad, #234. You can come over asap.
Jotaro sent back a thumbs up emoji, and ten minutes later there was a knock on the door of Rohan’s small studio apartment.
“It’s open!” said Rohan. He rolled over just in time to see Jotaro walking through his door in a pair of sweats and a crop top. “W-What are you wearing?” Rohan spluttered.
“What? This?” Jotaro tugged at the hem of his top. “You wear shirts like this all the time.”
Rohan huffed. “Well, yeah. But I never expected to see you in a crop top.”
Jotaro rolled his eyes. “My ex cut all of my old sleep shirts like this. He was a bit obsessed with my abs, so I got used to wearing cropped shirts around the house.”
Rohan raised his eyebrows. Jotaro’s ex was a he. “Well, your ex was onto something. It suits you.”
Jotaro blushed and tugged the brim of his hat over his face. “Um, thank you Rohan.”
Rohan smirked. Feeling pleased with himself, he swiveled to sit cross-legged on his bed and patted the spot beside him.
“So, you’re really nervous about the test?” Jotaro asked, taking a seat beside Rohan on the bed.
Rohan sighed. “Yeah, I just feel like I’ll get to the test tomorrow and won’t remember anything.”
“It’s okay to be nervous, but I really don’t think you need to cram. You’ve studied a lot and have shown me that you know the content really well. Besides, I’m the one that runs the tests through the Scantron and inputs the grades, I could always fix your score.”
Rohan clasped his hand over his heart in mock horror. “Jotaro! I don’t think they give out doctorates to people with morals as low as yours.”
Jotaro laughed. “It’s a good thing I won’t have to then. Because you’re going to do fine.”
“Mmm, I don’t know,” Rohan mused. “I think you should give me a good luck kiss. Just to be sure.”
Jotaro blushed bright red and hid behind his hat but said: “If you really think it will help,” and pressed his lips against Rohan’s right cheek.
Rohan felt as though he had just shot-gunned 12 espressos, but he fought through the gay panic and turned to face Jotaro. “Just the cheek? How stingy.”
Laughing, Jotaro replied, “How ‘bout we make a deal. If you pass the test tomorrow I’ll give you a real kiss, and if you don’t, you have to watch as many ocean documentaries as I want with me.”
“Okay, that sounds like a fair trade.” Rohan decided not to mention that he would watch ocean documentaries with Jotaro as often as he wished.
-
Rohan showed up to the exam the next day to find Jotaro proctoring it.
When Rohan handed his test in, he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively just to make him squirm.
-
Two days later, Rohan was completing an illustration assignment at his desk when Jotaro barged through his door and marched right over to him. “Well hello,” Rohan quipped. “To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”
“You got an A,” he said simply, and bent over to kiss Rohan full on the mouth.