Chapter Text
. . .
You bit back a curse as you stared at the package for your summer research opportunity you had worked so hard to get, it promised to be an absolute dream for someone who loved the best northern sea mammal, the seal. In Newfoundland and Labrador and the east coast of Canada was a gathering of similar-minded individuals doing empirical research on behavioural patterns, migration routes, and not to mention some newly discovered social convergence of several different species. Done in conjunction with a university in Canada, a team of graduate students and professors would be traversing the east coast up towards Nunavut, to experience a true arctic summer.
You were so excited, and you would’ve continued to be if that asshole Jotaro Kujo hadn’t decided to take part in the exact same trip. Even if you knew it wasn’t as if he followed you along, considering this was one of the better research opportunities that your university was partnering with, it didn’t make you seethe any less.
. . .
You and Jotaro started off on the wrong foot. There was no doubt about it because in theory the two of you should’ve gotten along great. It wasn’t just any day you found two people equally passionate about northern sea mammals, even if they were two different ones, expertise in the area meant a good amount of overlap. You were even part of the same animal conservation group in the beginning until the amount of butting heads the two of you did forced the president to boot both of you out. Deep inside you admitted he was pretty impressive, but damn you if you ever admitted it.
You were beyond excited to start school at this somewhat prestigious institution famous for their research opportunities and the first week had gone swimmingly with only minor hiccups. It wasn’t until you began meeting up with your research course that things began looking choppy. There was no way to deny that your eyes went to him first, but then you supposed everyone would do the same considering how he took up so much space both physically and in aura. A cap was pulled low over his face, making it difficult to see his features, but clad in a long dark coat that clung to his absurdly muscled frame and the legs that seemed to go on forever made it clear he was a head-turner anywhere.
The small group of twenty students hadn’t completely shown up yet, however, most of the undergraduates, all the grad students along with the professor were present. You could pick out the second years with a glance, their gazes darting cautiously around the faces and noting who would be safe to approach. They all avoided the tall male reclining quietly in the corner of the small seminar room.
A nervous-looking boy sends a nervous smile your way and you make an effort to send a friendly grin back, seeing the relief on his face was both amusing and gratifying. Bringing out a small notepad, you don’t anticipate too many important notes to be made in the first meeting, likely being a more of an overview and get-to-know-you session than any actual work.
Once the time before class elapsed, the professor cleared his throat slightly to get the attention of all the students, working like a charm and the hush that settled over the room was absurdly eerie. You couldn’t help but glance at that tall stranger in the corner again only to find a pair of sea-green eyes and a well-defined face staring right back at you. Your heart leaps to its throat and you jerk your attention away and back onto the still speaking prof.
“…as the semester draws on, we will be splitting the bulk of the research and writing into more manageable chunks to do separately. I want to accommodate everyone’s preferences but understand that we may not be able to, given the array of subject matter I want to cover.”
All this information was already noted in the course outline that you read last night, not to mention in the interview with the professor prior to the start of school. Specific dates were written messily on your notepad as you started to zone out slightly, eyes drifting along the distasteful pale green walls until they stopped on a younger girl sitting next to the intimidating guy. You almost felt a little pity for her, it was as if she was sitting on pins and needles as she forcefully kept her complete attention onto the professor.
When introductions came up, you didn’t pay too much attention to other people’s majors knowing you were likely to forget in the next few minutes. However, the rumbling voice of Jotaro seemed to pierce right through your attempt to remain distracted, husky in a decidedly dangerous way. Ugh, curse him for taking up so much space.
In the next moments with only around half an hour left of class, the professor had decided to pair off the class to get the younger students a chance to relax. To ensure there wouldn’t be any ‘discrimination’ the two graduate students each got a second-year student to chat with, making you realize that Jotaro was none other than the fellow grad student. The younger boy that you greeted earlier was paired with you and you don’t miss the look of relief that on his face, grateful that he wouldn’t be chatting up the scary ice block in the corner.
While you weren’t seated very close to each other, you could make out Jotaro’s conversation with his second-year as the girl babbled nervously about seals, “…the migration patterns are pretty interesting especially because they are able to accurately detect the right breathing hole to ensure survival. I don’t think any seal can survive far from the edge of Antarctica.”
You cringe, the poor girl was very wrong. But it didn’t matter, it wasn’t as if these kids were professionals in this field; they were likely still trying to figure out what they wanted to do in the future. Attention returned to your own partner, you ask, “So what did you want to learn more about? I’m assuming it's some kind of mammalian sea life, let me guess…whales?”
A bright grin erupts on the boy’s face, “Yeah, how’d you guess? They’re such majestic creatures, stunning really and fascinating in their social dynamics, I’d love to do some hands-on research in the future.”
“All the best to you,” you laugh, eyes smiling as you joke, “Any particular species catch your fancy, preferably not killer whales, right?”
The nerdy joke is well received as the boy rolls his eyes, “You got that right. I don’t even know what scientists were thinking when they named orcas, or even whale sharks, such a confusing situation for people who aren’t familiar with the creatures. Thankfully, I think killer whales are like the only species misnamed in such a manner.”
Before you could gently correct the second-year, an audible and somewhat angry “No” interrupted you, causing everyone to turn their attention to the person who had spoken. It was Jotaro, you noted, confusion on your face as you stared at him while he stared back in your direction. Seeing he wasn’t saying anything, you were slightly annoyed at his interruption and mutter, “If you didn’t have anything to say, why make a fuss.”
Those sea-green eyes flashed with annoyance as he points at the second-year you were just conversing with, making your partner shift lightly in his seat, “You’re wrong. Killers aren’t the only misnamed species, not even close. In terms of dolphins named whales, there’re the pilots and the melon-headed whales. Got it?”
“Y-yes, thank you!” The boy squeaked, clearly traumatized from that public correction. The way he bowed his head, earlier excitement extinguished cruelly angered you but before you could call this blockhead out on his abhorrent behaviour, he was pinning that annoyed glare on you.
“What kinda grad student are you that you don’t even know such basic knowledge,” he scoffed, derision evident in the way he looked at you. This just made you more furious because, sure even you didn’t know exactly what other types of dolphins were misnamed, that didn’t mean you didn’t know period. Dolphins weren’t even your focus.
“And what kind are you? Cutting into people’s conversations like that,” you retorted, eyes glinting with your ire and lips pulled into a thin line, “I was going to correct him before you had publicly call him out, so much for being a supportive mentor. I didn’t say anything when your partner said something wrong about seal migration in the Antarctic, now isn’t the time for things like that.” You smile slightly at the girl who jumped and direct your comment to her, “Weddell seals spend the entire winter deep in the Antarctic, we can chat after class if you want.”
No one was going to insult your ability, not when you’d poured so much effort into your studies, especially not some cocky know-it-all like this guy who liked stomping on people to make himself feel better. It didn’t matter if he was physically the scariest guy you’ve ever met, you were going to give as good as you got and met his glare with your own. Before an argument could erupt, the professor called everyone’s attention to the front and the two of you reluctantly turned your gazes away from each other.
But at that moment, you had decided. Jotaro was an asshole.
. . .
Somehow you ended up crammed next to him in the plane, his broad figure effectively blocking you from seeing anywhere beyond his seat. Your eyes turned towards the open window and studied the limited view outside, deciding that whatever little was out there was likely better than the stone-faced individual sitting next to you. The sky was blessedly clear, the feel of summer obvious in the way the sun glared off of the runway and faraway buildings. You resolved to keep your cool about this entire situation, if he didn’t bother you, you weren’t about to make things difficult for the guy.
Your mind wandered back to the year you spent in constant competition with each other, things only went downhill from that very first day. While the mutual dislike was never made as explicit as that first day, the snide comments and bored expressions you threw at each other more than made up for it. The two chapters you were responsible for supervising were relatively straightforward and the students were hardworking for the most part. You did hear more than one complaint about Jotaro though, he had the tendency to rewrite all the drafts the undergrads sent in much to their discontent.
You personally disagreed with what he was doing, given that you had a similar experience in one of the first research courses you took in third year. The supervisor you had was a dictator and a pompous guy who only got into the course because he begged and pleader the professor for a spot. If there was one thing you appreciated about Jotaro, it was the clear passion he had for the subject of study.
The announcement sounded throughout the plane as it rumbled to life, moving slowly across the concrete to the correct position. Try as you might, you couldn’t completely quash the uneasiness you felt and your hands gripped each other tightly in your lap, knuckles turning white.
“Good grief.” The rumbling words startled you from your nervous state, jolting your gaze from where your hands lay to a pair of sea-green eyes staring intently at you. “You’re nervous.” He didn’t even bother to add the inflection of a question as if he knew already and was silently judging you for it.
As much as you wanted to ignore him, at least talking right now would be better than allowing your brain to think up a million things that could possibly go wrong. Like what if there was a serial murderer on the plane who happened to have a tongue fetish? Ugh, this was not the ideal time to let your creative juices flow. “Not everyone travelled all over the world enough to get used to flying, you know.”
“Not everyone is scared of flying, too. But you don’t hear me bringing that up,” the neat parry of your dry comment was to be expected and you can’t hide the glint of annoyance that sparked in your eyes.
“So, you’re making fun of me, then. That’s why you couldn’t let me envision the horrifying circumstances of imminent death in peace,” you knew you were being completely unreasonable, but to be fair your nerves were already strung tightly enough. Jotaro was just an easy target.
The disappointed sigh he lets out is more infuriating than anything he could have said and as you stewed trying to figure out something suitably scathing to say, the plane begins to pick up speed. Immediately your hands jump from your lap to clutching onto the armrests, a sharp inhale loud in place of your earlier silence. You were so distracted, that you didn’t even notice that the armrest you were holding so tightly was too warm to be hard plastic.
By the time you realized that you had very forwardly put your hand on top of Jotaro’s, he had already flipped his over and was holding gently onto yours. Your heart skips a beat as a crimson flush appears on your cheeks, staring intently and too panicked to remove your gaze from the way his larger hand encased yours.
It felt nice, and the rumbling of the plane faded into the distance because you were grounded here where it was warm and comforting. You released a deep calming breath when the plane finally levelled out and softly muttered, “Thanks.”
You don’t know if he even heard you, his hat was pulled low over his face and it seemed he had somehow dozed off…which was frankly impossible considering the amount of noise and movement taking off entailed. But you weren’t about to force him to answer as you leaned back onto your seat, hand still tucked in his. To be honest, you didn’t know why you didn’t just remove it, but he didn’t let go and you didn’t really want to either.
As your attention shifted towards the white clouds by the window, you don’t see the smirk that curls onto the taller male’s lips underneath the shadow of his hat.
. . .