Chapter Text
Syllabus day was single-handedly the easiest and hardest day of the year.
Magnus Chase, junior in Biomedical Science and transfer student at Valhalla University, was having a bad first day.
First, he got zero sleep because of his roommate singing his absolutely horrible party playlist at 4 am. Second, he woke up late. Third, his anxiety was already kicking into overdrive, both with him being late and having to actually see and interact with people in an unfamiliar environment. Fourth, he had absolutely no idea where he was going.
He was trying to speed-walk past hundreds of other students while checking the school map on his phone, hoping that he was close to the Natural Sciences building.
Why is this class so far away from my dorm? And more importantly, why did I pick an 8am class?
Right, because you thought it would be perfect because you’re such a morning person, Magnus! Also you signed up at the last minute. Go figure.
Shut up, Magnus, his brain chided.
He found the building, at least. The building was three stories tall, with large glass windows on all sides. Gods, it was huge. Transferring from a community college to here was a stark change. This place actually had money and funding for all this fancy stuff.
He pushed the automatic door opener and stepped in. Every wall was covered in fancy glass cases of sciencey displays. Informational posters covered any available white wall space. And a whole room for the vending machines?
The analog clock on the wall (he would have expected a place like this would have eliminated those) screamed the time at him. 8:03. And he still had to make it to the second floor.
Magnus booked it for the stairs, wheezing once at the top. Yeesh, he was out of shape. Now to find the actual room. Luckily, room 217 wasn’t too far from the staircase, with the door propped open.
Every eye in the classroom was on Magnus as soon as he stumbled through the door, including the guy in the lab-coat. The handsome darker man in the lab-coat noted him. “Ah, glad you could make it. Please take an available seat.”
Magnus nodded, swallowing as he scanned for a seat. The last one in the lab, with every space in the lab was full, save for the one empty barstool in the room. Right next to a very pretty and intimidating girl. At least he thought she was a girl. He swallowed. The girl, who already looked so done with this semester, was staring at him with two-toned eyes, one burning amber and the other a dark brown, along with the rest of the students in the classroom. He could tell why the only seat in the room, the one right next to her, was empty. She looked like she would decapitate anyone who got close to her. That intense gaze made his ears blush just slightly.
Her pink and green checkered backpack leaning against her stool had a magenta pin that said “SHE/HER” on it. Ok, so definitely her.
Wordlessly, Magnus made his way to his not-assigned-but-assigned seat. He could feel his skin prickling from the tenseness between them as he squeezed by her.
The lab instructor was standing at the front of the room (less the front, because in cramped lab spaces there was hardly a place called the front, just kind of the middle of the isle).
“Hello, fellow associates in science. Welcome to Organic Chemistry I Lab. My name is Amir, and I’ll be your lab supervisor for this semester. I will start by stating I am a student just like you are. I am currently in progress for getting my Master’s in biochemistry.”
But he seems so young, Magnus thought.
Amir’s voice stopped the inevitable train of thought Magnus would have slipped into. “No need for being formal in this lab, we are all equals here. But you will be held to lab standards listed on your syllabus. While I hate having to read off the syllabus, this information is extremely important, not only for your own safety, but for the safety of everyone around you. Please give me your attention while I go over the syllabus and then you may go.” The instructor flashed them all a smile.
Magnus settled in to his seat, his initial adrenaline from being late wearing down. The instructor was chill, he made it right on time; everything was cool now.
“This is not like your previous labs; this is a full-experience class. We will have 11 in-class sessions, which includes this one. You will be writing an essay called a pre-lab before your lab, due online at 7:59 am. You will arrive promptly at 8 am, anyone who isn’t here before 8:10 will be locked out. We will take our lab quiz at 8:10, which will be a simple 10 multiple choice question quiz based on the lab we will be working on that day. You will need to read about the lab before coming into class-which is why the pre-lab is essential. We do not have time for you to be struggling to figure out what’s happening. We cannot give you extended time in-lab to restart an experiment if we go over time; we have a class that follows immediately after and we need 15 minutes to prepare the lab for the next session.”
Amir was very thorough, Magnus will give him that. The guy wasn’t that intimidating looking at the very least, and had a pretty laid-back attitude. Amir, however, did look like a stickler for the rules.
“Labcoats and OSHA-grade safety goggles are mandatory. They can be purchased at the bookstore and will be mandatory for every lab. Failure to bring them results in a zero for that lab, as well as your post-lab essay.
This lab does have mandatory dress code. You must not have any visible skin showing when in the lab. You must wear closed toed shoes. No shorts or short skirts are allowed. You must wear long-sleeved shirts or jacket underneath your labcoat. You will be provided gloves while in the classroom. Long hair must be tied up.”
Ok. Not a hard dress code for him to follow.
“You will need to get a carbon-copy lab notebook. Your experiment needs to be recorded step by step clearly. Results will be turned in on the yellow sheet. The pink copy is your personal copy for study. I will not accept work that is not done on carbon paper. You can buy this at the bookstore as well.”
What the hell is that? Magnus made a mental note to go get one of those.
“Accidents in the lab are going to happen. If anything spills, breaks, etc., please contact me or my lab assistant in the back to help. Make sure you are aware of what chemicals you were working with and let us know so we can properly dispose of it. Eye-flush station and the chemical shower are located in the back. We should not be working with hazardous air pollutants, but if done wrong, we will have to evacuate the room until it is safe to return.”
“That’s about all the important safety rules. Pay attention to the dates; for lab dates, mandatory holidays, midterm and final. As I said, we will have 11 lab sessions. These dates might change....”
Magnus was starting to zone out. He knew this was important information, but besides the safety and required materials, he could give less of a shit about grading scale.
His eyes wandered the room, taking in his new classmates. The girl one row ahead of him who’s face he couldn’t see had wild, red hair. To his right at the next station was a cute black guy who seemed really excited to be there today. Then his eyes fixed subconsciously on really pretty green haired girl next to him.
“....You may only make up one missed class unless you have a good reason to miss and have documented proof of such, or observe a holiday. You must let me know well in advance of these kinds of events...”
The nameless girl next to him had her barstool leaning up against the counter behind her in a very dangerous looking, lab safety violating way. Her arms and legs were crossed in front of her, one of her pink conversed shoes bouncing slowly. She continued to chew her gum, just slightly loud enough to show how impatient she was. He was pretty sure the syllabus said no food was allowed, but Magnus wouldn’t be the one to tell her that. A double snake tattoo rested on the nape of her neck, which Magnus found fascinating, especially against her warm, darker skin tone.
“We are also an inclusive class and do not tolerate sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia-“
Green girl huffed and rolled her eyes.
“And anyone experiencing such acts discrimination should report to me and me only. I then will handle the situation as such.”
Her right eye, the darker eye, twitched.
“...and that’s the course information. At the end of every class, when you are done with your experiment, you will be expected to clean your station, return your assigned materials to the lab assistant, hand me your carbon copy with clear results listed somewhere, and you may be dismissed.”
Magnus didn’t realize how tense or tired he had been until just now, or how long he had been staring off into space. He felt stiff sitting on the uncomfortable bar stool, letting out a yawn as he stretched. Other classmates made similar movements, the room rustling as everyone reached for their backpacks. He almost missed his instructor’s next sentence.
“Final note. The person next to you at your station is your lab partner. You cannot change partners. This is to prepare you to work in real laboratories, which you cannot choose who you work with. Get acquainted now.”
Magnus nearly fell from his barstool. Oh gods. His mouth felt dry. He tentatively looked at her.
“I look forward to working with you all the rest of this semester!” Amir said and waved to everyone as he went for his own messenger bag and headed on out. Magnus suddenly felt very alone despite being right next to someone.
The pretty girl next to him was glaring at him with her lighter colored eye, making him even more flustered. Magnus was sure he was blushing. She hadn’t said a single word, just chewing her gum.
It was a tense eight seconds before Magnus broke the silence.
“Uh, hi. I’m Magnus,” He introduced himself. Feeling stupid, he extended his hand.
“Alex. Alex Fierro,” she said back. Alex squinted her eyes at Magnus’ hand like she was offended by it. She leaned her hip against the counter, “I go by she/her pronouns until I tell you otherwise.” Which explained the backpack pin perfectly.
He pulled his hand back and rubbed the back of his neck instead. “Sounds good,” Magnus replied.
“And one more thing. You gotta stop staring at me like I’m a freak.”
“Oh no, I wasn’t-! I-“
“Seriously, you stared at me the whole class. That’s pretty rude.” Alex was tapping her foot expectantly.
“I promise I wasn’t looking at you! I mean, ok, I was sometimes,” He backtracked. “It’s just, you’re really interesting to look at? I don’t think you’re a freak either! You definitely look... like a girl, you just.. stand out.” Oh man, that did not help his case at all. “Shit, I mean-“
“Yea. I know I stand out. Thanks, Captain Obvious. And I’m glad you think ‘looking like a girl’ is a compliment.” The last sentence was laced with thinly veiled anger.
This was a great first impression.
“I’m so sorry. That’s not at all what I meant,” Magnus rambled, mortified and scared. Not because she looked scary (which she did), but because he was genuinely sorry. He did not want to give off that impression.
“I really respect it, seriously. I’m so sorry.”
Alex seemed to mull over it.
“That was the world’s worst apology,” She sighed, “but I’ll sort of accept it.”
It was something. He already felt that he’d have to really work to gain her favor.
“I can tell you’re sincere, but confused. I’ll give you this; I’m genderfluid. I won’t and don’t need to explain it to you. I won’t answer any questions about it,” Alex emphasized, crossing her arms. “I’m not an ambassador to all trans people, and it’s annoying to having to explain myself every time I meet someone. You don’t have to understand it. Just respect it. Google is a thing. Learn how to use it.”
Magnus nodded, a bit more enthusiastically than he probably should have. “Got it.”
Then another tense silence.
Alex broke the daunting quietness this time. “Here’s my phone,” she blurted out, holding out a pink and green android with a tiny character charm attached to it that he did not recognized.
“What?” Magnus blinked.
“Put your number in it. You know how to do that, right?”
That made him blush profusely. He definitely heard that sentence wrong.
“Yes?”
Alex rolled her eyes. “We’re lab partners, so we should keep in contact.” Alex stated. She shook her phone harder which made it jingle slightly. “Just do it already. And stop gaping.”
Magnus did what he was told, naming himself Magnus Chase. What else was he supposed to put. His hand brushed over hers when he returned it. Alex’s hands were freezing, making him flinch slightly.
“I’ll text you so you can save my number,” Alex stated, tilting her eyes down, her delicate fingers (short chipped nails painted pink and green) already typing out a text. “Just don’t text me stupid shit.”
“Gotcha.” Magnus’ phone buzzed in his pocket. He subconsciously checked it.
All it said was “Alex Fierro.” Short and to the point. He saved her number, adding (Orgo Lab) to her name for his own memory.
“Done.”
“Awesome.” Alex was already gathering her bag and hefted it onto her shoulder. “See you next week.” She turned on the heel of her pink converse sneaker, leaving the room promptly.
Alright. Guess that’s it.
Like he said. Syllabus day was the easiest and hardest day of the year.