Chapter Text
Your name is Karkat Vantas and you hate French class so fucking much. It’s not necessarily a bad class, your teacher is decent and the language and culture itself is fine, but you just suck at speaking and pronouncing it. You aren’t the worst in your class since you have successfully conjugated the two most basic verbs in every tense but your accent sucks so much that hearing yourself speak is a little fucking cringy. Most kids in your class are way worse than you, so you take a little reassurance knowing that you aren’t the worse in the school but you still kick yourself in the ass over the fact that you can speak in Spanish with ease but for some reason French is giving you a hard time.
They are both romantic languages and your brother had assured you that you would be able to speak in French no problem because French and Spanish have the same foundation, but of course he was wrong for once in his life and your French sounds like a mix of Spanish and English which in turn, sounds extremely weird. The kids in your class are also all insufferable pricks and are basically all idiots who think the language is stupid as hell. The class is an elective and they didn’t have to take it so you aren’t quite sure why they’re in the class if they hate it so much. You took the class cause it would be an easy extra credit and it was either taking French or doing gym another year and you would gladly pick French any day of the week. Your French teacher is also incapable of controlling the class, so it’s basically just 70 minutes of kids screaming and playing rap music while the work sheets are forgotten on the floor.
Twice a week you have to sit in a small class with way too many kids and grit your teeth so you don’t snap at them, you’ve done it before but nothing ever happened and your teacher actually reprimanded you instead of the blithering idiots in your class. It’s infuriating, you’d actually like to learn the language and to be able to practice it but so far it’s the month of December and your teacher has yet to get pass the first unit. You wonder if you’ll even be able to pass this class, it was an easy way out but now you’re not even sure it’s worth the extra credit. You take back what you said about it not necessarily being bad, everything is bad about the class except for when you do the history of the French language, which your teacher doesn’t even do anymore cause she’s completely given up on the class but in the beginning of the year when she did do it, it was always extremely interesting to say the least. Most kids in Texas however thought that leaning another language other than Spanish was just a waste of time and effort which is why you suspect that all the kids in your class don’t pay attention and at this point you don’t even have to speculate, you know that’s the reason since they tell your teacher every time they set foot in the class.
The French language to you always screamed romance (probably why you want to be able to speak it flawlessly) but it’s also just a beautiful language. When people can actually speak it properly it just seems so flawless, like it should be earth’s official language. You being the hopeless romantic that you are, gravitated towards the language from a very young age, and when you found out that you could learn it you jumped at the opportunity. Yes it was for an extra credit, however at the time you thought if you could learn to speak it well, (which you can’t) you might be able to woo someone.
It’s a pretty cold morning as you make your way to the school that you detest with your entire being. It’s a Monday and from experience Monday always end up being the worst day of your week, so you are just praying that nothing too bad happens today. The first class you have is English which gives you a bunch of relief since it’s your favourite class and all you have to do is work on a writing assignment, which will be simple enough. Then you have French, which you are dreading since it will give you a massive migraine, but then the rest of your day will be pretty tame since you only have science and then business. You have a shit tone of homework due today for science but with your one hour lunch break you are positive that you’ll be able to get it done before the class. As you enter the front foyer of your school the only thing that can be heard is loud teenage boys yelling, “I like your cut G!”
You furrow your eyebrows in annoyance. “Jesus fucking Christ, it’s fucking 8am.”
You whisper to yourself as you quickly make your way to your English class.
You always thought the popular stereotypical jocks that always had way to much energy were only in movies, that is t’ill you got to high school and then walking in the halls become more of a frat party for them and induce a headache on your part. You got to English class without a fuss and took your assigned seat right at the back of the class, lucky for you most of your teachers know you well enough to know that you work better when your at the back. They don’t know the other reason that you like sitting on the back of the class is because of how much commentary you make and how much you insult them, but in the back you can hardly be heard.
“Ah Karkat, good morning old chap!” You look up to find your teacher, M. English. You often wonder if his last name is actually English, it just seems like too much of a coincidence that his name is English, he teaches an English class and he’s from England so he has an English accent. It can’t possibly be his real name but you’ve never bothered to ask since whenever other students ask him he usually just shrugs them off and flashes them a toothy grin.
“Morning M. English.” You say with the most unenthusiastic tone you can manage. He looks at you with pity, it’s like he can feel how much you don’t wanna be at school right now. A couple of jocks stumble into the class before your teacher can continue to try and have a conversation with you. He’s told you multiple times that he’s a huge fan of the way you write and you are always a “good chap” he’s words not yours, to converse with, since you have ‘passion’ apparently. The jocks start making loud grunting noises trying to temp your English teacher. He’s basically the only teacher in the school that isn’t intimidated by them since he towers over them in height and is way more broader then all of them. He’s also threatened to fail them multiple times but after observing that the only way to shut them up is by ignoring them he’s loosened up on the threats.
Your English class goes exactly how you thought it would. You basically just worked on your assignment while M. English talked about different colleges and universities and how they liked students that take academic English through their 4 years of high school, something about grammar on the entrance exams usually being horrendous. You keep to yourself as you walk through the crowded halls. Usually you’d go talk to Terezi but she’s been super busy with her girlfriend and not to be mean to Vriska but she’s kinda bitch and your already in a bad mood so going to see them before French class isn’t the best idea. You’d probably loose all your patience before even getting to your second period class. Just before you step into class you feel a hand on your shoulder, you nearly flinch. “Hey Kk try not to blow a fusthe in French classth.” Thank god it’s just Sollux.
“Fuck off when do I ever blow a fuse? I’m perfectly fucking calm and getting ready to regret not taking gym, which is something I never thought would come out of my mouth.” You try not to sound as agitated as you feel.
“Whatever Kk, thee you at lunch.” And with that your left standing alone outside of your French class you open the door in one swift motion. Just like in your English class you take a seat in the back right beside the window, the class starts in 5 minutes so you try to get some of your science homework done before your French class becomes pure chaos. When class finally starts you hear a knock at the door and your teacher perks up from her chair as the class goes silent. There stood your principal with a please expression on his face while making his way to the front of the class.
“Hello students, I’m pleased to inform you that this class has been selected to host an exchange student,” What? “why this class you may wonder? Well we simply thought that he would fit in quite well here.”
Everyone looks at each other trying to figure out what he means by ‘fit in here’. You furrow your eyebrows and pinch the top of your nose, if the principal thinks he’s gonna fit into this class than the kid must be a fucking asshole. The entire school basically knows about how shitty the kids in French are.
“Thursday will be his first day, so everyone try to be nice.” And with that your principal takes his leave. Your teacher looks extremely nervous before she closes the door with a sigh and then turns to the class with a worried face. “Please try to behave when he comes on Thursday, so at least he’ll feel welcome.” Some of the kids snicker a little before the class is thrown into chaos as your teacher gives out some French homework. You turn to the window on your left blocking out the noise from the other students you allow yourself to think about this mystery exchange student.
This wouldn’t be the first time your school has hosted an exchange program but they usually give more information about the students and it usually isn’t just one student usually it’s a group, last year a group of Japanese students came from Kyoto to spend 4 months, you were a junior so you didn’t interact with them but they seemed like a good group but you don’t think they’ve ever just had some random kid exchange by himself. Hell your principal didn’t even tell anyone where he was from, you hope he’s good at French cause if not than he’s not passing this class, you wonder if your teacher will actually teach when he comes, maybe the student will complain to the principal if she doesn’t, probably why she’s so nervous. You feel kinda bad for the guy that’s gonna leave his perfectly fine school to come to a shit show. He’s gonna have a shitty time, it kinda sucks that this unsuspecting kid is getting exchange to a random school in Houston and is probably gonna get bullied. The last exchange students did in the beginning, but after a few months people left them alone cause they didn’t pay too much attention. This poor fucker somehow managed to land a spot in this stupid fucking class, you left out a breathy laugh, you kinda feel bad for the poor guy but on the other hand your principal said he’d fit well in this class which must mean he’s a grade A douche bag so your empty shrivels up.
The next few days pass extremely slow, you can’t tell if it’s because of the fact that you don’t wanna be at school or if it’s cause your kinda anxious to meet this mystery kid. Nothing too eventful happens over these days either. You go to your classes, pick up some food after school than go home do homework and than eventually fall asleep around 3. Insomnia is a bitch. It’s currently Wednesday and you haven’t had a through about mysterious exchange student in a while. When you enter the cafeteria Terezi waves you over to the table that she’s sitting at. You eat lunch with Sollux and Terezi while you watch Vriska harass Tavros in a “playful” manner, you’re positive that it could be considered bullying but Tavros doesn’t seemed bothered by it, so no one says anything.
“So Karkat, I hear that your gonna have an exchange student in your French and English class.” Terezi says with the widest grin.
“In my French class yeah, but not in my fucking English class. Where did you even hear that?” Terezi looks at you narrowing her eyes, smile still intact, like she knows something you don’t.
“Yes Karkles in your English class and in your French class, I’m surprised that M. English hasn’t said anything to the class about it and it’s none of your business where I heard about the exchange student, it’s not like I’m on the student conseil or anything.”
God dammit she’s right, she’s on the student conseil so of course she’d know about this new kid, which means that she’s also right about him being in your English class. Fuck the only class that you actually enjoy and it’s probably gonna get ruined by this fucking jackass.
You sigh and rub your temples before burying your head in your arms and letting out a frustrated groan.
“Do you know anything about this fucking guy? Like where he’s from or his name or literally anything? The principal said jack shit.”
Terezi perks up. “They wouldn’t tell his name, but he’s a boy and he’s coming from...” she hesitates smirking even bigger than before which you didn’t know was possible. “Paris, France.”
Your eyes widen suddenly, your mouth feels dry, holy shit Paris is like one of the most romantic places on the fucking planet and some dude is leaving it to come to Houston Texas? Your mind is racing but you have no idea why, why are you getting so excited over the fact that some random person is coming from France, it’s fine and it’s not a big deal. You think of all the stereotypical French people from movies you’ve seen and how they are usually snarky assholes with a lot of attitude and you groan again. Not only did your principal confirm that this guy was probably gonna be insufferable but he’s also from France.
“Kk, you good?” You ignore Sollux’s question and turn to Terezi.
“Why the fuck is he taking French if he’s from France.” Terezi shrugs her shoulders.
“It said on his application that he can’t speak in English, so they figured that he’ll at least have a fighting chance if he takes a French class. That’s also why he’s in your English class, something about him failing English at his school.” You go to reply to Terezi with a snarky comment but it turn into a scoff as you hear the bell ring.
You say bye to your friends before heading to your next class. Although you’ve been able to keep the exchange student out of your head for the last few days he’s present and he’s the center of your thoughts, you ask the question to your self again, why are you getting so excited over this stupid kid that’s probably gonna put a damper for the only class you like? For the rest of the day your thoughts where occupied trying to imagine what this kid could look like, Terezi said he’s from France but that doesn’t mean anything other than he can probably speak French well. Is that why your teacher seemed so nervous? Maybe she’s afraid of him being better than her, it’s inevitable obviously he’s from fucking France and she’s from Texas.
The rest of your night is spent doing homework and laundry and cursing your self out for still think about this stupid fucking guy. It was getting to the point that you were annoying yourself, so you do what you always do when you want to leave the outside world, you put a movie on.
You put on Love Actually, you’ve seen it at least 14 times but it’s just the most accessible movie and since Kankri isn’t home you don’t have to listen to him bitch about the parts with nude people. Your head clears up about 30 minutes into the movie which you are grateful for and you end up having a pretty okay night. You end up falling asleep on the couch.
You wake up with a start, forgetting that you had fallen asleep on the couch, and you check the time only to see that you woke up 10 minutes before your alarm. You are astounded that you managed to fall asleep and even better you slept the whole night. When you stretch your neck cracks in the most uncomfortable way and you regret falling asleep on the couch in an instant. The TV is off so you assume that Kankri is home. Your suspicions are confirmed when you smell bacon, it isn’t uncommon for him to wake up 30 minutes before you to make breakfast, which you appreciate since you are usually late. You stumble into the kitchen rubbing your eyes as you make small talk with him before going upstairs to get changed.
By the time you’re done you’re actually ready on time and have no idea what to do with yourself so you sit on the couch and twiddle your thumbs. You feel a little off and you wonder if your starting to catch a cold, you also feel a little anxious and you feel like you are forgetting something, but you can’t place your finger on it. Before you know it it’s time to make your way to school. It’s staring to get a little colder as the month progresses and you can’t help but feel relieved, you prefer the cold.
When you get to school you expect to hear the loud obnoxious voices of senior jocks but you are greeted with peace, when you walk into school all the guys that usually make noise are all huddled up and are whispering to each other. What the fuck is going on? Is someone important coming today? There has been a few times where people of ‘importance’ have come to your school but if so that would be a little weird they didn’t even announce it during the announcements. You rattle your brain trying to figure out what the hell is going on. You realize that you haven’t moved in 2 minutes so you make your way to the first class of the day. French.
You’re on autopilot as you walk to your French class, did you miss the memo? Was it paradox space day where everyone has to act different? Did you have to act happy all day? Oh man you couldn’t do that, that would be way to much. Can they even make you act differently? It seems highly implausible that the school would do that. Maybe the jocks got in trouble or some shit, but getting in trouble has never stopped them from being rambunctious before, why are they being so tame and quiet? You stand out side your French class and furrow your brows for what feels like the tenth time today. As you open the door to your French class you find the answer.
Holy fuck.
The exchange student.
You completely forgot that he was coming today, how could you forget?! You thought about him all day yesterday! No matter how much you tried to imagine this douche bag nothing could compare to the way this guy actually looked.
For one, he’s wearing sunglasses inside, and it’s winter, and the sun isn’t even out. Does he think it makes him look cool? Secondly he’s sitting on a desk in the front of the class with the fucking lights off! The only source of light coming through the blinds that are hardly even open. Looks like your teacher hasn’t gotten to class yet, you’re usually the first one to show up but this fucker didn’t even have the decency to get a fucking chair or turn on the lights! He just decided to sit on the desk, are things really that different in France? You must’ve made a noise similar to a grunt cause he turns towards you and quirks an eyebrow in your direction. With his face towards your you can finally see what this prick looks like. His semi straight semi wavy blonde hair falls in front of his glasses and you can make out splatters of freckles on his noise and cheeks. His skin is tanned and he looks tall and lanky. He’s wearing one of those football coats but it’s clearly not the same football that Americans play since it has a soccer ball on it, you think they call soccer football over in Europe. Great he also plays sports, he’ll probably get along with the jocks. Your eyes fall on his shoes which are just red converse but man are they ever bright, it’s like he went to the store and injected neon red into an already bright pair of shoes. He pulls down his headphones from his head and starts starting at you. Probably cause your staring at him.
“Don’t sit on the fucking desk, get a god damn chair.”
Great job Karkat really making a good first impression, wait why do you care again? You don’t! You don’t give a rats ass about what this guy thinks of you, you’re really just trying to pass your classes and get a little good at French. He sits up suddenly looking a little embarrassed and goes to grab a chair. Huh. Maybe it is different in France.
You make your way to the back of the class and take a seat, as you sit down you grab your backpack off your back and start pulling out the shit you need for class. You can’t see him while you rummage through your backpack but you can feel his eyes on you.
You can’t believe that you forgot that he was coming today and you were so anxious about it yesterday, again asking yourself how the hell did you forget? You thought about him for an entire day and them just magically forgot about him, fuck you wish you had more time to mentally prepare yourself. When you find your binder for French you turn to look at him, only to find that he’s still staring at you with the same expression.
“Can I fucking help you?” Okay maybe your being a little bit of an ass but it’s your self defence tactics, you don’t know this guy, you don’t know what he’s capable of and you’d rather not be seen as weak to some exchange student so yelling it is.
He opens his mouth like he’s about to answer when suddenly there arehigh pitched squeals coming from the door of the class. A bunch of girls that are in your class and some that aren’t have shown up and are staring to make a scene. You where a little confused before one of them started speaking and walking towards the exchange student.
“Oh my god! You’re the exchange student you’re so hot!”
Of fucking course that’s why they’re here, when the principal announced to the class that there was gonna be someone new you saw a few of the girls start squirming in there seats. You chose to ignore it at the time since it just aggravates you that the girls at this school throw themselves on everyone.
Your teacher finally arrives and gets everyone to take their spots and gets the people who aren’t supposed to be in the class to leave. The group of jocks in your class are surprisingly quiet, it looks like they are trying to get a feel for this new kid. Maybe they’ll try and recruit him to be on some sport team. Seems like something he’d like, but hey what do you know? You’re kinda just judging him from what he looks like and that isn’t entirely faire but you did walk in on him sitting on a desk with the lights off. Kinda seems like an ass.
You’re teacher goes up in front of the class and pauses before speaking. “Good morning everyone we have a new student,” She turns to mystery dude and she actually says something in French, “Veux-tu te présenter?”
Your teacher speaks in broken French as you would call it. You aren’t entirely sure how she even managed to get a job teaching French since her English accent is so heavy when she speaks it almost sounds like old English. You understand that she’s asking him to introduce himself but the other kids in your class look around at each other with puzzled expressions. Exchange student kid seems to understand too and gets up and makes his way to the front and center of the class before speaking.
« Salut, je m’appelle Dave Strider. » And with that he takes his seat once again.
A wave of silence passes over the room before one girl perks up and starts asking questions.
“Where are you from?” « La France. » you can see the girls gears turning in her head before realizing that all he said was that he was from France. “Where in France?” « Paris. » and with that everyone in the room besides yourself started asking this poor guy questions about himself.
At least you know his name now. You find it strange and a little amusing that someone in France decided to name their kid Dave, maybe it’s short for something like David but even that is still a pretty English name. Strider also sounds like an English name and your not entirely sure how it would be pronounced in French. Dave doesn’t seem like the talkative type and answers everyone’s questions with maximum 5 words and keeps a straight face the entire time. He probably realized that these numb skulls wouldn’t be able to understand a word he says and usually only nods or shakes his head to answer questions. Everyone’s gathered around his little desk and even your teacher has join into the conversation. You on the other hand have no interest in talking to him so you stare out the window for a good 5 minutes before working on your math homework. Before you know it French class is done and you didn’t even have a lesson, probably for the better. Even with all the conversation and some squealing from the girls in your class it’s the quietest the class has ever been.
You go to your math class next, you dread math more than French cause you actually suck at it but you are relived that Dave isn’t in it. You don’t know what you’d do if for some reason they decided to stick him in all the same classes. It looks like Terezi was right about him only being in your French and English classes. Your still kinda upset about English class but there’s no garenty that he’ll sit next to you or even interact with you so that puts you at ease. Going off of what you saw in class you can say that you judged this guy pretty well, he seemed to have gotten along pretty well with the jocks and seemed to love the attention he was getting from the girls. It’s the typical story of the hot exchange student. Wait did you just say hot? He’s a hot head that’s for sure but not hot. You can appreciate his attractiveness though, but if someone asked you if you thought Dave Strider was hot you’d say no in an instant. He’s not hot! He’s just a hot head with nice hair and dazzling little freckles. Not hot.
Math class happens with nothing much to report on other than getting a test back with you barely passed, but hey! You passed. You make your way to the cafeteria to find Terezi and Sollux. Vriska is sick as hell so she’s not at school, you’re kinda of relived maybe you’ll get in a decent conversation with Terezi without her trying to impress Vriska.
Like everyday, Terezi waves you down from the far end of the cafeteria to get your attention and like everyday you grumble to yourself about how embarrassing she is. You get your stupid fake cafeteria food before making your way to the table your friends have claimed.
“Karkat! Karkat! You have to tell us about the new kid!” she says in a raspy voice, “I need to know this cool kids name.” You huff at her before starting to speak.
“His name is Dave Strider and he’s a douche bag.”You say with a sigh.
“How can you judge if he’ths a douche bag if you’ve only known him for theventy minutes?” Sollux asks deadpanning.
“Sollux I walked into class and this fucker was sitting on a fucking desk with the lights off and his shades were on! Have you seen his shoes?? They are horrendous and super fucking red. Not to mention I heard the music he was listening to and it was just rap but like really shitty rap! And when the teacher told him to introduce himself he said the least words possible! ‘Je m’appelle Dave Strider.’ That was literally all he said before some girl started asking him questions and even then he used maximum 5 fucking words to answer.”
Sollux and Terezi looked at each other and then look behind you before Terezi bursts into a fit of giggles.
“What the fuck is funny? I’m not falling for that again, I know there’s nothing behind me and-“ Sollux puts a hand on your mouth and you have half a mind to bite it but before you can finish that thought he’s speaking again.
“Does he have kinda rounded shades, blond hair, and is wearing a red foot ball jacket?” Your eyes widen, did Sollux have a class with this guy? Then why where they asking you questions about him?
“What the fuck yeah? How did you know? Have you already met the douche bag?” Sollux quirks his lips a little before removing his hand. “I think that douchebag is staring at you.” You whip your head around in disbelief and sure enough he is staring at you.
He jerks his head to avoid your gaze even though you can’t make eye contact with him through his shades. He’s sitting at a table with a whole bunch of girls and jocks and he fits the stereotype to a T, he looks right at home with all of them. A bunch of girls are trying to get this attention but it looks like he was too focused on you. You don’t know why your stomach does a flip. His gaze falls on the table in front of him and you let out a breath you didn’t even know you where holding.
“What the fuck? Why was he staring?” you hiss at Sollux.
“Wow Kk you musht have really made a great firsst impression if sthomeone is stharing at you like that. What did you do? Kick him?”
“No dumbass! I told him to get the fuck off table cause that shits unsanitary and then he was staring at me so I asked him if I could fucking help him!”
“Stho you basically just yelled at him? Nithce.” At this point you had your head buried in your arms, groaning into them as Sollux continued to mock you for your attitude. It wasn’t your fault that this guy kinda caught you of guard and ended up being insufferable and kinda good looking. But you are not going to dwell on that thought! Nope, nope!
“Karkat! He’s looking at you again.” This time you don’t even bother looking.
“Terezi I really couldn’t give a flying fuck if this douche is looking at me or not, what I’m trying to do is figure out is if he told the football team that I was ‘rude’ to him and if I’m gonna get jumped on my way to English.”
You haven’t been bullied in a while and you intend on keeping it that way. It was hard for a while since you and the entire football team hate each other and they would come and beat you and shit but then M. English intervened and now you just don’t talk to them. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t look for reasons to bug the shit out of you. If M.Cool kid talked shit about you, they might start teasing you again and you know how fast that can escalate.
“Kk don’t be thilly, pretty sure the guy doesn’t have anyone to hangout with so he probably just gravitated toward the first people that gave him attention. If you look closthely you can see how uncomfortable he is.”
You turn around to stare at Dave and so do Terezi and Sollux. It doesn’t look like he’s noticed you guys but now that you’re taking a closer look he looks extremely uncomfortable. His body is super tense and it doesn’t look like he’s spoken a word since he’s sat down despite that he’s probably been addressed at least 20 times. His face still wearing the same blank expression that he’s had on all day and you wonder if this kid has ever smiled. Hell, it’s hard enough to get you to smile so maybe not but when you told him to get off the desk you could openly tell that he was embarrassed so maybe he let his guard down.
Sollux is probably right too, this guy seems like the type to not wanna be labeled a loser on the first day so he probably just picked anyone who gave him attention. You’re all still looking at him when the bell rings and you all watch him jump a little. It’s not obvious to anyone but you three but you only notice cause you’re all openly
staring at him.
“Someone’s a little jumpy,” Terezi says bumping Sollux’s arm “reminds me of Kakles.”
She says looking over at you. “Terezi shut the fuck up.” You make sure there’s no malice in your voice.
Terezi and Sollux walk you to your English class before both giving you a cheeky grin and wishing you luck. You know the chances of Terezi being wrong are super slim but you are really hoping Dave doesn’t end up being in your class. The last thing you need is another loud obnoxious jock in your favourite class. You’re the first one in the class as usual and Mr. English greats you with a big smile and a wave.
“Hello there Karkat! How are we doing today?” He says a bit more nervous than usual. Okay weird, he’s usually more energetic and not so...fake?
“I’m good M. English,” you say taking your seat “how about yo-“
M.English openly stiffens up he looks extremely nervous and you can’t figure out why till you follow the direction of his eyes to the door.
God fucking dammit.
Of course Terezi was right, why wouldn’t she be? She was on the student council, how the hell could she be wrong? Of course he was gonna end up being in your English class. Dave raises a hand towards M. English. He opens his mouth to speak and your not really sure to expect. M. English was always so calm and collected and right now he looks like a wreck.
“Um,” your about to help your poor teacher out before he finally starts to speak “Bonjour, tu t’appelles Dave Strider n’est-ce pas?”
Your jaw drops to the fucking floor.
You’ve never heard M.English speak in French nor could you imagine that that would even be a possibility. He spoke it so flawlessly and didn’t even seem like he was actually trying. Is that why he was so nervous? Maybe he was anticipating using it and was just a little anxious about it. But you aren’t going to speculate. The way he speaks is way better than your French teacher, he had a nice little accent that makes you think that he actually leaned the language before coming to the Texas. Why the hell isn’t he teaching the fucking French class? Hell, even Dave looks a little caught of guard. He probably didn’t expect the fucking English teacher from England to be speaking French to him.
« Ouais c’est moi ça, le seule et unique, » he does little jazz hands before facing your teacher again. « M.English? » M. English nods and smiles in Dave’s direction.
That was the first time you’ve ever heard Dave talk for more than five seconds and holy shit the language just rolled of his tongue and it sounded incredible. Even the way he said English was incredible. Your stomach squirms a little but you choose to ignore it in favour of mentally scolding yourself for getting to class early. You wouldn’t have had to deal with this awkward interaction if you had stayed with Terezi and Sollux.
“Est-ce que tu préférais que je te parle anglais ou en français?” M. English asks looking a bit more relaxed than before. God dammit you really can’t get over how well he speaks.
« C’est une class d’anglais, alors l’anglais c’est bon, mais je ne peux pas te garantir que je vais répondre en anglais. » Dave says hovering around the desks at the front of the room.
You’re surprised that no one else has shown up yet but then you remember that your class are all kinda idiots that are always late. M. English looks like he’s back to himself because he sighs and looks up at Dave with a smile again.
“Thank god! I don’t know how much longer I could keep up having a full conversation with you chap. It’s been a while since I used my French.” Dave nods and at this point it’s painfully obvious that he wants to sit but is not quite sure where to go. M. English catches on.
“We have assigned seating in this class since there are a lot of,” his eyebrows furrow for a second before he continues. “young lads that like to cause trouble. One of the ladies in the class has called in sick today so for now you can sit next to my chum Karkat.”
Your eyes widen as he says your name. Fuck you weren’t paying attention to what he was saying but judging by how Dave just nodded and is heading to sit next to you it’s pretty easy to guess.
You look at M. English with pleading in your eyes and he just shrugs you off and more students start to flood into the class before you have time to ask to change spots. He probably wouldn’t have even let you move but it was worth asking. You see Dave’s buddies stagger into class. Once they see Dave it looks like they are trying to get his attention but he pulls out his phone and ignores them in favour of sending a text. Unlike your other teacher M. English doesn’t make Dave introduce himself and just starts the class right at 1:45 like always.
You try to listen to what M. English is saying but you are so distracted by Dave texting that you are only getting every fifth word he’s saying. Dave looks up at you and you don’t have the time to look away before he offers you a little smirk. You think your heart just grew in your chest
Why did it do that?
He looks at you and then starts typing on his phone probably telling his friends about the fucking loser (being you) staring at him but instead he passes you his phone and you open your eyes wide in disbelief. His phone is opened on notes and there’s writing at the top.
do you speak French?
You look at him and raise an eyebrow before answering.
YEAH.
He looks at you with what you can only assume are sceptical eyes since you can’t actually see his eyes thanks to his aviators.
why haven’t you spoken it out loud?
Okay your going to admit that your a little fucking agitated. Why is he asking you these questions? Why isn’t he talking to his ‘friends’ and asking them? Hell it’s like the divine beings are trying to make you suffer. Usually you would just tell someone like this to get fucked but for some reason you’re gonna indulge in his little question game.
CAUSE MY ACCENT IS TERRIBLE AND I DIDN’T FEEL LIKE MAKING AN ASS OUT OF MYSELF TODAY.
This time he doesn’t even looks up before typing another message.
your names karkat?
You don’t type an answer, all you do is nod and face the front. Well you’ve missed half of what M. English has said but for some reason you really don’t care. Before you can try and figure out why you don’t give a shit about missing your favourite class M.English slaps his hands on his desk.
“Alright everyone now find a partner! The next project will be done in duos.”
Fuck.
You love M. English more than some of your family but fuck this guy for always making everyone do group projects. It’s like he knows you like to work alone so he makes you work with other students to try and push you out of your comfort zone. You can see Dave looking at you out of the corner of your eye and you take a deep sigh before turning to Dave with a grimace on your face. He does that little smirk again and your heart leaps again but this time agitation over takes the feeling and you put your head in your arms as M. English comes around to mark down the pairs.
“So Dave old chap! Who will you be partnering up with?” M. English asks. You can tell he already knows. You think he did this on purpose cause the last two assignments have been individual work. Dave tilts his head towards you and M. English smiles.
“Be careful with this one,” he teases, “he’s feisty and doesn’t like social interaction.”
All you can do is glare at M.English with wide eyes since you can’t really tell a teacher to fuck off. But seriously how is this a good idea? You’re partner can’t even speak in English, how in the flying fuck are you gonna have any communication between the two of you? Sure, he was okay at writing responses on his phone but you aren’t sure you’d be able to keep that up. Terezi also said something about him failing English at his school so are you gonna have to teach him English too? You’ll probably just end up doing the project by yourself. You doubt that he’ll be any help, football season is almost over and he’ll probably go hangout with his jock friends before he fucking helps you with an English assignment.