Work Text:
Third
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Taking cover from the rain meant hiding in someone else's house for the night. Staying in someone else's house meant no Wi-Fi unless they gave the password to you. No internet connection meant "I can't turn my paper in on time".
That meant Seth either suffered with a failing grade for the semester, or he tried to ask for Alex's wi-fi password. He seemed to become uneasy and almost defensive when asked about it. Whenever they went to his house everyone just suffered, using data or doing something that didn't include the internet. Didn't look so hard considering the phones they had back then.
Seth sat back on the couch, sinking into it and hiding the lower half of his face with his shirt. Sighing, he stared at the screen.
“Enter Password: _______”
Would Alex let him have it? He's never directly asked for it himself.
Brian had joked that it was the name of a girl Alex had a crush on since kindergarten. Alex stated loud and clear that it wasn't. So it wasn't "Amy", "AmyKralie", "AmyWalters" or any other combinations of her name.
What everyone was curious about was that Alex never declared who his crush actually was. If it wasn't Amy, who?
Seth was going to ask when he heard a door creak open, looking up it revealed to be a sleep deprived Alex. He rubbed his eyes and adjusted his glasses again.
"Brian left in Tims car. The two are heading home. Aren't you?" Alex was first to speak.
It takes Seth a minute to answer him, cracking his knuckles as Alex waited.
"I kinda ran here…"
"You can run back." his reply is curt. Alex turned around to do something else. Picking up a few papers, Seth can see its all stapled together. Scripts.
"You're crazy. It's raining outside!" Seth frowned, looking at Alex with a look of betrayal.
"And? Jay's done it before."
"I'm not Jay." Seth looked down at the screen, tapping the space bar until it lit up again.
"I know. You're not as dumb as him." Alex said, casually. To which Seth immediately shot his head up again.
"Alex!" he scolded. "Be nice." he adds.
Alex laughed, the small smile on his face making Seth smile as well. He was definitely telling Jay, though.
Shuffling around papers again, Alex asked after a bit, "But seriously, aren't you going to go home soon?"
"I thought I was welcome here." Seth mumbled.
"Of course you are! Don't think you aren't." Alex turned to face Seth.
He tilts his head at the tone. Wow, Alex saying he's welcome here. How shocking!
"Really?" Seth asked, glancing down at his computer screen. It wouldn't hurt to use it for one moment. Would it?
"What's your Wi-Fi password?"
Alex seemed to freeze and panic on the inside.
Instead of answering, Alex asks his own question, "Why do you need it?"
The other man just groaned in frustration and threw his head back, to which Alex just watched and awaited a reply.
"I have a paper due in like…eight minutes. Didn't write my name on it and I need to proofread it," he explained and sat straight again. Alex crossed his arms and thought about it. Good excuse, still a hard no. No one was getting the password. Not even the person Alex named it after.
"Yeah, and? You can head to the lab tomorrow, print it out and hand it to the professor like that." Alex turned around again, fumbling with papers and pencils on the table.
Seth says nothing for a bit, mocking Alex's words silently and staring at the screen.
"I'll just guess the password," he barely has enough time to say that before Alex cuts in.
"Please don't," he murmurs with a sigh, continuing to write things down. He was editing a script, or so it seemed. Nope, not doodling hearts above someone's name at all.
Staring at the screen, Seth is determined to do this. He's getting the password and that's final.
First, "AlexKralie". Nope. "FilmDirector". Nada.
Continuing to type combinations, names, and even places, the man gets closer and closer to smashing his keyboard.
"Shit," he mumbled under his breath, staring at the screen. It now read "too many attempts, try again in 59s"
To kill time, Seth looks up at Alex. No, he wasn't admiring him, he was glaring daggers at him.
"What is it?" Seth is fed up with this. He needs to pass. He isn't about to get dropped from another college and have to transfer to one out of state. However that worked.
"What's what?" The man asked as he got another chair to sit down in.
"The password!" Seth snaps. They're both tired of this.
"You're stubborn. I'm not telling you," Alex said. He ignores the comment and crossed his arms.
"We're gonna start fighting like children if you don't tell me." The threat is not an empty one. Coming from Seth, especially when it had to do with his work. Alex was the same.
He gets no reply from the film director.
"What if you didn't have a password?" Seth joked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, I definitely don't. Just gonna let people mooch off of it." Alex lightened up. He chuckled. Seth laughed, too.
The two look at one another. The smiles on their face showing the silence wasn't as awkward as they thought.
Alex lightly pushed himself off the table he leaned against, "I'll go get you tea."
"Coffee," Seth corrects. Alex shakes his head.
"Typical college student," he muttered and walked off.
While Alex goes to make the drink, Seth continued to enter password after password.
No names worked. Not Brian, not Tim, not Jay.
"Give me a hint!" Seth cried from the couch.
"I like them!" Alex yelled.
"So me!?" Seth yelled back.
"Keep trying!"
Seth rolled his eyes. It couldn't be his name, right? It was a person! Not a place or an item!
The enter password window still stared at him. Ah why not give it a shot. He's tried everything. He'll never guess Alex's crush. If he even liked anyone that is. Was the man even capable of any other emotion besides anger?
Well, there was earlier when they laughed.
Typing in his name he sees "must be longer than 4 characters". Okay, he had a last name for a reason.
And so, he presses enter after adding his last name Wilson.
"This is ridiculous," he thought aloud, scoffing as he waited for the error notification to pop up somewhere.
"It can't be my name, I mean—"
'Connected'
Poor Seth didn't have to process that. His mouth fell agape and he was speechless. Alex came back, placing down the cup of coffee, holding a cup of his own.
"Give up?" Alex asked, watching the expression on Seth's face.
It's completely silent since Seth chose not to reply. Still, he was frozen in surprise and also relief.
"Everything alright, Seth?"
He finally responds, "Is now a good time to say I like you?"