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Evan’s going to be completely honest.
Laying down on his back in the middle of the floor of the student lounge in his college’s dormitory in the middle of 1:30 in the morning with a string of papers around him while he feels like he’s running off of 3 hours of sleep was not in his agenda for today, nor was it how he saw his night going.
He’s a music theory major, but that doesn’t mean he was spared from taking general education classes that helped him to graduate with a degree in his major. And of course, after prolonging the subject he didn’t have confidence at all, Evan was finally facing his greatest enemy… Chemistry. It’s not that he was jackshit awful at the subject, it’s just more so that back in high school it was definitely the one class he let himself cheat in just so he wouldn’t drag his brain through the mud trying to figure out what the hell the difference between an acid and a base is. Curse younger him for weaseling his way out of that shit.
So the Canadian had decided that it would be best for him to do a group study session with his friends Marcel and Brock who were taking the same class, just at different times. Their first major exam of the semester was approaching them, and Evan wanted to avoid absolutely tanking it so he arranged for the three of them to meet to review the material. They successfully managed to make it through the study packet their professor supplied them with, but of course they went a second round of double checking. Better to be safe than sorry! Especially with the way Evan was worrying.
Eventually Brock was the first to take his leave seeing as how he had promised another one of their mutual friends that they would hang out, so it left just the two of them together. Hours of cramming chemistry into their heads made them not want to even spare a glance at their pieces of papers, so Marcel and Evan just talked for the rest of the time until it was Marcel’s turn to take his leave. Which then dwindled down to only being one. and of course, Evan thought it would be best to triple check the entire material… One more time. Just in case.
Which brings everything back to present time.
No, he doesn’t entirely remember how he even ended up on the floor.
(Actually, yes he does. It’s because his pencil rolled off the table and he tried to catch it in time, only for his chair to tip over because of how far he reached which caused him to fall out of it.)
(But he’s not going to admit that to anyone. Too embarrassing.)
At least the floor feels semi-comfortable. The male can’t bring himself to get up off of the floor just yet, only because in doing so it means he has to go back to facing formulas, chemicals, and other things that only make his brain feel fried. If there’s anything he knows about that class. It’s that chemistry is a fucking bitch, that’s for sure.
Eugh.
God. Thinking about it more, is he even cut out for college? Of course, he’s made it this far, but he can’t help still let these types of bad thoughts plague his head whenever he lets himself stray too far into his thoughts. At the same time though, he’s got his friends for support and he couldn’t be any more grateful. They could be a bit annoying at times, but they’re his favorite idiots in the whole world.
(He’ll have to die before he admits it out loud too. Knowing them, they’ll poke fun at him for being so sentimental out of nowhere, those loving assholes.)
Heaving out a sigh, Evan decides it’s time to get himself off the floor and just call it a day.
He brings himself to sit up and run a hand through his hair. His mind is still trying so hard to sort and grapple all the knowledge he crammed into his head earlier that he failed to notice that there was even a whole other person standing in the doorway of the student lounge. It wasn’t until he dropped his hand from his head and decided to look up that he made direct eye contact with the guy.
The Canadian swears he’s seen this guy around campus, maybe even in a class of his? It’s late and his brain isn’t working, so he can’t quite recall but the guy does look familiar.
The guy was tall, but since Evan was seated on the floor looking like a fucking doofus he had to crane his neck a bit higher to even see his face. Scanning the other from bottom to top though, he notes that he’s wearing glasses and sporting quite a comfortable fit of sweatpants, a hoodie with their school’s logo on it, and socks with sandals. He’s got dirty blonde hair that he’s now realizing is tied up in a lazy man bun and a bit of stubble on his face. Either this guy just woke up and decided to come for a late-night snack or he’s in the same boat as Evan and cramming for a class.
After literally a minute of them just staring at each other in silence, the new guy just turns around and walks back to wherever he came from. The automatic doors close behind him, so Evan doesn’t get a chance to even see where the guy went. He blinks before he shakes his head to get his focus back.
Okay yeah, he really needs to go to sleep now. Who knows if someone else will come in and see him in his current sad state.
Now that he’s up on his own two feet, the brunette brings his arms up so he can let out a sigh of relief as he stretches. He can’t wait until he’s in bed. He’s absolutely going to knock out the second his head touches his pillow. So in order to actually feel that euphoria, Evan picks up the papers that were littered at his feet and takes them over to the table that they were using so he can put them back into his folder, so he can finally leave.
The shuffling of papers and the zipping of his pockets on his backpack doesn’t hide the noise of the automatic doors opening up, indicating that someone else came in. Thank God they didn’t come in like the other guy did who saw him on the floor. Again, he knows for sure that embarrassment is going to stay with him for the rest of the semester. He’s definitely not going to let his friends know too, that’s for sure.
A tap on his shoulder breaks him out of his thoughts again and gets his hands to freeze what they were doing. He turns around and is met face-to-face with a can in the hand of the guy who he was just contemplating about. Evan raises his head to look up at the guy to send him what he hopes is his best confused expression.
“Just thought you could use this,” Mr. Can says. “Since, uh, no offense, but you look like you’re about to collapse on your own feet, buddy.” It’s oddly nice, but maybe he could’ve sugarcoated that last bit…
The brunette accepts the drink with a polite smile. “Thanks. I thought I ended up scaring you earlier when you first came down here.”
Mr. Can let out a snort as he puts his hands back into his hoodie's pockets. “If anything, I just found the whole thing to be funny. It’s not every day you come down to see someone having a midlife crisis.”
“Hey, you would be too if something as simple as amino acids,” Evan waves the papers he was holding to add extra emphasis, “can define if you pass a class or not!”
“Sorry pal, but I don’t know jack shit about these anime acids, so you’re on your own on that.”
“They’re amino acids.”
“Anime acids.”
“Maybe it’s good that you aren’t taking chemistry...”
With this, the blonde tilts his head a bit. He lets out a hum. “I actually am though, but I guess our class isn’t covering it yet? I don’t know, I usually don’t come for class in person.”
Wait.
Evan’s eyes widened a bit. So that’s why…!
“No, wait a second, we’re in the same block! That’s why you looked familiar!” He claps his hands together as a small smile grows on his face. “You sit a row ahead of me in class.”
A flash of recognition went through the other's face the moment he put it all together.
“No fucking way! Your name is Evan, right?”
“Yeah! Oh, but you’re gonna have to remind me of your name. Seeing as how my brain is nothing but mush right now.”
“It’s cool! I'm Tyler, it’s nice to actually meet you properly,” the blonde says with a wide smile.
Evan was about to extend his hand out to give the guy a handshake, but he stopped the second he remembered he was still holding the drink Tyler had given him. He looks down at the can and brings it back closer to inspect it fully. He only accepted it without thought earlier because he didn’t want to be rude. Now that he was looking at it, he realizes it’s a can of coffee.
“You looked like you were really going through it, so that’s why I got you the drink,” Tyler explains.
The taller one then clears his throat as brings a hand to rub the back of his neck. Now it’s his turn to look at the can to avoid eye contact.
“Plus, I had always wanted to talk to you and maybe get the chance to be your friend.”
He looks… a bit bashful?
...
Oh.
...
Cute.
Evan giggles. “Well, you certainly know your way to a guy’s heart.” He gently shakes the can of coffee before setting it down on the table. “Free drinks. I’m already swept off my feet.”
Tyler rolls his eyes, but the shorter notices the small smile he has. “So glad it worked then, seeing as how you’re still talking to me despite being seconds away from another breakdown.”
The Canadian huffs out a breath as he plops himself down in the chair he was sitting on earlier. He sees the other’s head tilt again, so Evan gestures to the chair across from him. Tyler gets the hint and takes a seat, taking out an energy drink he had hidden away in his pocket and placing it on the table. If they’re going to be talking for the rest of the night, then they both might as well get some of their batteries recharged.
With that, Evan pops open his can of coffee and does a quick cheers in Tyler’s direction before he takes a swig of it. Bitter, but will definitely get the job done.
Maybe he’s a bit glad that he spent a couple of minutes of his life frying his brain over some stupid ass amino acids.
After all, it scored him a free drink and a new friend with a cute guy.