Work Text:
“What do you have for me?”
He had had his own room for most of his time at the Academy. Since Millennia and Rallon took one of the empty dorms farther down the hall he’d had the room all to himself. Which was immensely helpful with the work he was doing now. The last thing he needed was Rallon acting like his mother and telling him what to and not to do.
He pushed that thought away. There was no point in thinking about how disappointed he would be in him. This was much more important anyway. “The future of Gallifrey was in his hands” they’d told him, and what was he going to do, not believe them?
And that’s how he ended up working for the CIA while he was still at the Academy. Well that and the fact that he had proximity to Theta, who they wanted reports on for whatever reason. It didn’t matter why, he just did what he was told.
And he was told to submit his report for that week. “I’m transferring the data to your datapad now.”
“Good work Agent,” The other Time Lord said, “That will be all for today.”
Vansell nodded, and the transmission ended.
He made sure the documents were backed up on the CIA server and deleted them off his datapad. Just to make sure no one would stumble across his work. A precaution really, he wrote all his information in code but it didn’t hurt to be extra careful. And then he put his datapad, along with his books, into his backpack.
It was easy to slip back into the costume of being their friend. Easy to pretend like he didn’t care about their day to day lives because he was just so much better than them. Well, he was better than them if he did say so himself. It made it easier to pretend and be a part of their lives.
He made his way to their first class of the day. He wasn’t late but he made it just in time. And apparently after everyone else since they all turned to stare at him as he walked in. “I’m not late.”
“You’re also not 15 minutes early either, which is normal for you,” Rallon said.
“I had to take care of some work before class, that’s no crime.” He sat down and took his book out. “Now drop it class is supposed to start.”
He heard his peers grumling something about him being a buzzkill, but it didn't phase him. All he had to do was get through the day.
---
“So what was all that about then?” Theta all but snuck up behind him after class ended.
“What are you talking about?” He didn’t look over at him.
Theta shrugged, just on the peripheral of Vansell’s sight, “I dunno. You’re never late.”
“And you always are. I guess sometimes we just have to change things up.”
Theta moved closer so that his face was more visible and made a face. “What were you working on then?”
It was best not to lie. That was what he was told in his training. That was especially true when working with other Time Lords given that it was entirely possible that they would be able to sense a lie. Though Vansell knew Theta probably wouldn’t be able to pick up on such a minute telepathic cue he didn’t want to break practice. “Work, unlike you.”
“But we don’t have any work due today,” and then he paused for a moment. “Or do we? Do we have an assignment due today?”
Vansell glared over at him, he wanted more than anything else for this conversation to be over, but he wouldn’t stop until he got whatever it was he wanted out of the conversation. “No. But I fell behind on my work last night and need to catch up this morning to keep on track.”
“Imagine doing your work ahead of time,” Theta joked. “Couldn’t be me.”
“It could be,” Koschei called back, “you really should try harder.”
Theta rolled his eyes, “He knows that won't actually happen. I get all my best work done under pressure of a tight deadline.”
“Or no work at all.”
“Yeah it all depends on my mood.” Theta shrugged. “But what work were you working on?”
He pondered the question. “If you must know, it was work for my thesis.”
“What’re you doing for that again?”
“If you must know, I'm doing data collection. A lot of work with and about the Matrix.”
Theta scrunched his nose up about that, “Boring.”
“Then why are you asking?” He started picking up pace, hoping to lose Theta that way.
He was undeterred, “Dunno, just curious. Have fun with your boring ass project Vansell.”
And he was gone. Finally. He’d have to write a report about this given the fact that Theta was the person he was supposed to be acquiring data about.
He’d felt bad about lying at the beginning. It was hard to lie to the only people who had any desire to be your friends, and some of them even tried to be his friend. Playing along after that point was easier, but it made the lying harder. But it had gotten easier, especially since they had started to distance themselves from him, and he them.
It would be easier once he’d left the Academy. One day.