Chapter Text
A small sigh was let out as Quentin slumped forward resting his head in his hand. The other arm was checked as it held the watch his father had bought him as a gift for agreeing to move. Late. This guy was late. The brunette was seated in the predetermined spot on campus the teacher gave them to meet, but at this point he was skeptical that the teacher ever gave it to the guy at all. While he’d never actually done tutoring before it seemed like it was easy enough so why not, plus it’s a chance to meet other people and help them. Sadly he didn’t know this guy at all aside from his name, which the teacher provided, and a few whispers mentioning him in the hall here or there. At this rate, he was gonna fall asleep by the time this guy gets here. Picking the lint off the blue argyle sweater he wore to try and keep his mind occupied. ‘This better be worth the extra credit’ was the only thought he had at the moment.
After a while, the guy finally showed up, completely forgetting he was going to be tutored today. Steve was mainly known as the once cool jock in school with a ‘nice mane’, so he was easily recognizable. He showed up wearing a dark blue jacket, half sleeved green shirt, light blue jeans, and dirty-ass white sneakers. Steve wasn’t looking forward to staying after school to work on more schoolwork, but he didn’t want to risk getting in trouble with his parents. He walked up to Quentin and slammed his backpack on top of the table, probably snapping Quentin back to reality. “Hey man, sorry I’m late. I lost track of time” he said, exhausted from having to speed walk to the room. He sat down next to Quentin and immediately noticed his baggy eyes. He thought it was a little weird, but didn’t think too much of it. “So what are we working on first?”
Any drowsiness Quentin felt was immediately cast away with the slam produced by the backpack. A quick eye rub and he finally took in the guy, Steve. Maybe the look lasted a little longer than he meant but sue him. "Well- I would say maybe working on getting here on time-" A small laugh was produced at his own remark. "Joking of course! But it's whatever you think you need help in the most, orrr if you have any upcoming tests for other classes you wanna study for?" The urge to fight off inwardly cringing at his own horrible joke was eating at him almost as much as the small crush. For god's sake he'd just met the guy but can you blame a man for thinking someone looks good? "No subject is off the table, I'm pretty good in all of them- my father used to be the principal at the old school I went to be we moved so needless to say I had to do a lot of studying." A nervous smile was given to try and ease any tension, but in reality it was just in his head and he knew it. He sucked at this.
Steve laughed along with Quentin’s joke, but there was definitely some awkward tension going on. He’s heard rumors about how weird this guy was, and though it was a little true, he just shrugged it off. The guy seemed nice so that’s a plus. “I’ll try not to be late next time, don’t worry. But let’s see what we have..” he said as he looked through his backpack. He pulled out a couple of papers that had bad grades written with a red marker. He had math, science, history, you name it. “It’s uh-..a lot I know, but luckily I have you to help me out right buddy?” He said, using his elbow to gently bump Quentin's arm as a friendly gesture. Quentin was probably the only student who was willing to tutor Steve. People were usually scared to go anywhere near the stereotypical cool jock kid in the 80s. Some were definitely bullies but Steve wasn’t so bad.
"Of course, that's what I'm here for, I'm surprised no one else took this opportunity before me." Quentin grabbed one of the papers adorned with red ink and looked it over. Well, his work was cut out for him. He didn't mind though maybe he could make a friend out of this and score some extra creds, it helped Steve was nice to look at too. Though the thought lingered in his mind about why no one wanted this. Sure Steve seemed like a meathead jock but from first impressions, he didn't get that feeling. More papers were flipped through to try and gauge the problems Steve was having, bringing out his own pen he started to make note's on the side and circle problem areas. The blue ink contrasted the bright red on the paper in an oddly symbolic way. "We can start with history since I know there's a test next week- plus it's easier than math. I don't know about you but I'd take history or math any day." The failed history test was put back in front of the jock after a few moments this time with annotations. "A lot of these are actually minor slip-ups that we can fix. Years and dates are tricky to remember so I don't blame you for missing those at all. Sometimes creating a little tune or rhyme with them helps me remember if you wanna try that? Or we can just go the flashcard route."
Steve pulled out a journal to take down notes just Incase. He was a little stressed out over the fact they had a history test soon that he did not study for whatsoever. He was too distracted by sports and hanging out with his friends. Ya know, Typical jock stuff. “Well at least I’m not the only one who’s not a huge fan of math…or any subject for that matter” he joked. He looked at Quentin, a little confused and embarrassed over the fact he recommended learning little tunes about history. He felt as if he was in elementary again, But decided to play along since he needed to step up his game. He shrugged “I mean if you think it’ll help me then sure we can give it a try. Just know I’m not singing in front of you,” he said, pointing at him with his pencil. “How about I take some notes about it?”
Nodding, the darker-haired brunette agreed with the fact Steve should definitely start taking notes. Though the image of Steve singing about important historical dates in front of him like it was some elementary school educational musical got a genuine smile out of him, not many things brought that out anymore. "You're funny Steve, as much as I'd love to see you sing about the Industrial Era of America I was more suggesting you make one up for yourself in your head. Although I'm not opposed to you workshopping one with me." The smile turned into a small smirk. "Don't worry I won't tell~ Hahaha-” Feeling like that came off as a little much teasing the younger tried to give some reassurance. "Honestly though- everything you do or say during our little study time stays between us okay? If it makes you feel more comfortable we can move these sessions to a more private place. I just want to make sure you have a good learning environment." He really did want to help this guy, maybe it was just in his nature but if he has the chance to help people he'll always take it. "Plus my dad is usually out of town all the time anyways finishing up the shit show back in Ohio."
Steve was a little flustered and embarrassed by all the teasing, but he didn’t mind at all. “Oh really? You’re a funny one huh new guy?” he chuckled. He was honestly taken back by how nice this guy was considering all the weird rumors about Quentin. At this point, he’s just now distracted from his main task and just wanted to get to know the new kid more. “Thanks for keeping it a secret, I appreciate that. But hey, my parents are usually never home so I’m always free” he tore a small piece of the paper and wrote down his address, sliding over to Quentin. “Got a lot of paperwork and studying I need to do so you’ll have to get used to seeing me new guy!”
Quentin let out a small huff of air akin to a laugh. “You know you can just call me Quentin right? It’s way better than new guy or weirdo or whatever they’re calling me, trust me. And you know what- for you, I’ll even tolerate ‘Quen’.” The paper with the address was taken, transferring the details into the notebook he had out so if he lost the paper they’d be there instead. At the bottom of the page he wrote his own address and home phone number before ripping it out and giving it to Steve. “And I’d be happy to help you out with all that and maybe actually get to know each other better, how about this- for every answer you get right I’ll let you ask me something and I’ll have to answer honestly, and I’ll even let you check your notes. Deal?”
A little incentive never hurt plus he’d be giving Steve more about himself than he’s given most people at this school so far. Lucky him. Maybe favoritism was in play already.
Steve let out a nervous chuckle. He didn’t know Quentin knew about all the stuff people have been saying about him. Then again it’s no secret since people were spreading it around like wildfire about two new students. “You weird? Nah! I don’t know where you heard that from but you seem pretty cool. Don’t pay too much attention to what they have to say. People are assholes”. Quentin gave a little playful eye roll when Steve acted dumb as to where he heard the rumors from. It was hard not to after all. It’s all he heard behind his back, not that he minded too much, giant scars on your chest will do that.
The jock set that whole conversation aside and looked down at the small paper, folded it up, and put it in his jacket pocket “Quentin? Well nice to meet you, Quentin. I’m Steve but I’m sure the teacher has already told you that” He sat back and crossed his arms at the mention of some form of incentive. “Oh? Making tutoring more interesting I see. Well, you got yourself a deal!” With an excited tone. He sure as hell had a lot of questions to ask Quentin so this was a great opportunity.
With the confirmation of the deal, Quentin wasted no time starting the questioning. “Alright, we’ll start with an easy one.” Grabbing the test back he picked one of the questions Steve barely missed. Surely with the notes he gave the other on the assignment with the right answers he’d get this one. “During what years did the Industrial Revolution take place?”
Steve took a while to think of an answer. Not even remembering what he himself put on the paper. Probably had put a random answer choice. Dumb luck, he guesses? Glancing over at the notes he snapped his fingers, pointing at Quentin in the process “1760 to 1840!…right?” He said, doubting himself a little.
“Yes!” It surprised Quentin a little that Steve got it right off the bat, but it was a good kind of surprise earning Steve a grin from his tutor. “Congratulations I can see your brain growing already hopefully the hair won’t weigh it down.”
Steve chuckled and he pulled his hair back, setting it to the side “I can feel my brain getting bigger” he joked.
A little check mark was put next to the question to show he’d gotten it right. They’d still revisit it again eventually to make sure he got it, but that’s for later. “Okay, now you get to ask me a question. Anything at all.”
The older of the two sat back and thought long and hard as to what questions he should ask first. He wanted to ask if the rumors were true, but he thought maybe he should start low first. “Hm, well, what made you guys move down here to Hawkins? This place is a shit show.”
In all honesty that had to be the worst possible question for Steve to ask him. His smile faded as he tried to word the answer without touching his own nerves.“Uhm- long story I’d rather not get into the details here. But let’s just say, in simple terms, a very bad guy did some very bad things and like almost all my friends are kinda…dead? Sorry, that’s a little heavy to put on you haha- but he’s dead now! We moved to get away from it all though.” The necklace around his neck was fiddled with out of nervousness he’d picked up. “Uh- how about you ask another one? That was kinda a downer and you didn’t know so it’s not your fault. Maybe after a few more lessons- and not at the school, I can tell you the full story.”
Steve was clearly shocked by Quentin's response. He was not expecting such a traumatizing answer, but it did explain why Quentin acted this way. At this point he felt bad “Oh um- I’m really sorry, I didn’t know. We don’t have to do the whole question thing if you don’t want to.” This time he thought about his questions carefully. He didn’t want to make Quentin any more uncomfortable than he already was.
“No! It’s totally fine don’t worry- sorry I didn’t mean to get heavy there but I wanna give you the truth. Just don’t tell anyone please, you’re the one person who knows.” The only person he plans on letting know as well. Hawkins was way better than Springwood already and he didn’t want to ruin that.
Steve was kinda surprised that he was the only person who knows about Quentin's moving situation. He didn’t think Quentin would tell him something so deep. Then again, he thought maybe the poor guy has been lonely ever since the death of his friends. “Hey man, don’t worry. The secret is safe with me.” Trying to change the subject Steve thought up a different question. “Okay then, let's see. How about what do you do for fun?” Steve questioned.
That question perked Quentin’s interest and his mood lifted slightly. “I actually used to swim a lot and I was on the swim team for my old school. Won the Ohio state championship even. I don’t think I’ll continue here though, I already get enough people talking just for changing in the locker room. I just wish my house had a pool or I had somewhere private to swim.”
The jock gave Quentin a smile. “Wow, you were on a swimming team? Look at you go! And hey, you're in luck. I have a pool back at my place that you can give a go. I don’t really use it anymore, but whenever we finish studying you can go for a swim.” ‘So the rumors are true’ he thought to himself. He was really curious as to how he got the scar, but he thought it was too soon and that he be closer to Quentin before asking such a personal question.
“Oh do you?! Looks like we’re gonna have to study at your place then, you can win me over with your pool.” Swimming in semi-private? Sign him up. He’ll take anything if it’s not open to the public at this point- hell he almost jumped the neighbor's fence to swim in their pool. Steve was nervous but excited to have someone over to get in the pool. He hasn’t used it at all ever since the incident with Barbara. He didn’t want something like that happening again so this time he will keep a close eye on Quentin for his safety. “Alrighty, next question then we can talk more.” The paper was looked over again trying to pick another question. “What happened to the environment for industrialization to occur?” He knew Steve could get this one or at least he hoped he could. Getting to know people was fun and he didn’t want it to end but studying must be done.
Steve thinks for a second as he looked through his note once again. For this question, he didn’t take too long to answer “Oh, deforestation?”
“Look at you you’re so smart Harrington.” Another check mark was added to the paper so far he was doing great. Quentin was oddly proud, it seemed Steve just needed focus and insensitive. “So, what Quentin fun fact do you want to learn next?” The urge to add a snarky remark along the lines of ‘preferably something less traumatic’ was strong but Quentin went against it as he actually wanted to be friends with Steve.
Steve smiled, actually feeling confident in himself. He was always made fun of for not being the smartest, but Quentin's nice comments definitely helped him feel better. He really enjoyed the support. He hummed, thinking about his next question as he played around with a pencil. “Ok ok, favorite movies?.” He was someone who didn’t even know many movies but thought it was better than asking a deep question. Quentin let out an 'Ooooo' was let at the question as Steve had just asked him the most trivial thing. His pen was tapped and his face scrunched a bit as he thought. "You knoooww~ I'm a fan of horror movies so I'll have to say Evil Dead, Halloween, annnnnddd The Shining. Hard to pick only a few honestly but I know horror movies aren't everyone's thing." He was tempted to let Steve ask again but maybe he'll save it for later when he gets a hard one right as a little treat. Steve just nodded at every movie he mentioned, not knowing any movie other than Halloween. But then again, everyone knew Halloween so it wasn’t a surprise. He shrugged “You're a horror movies guy? I haven’t really seen any of those movies. Not that I’m scared of horror movies or anything! Just didn’t pique my interest,” he said, acting like a tough guy but he was definitely scared of watching horror movies. “Movie Night maybe?”. Quentin gave a chuckle to Steve’s quick excuses and reassurance he totally wasn’t scared at all. “Need someone to hold on to when you get scared Steve? You look all tough- c’mon some fake zombies can’t kill you. But I’m more than happy to watch some movies with you.” Steve chuckled at Quentin's comments “Oh please, me? Scared? Nah! But that sounds like a plan. Movie night on the weekend~” he said, thinking of what horror movies he should buy. He wasn’t a huge fan of the genre but he’ll give it a try.
Focusing back into study mode Quentin found the next question to ask. "Okay- What power source was instrumental to industrial mechanization?" Steve surprisingly was having a good time studying. Probably the first time ever. He looked through his notes “Steam?”
“Would you look at that, right again! Are you sure you need tutoring? Or am I just a good luck charm?” The fourth check was added. It was incredible how much Steve was improving in just their first session. Not to mention how fast they’ve warmed up to each other. Quentin found himself wanting to do this every day, but he knew the jock probably had other friends he’d rather spend time with than some tutor. “Alright there Smith don’t toot your own horn” he laughed. “But I will say you are a better teacher than our actual teachers”. Quentin shied away slightly in a tiny display of bashfulness at that comment. It was one of the highest praises he’s even gotten when trying to tutor someone. Needless to say, he was very pleased with how Steve seemed to be enjoying himself while learning. “I don’t have to toot my own horn if you’re tooting it for me, Harrington, alright few more and we’ll be done, if you wanna go somewhere else we can or we can do it another day. Where did the early industrial "middle class" live?”
This was one of the questions he didn’t even have to look through the notes for. He was pretty excited knowing the fact he remembered the answer from the top of his head “Oh in the cities!” Quentin gave him a nod at the correct answer. “You know, I think you’ve just had bad teachers- or at least bad teaching methods that don’t suit you, cause believe or not Steve you’re pretty good at this.” His pen tapped as he looked for another question before he realized he’d forgotten to give the other a chance to ask him a question. “So good in fact I think you got carried away and forgot to ask me something. Unless of course, you’re already tired of fun Quentin facts. I’ll let you ask two since I owe you one.” Steve was getting so much praise he did the ‘Oh stop it you~’ hand motion. He was never praised for anything other than his looks. Not even from his ex-girlfriend Nancy. “Now you’re just being nice to me. But I appreciate the compliment!”
Quentin got a melancholic look on his face, he was glad the jock was happy but at the same time, he felt bad that it seemed no one has ever said something like this to him. The urge to support this guy was stronger than ever now, as silly as that was. “There’s gonna be a lot more of these comments cause they’re true, you’re more than a pretty face Harrington.” Steve was a little surprised Quentin said he had a “pretty face” but just shrugged it off. Not thinking too much of it. He sat back, thinking long and hard about his questions. Again, he didn’t want to screw up the moment as he did with the first question. “First question. got any siblings? I happen to be the only kid in the family.” He said, hoping to god that’s an innocent question and won’t bring up any traumatic history. Quentin’s eyebrows raised a little at the question and Steve’s own answer. “I’m an only child as well actually, it’s just my father and I so I’m alone most of the time.”
“Well, that’s one of the things we have in common. My parents are never around either” he said, thinking where Quentin's mom was in the picture but decided not to bring it up. Steve hummed as he thought of another question “Next question. What do you think of Hawkins so far? Ya know, the school, the town.” Taking a second to formulate his answer, Quentin tried to nail down an idea of the town. Hawkins was nice, a little boring sure but a nice change from Springwood. Though he didn’t really know anyone until now besides Robin and her friend group. “It’s nice, you make it better though I didn’t really know anyone before this. Maybe you can show me around sometime?” Steve was honestly flattered by Quentin's comment. He can definitely get along with this guy he thought. “Yeah, man! There really isn’t much stuff in Hawkins. It’s boring as shit here but I can show you around” he smiled. Quentin thought about the school part. “Hey actually- I don’t know anything about the school drama or any of that shit but how come people talk about you so much? Are you some kind of celebrity? Cause you seem way too nice to be.”
Steve was a little embarrassed when Quentin called him a ‘celebrity’ but just set it aside. He shrugged “Well I guess you can say I was the ‘popular kid’ in school? Maybe it’s because of the way I looked? The hair, the face. Or because I played basketball? Not that it matters now the new guy showed up,” he said, referring to Billy. Quentin gave a slight head tilt to that trying to recall who- oh yeah that guy. "Honestly I haven't been paying another to the popularity rankings at all, kinda forgot about that guy till you said anything. Though I'll probably be seeing more of him now." Popularity dynamics going head to head and he's tutoring one of them, yeah he's probably gonna see this other new guy more now, and not in a nice way. "Hey, you're more than looks, sureeee they're good looks don't get me wrong-" He lets out a little laugh "But you've got a brain and personality in there too Harrington." Using his pencil he lightly tapped Steve's forehead as if to prove something was rattling around in there. "You just need a good teacher." Steve rubbed his forehead where Quentin poked and chuckled “Unfortunately some people think popularity does matter. It’s hard to get any girls and I did end up losing my old friends since that Billy guy showed up. Meh, they were assholes anyway,” He gently nudged him with his elbow “I’m making a friend now so who needs them.”
Girls. They were pretty but not a lot of them spark his interest. There was Nancy H. sure, and the obvious celebrity crushes but he always found himself more leaning towards guys. Which- never brought him anything but unrequited love and secret crushes. "Well I'm glad you think of me as a friend, maybe we can both remake our friend group." A smile was given to ease the underlying knowledge of that statement. More importantly why Quentin has to make new friends. "Okay last question for that day, I know it's short but it's only the first session. What is a person who assumes all financial risk in starting a business called?"
Steve nodded and looked through his notes. He tapped on the note with his pencil “Entrepreneur?” The final check of the day was given to the paper as Quentin capped his pen. "You know at this rate you're gonna be catching up to me in Grades." The other papers were neatly stacked and sorted. "One last fact for you today. Also, do you mind if I take these to annotate?" Steve yawned and stretched. He was ready to head home and relax for the day. Though he did enjoy his time with the new guy. Putting any leftover papers away in his backpack “Sure, go for it. Last Quentin fact for today huh? How about an innocent question?.. Favorite food?” Quentin gave a fake offended face. "You really saved the hardest question for last huh? Augh- making me have to think here." The papers he had were put away into a folder and then place back in his bag getting everything sorted. "You know I'd say maybe Eggs Benedict? I don't know, though I'm a bit of a sweets guy." Putting on his bag he got up and stretched which earned him a few pops. "What about you?"
Steve chuckled at Quentin's humor. “Tough one I know. I didn’t think the question was going to be turned around towards me! Let me think..” he said glancing to the side. He didn’t really have a specific favorite food. He wasn’t much of a picky person “Hm, Chicken is pretty good? Can't really think of an all-time favorite food hehe.” He looked at the time on his watch as he stood up, putting on his backpack “Should be heading home now. Lost track of time I didn’t realize it was late! We should meet up again.” He held up a fist for Quentin to fist bump.
“Of course dude, always happy to.” The fist bump was given along with a quick goodbye before they headed off to their respective cars.