Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

James adjusted his earbud as Simon Lang’s voice rang from his phone instead. Simon Lang was a big youtuber in the tech community right now, and his video series on the mobile side of coding had had James obsessed for the last few weeks. He’s been looking into ways to get some extra cash from coding so he could save up for MIT, and mobile apps was the idea that appealed to him the most. It was a challenge, but he had developed apps before, and maybe his coding classes at the local community college would help him get better at it. 

“Is that the stupid tech guy?” His sister asked incredulously from the front seat, flipping around to look at him.

“It’s Simon Lang, and I was just watching one of his videos.” James wanted to roll his eyes at her condescending tone, but didn’t want to start another argument. 

“When are you going to talk to real people instead of staring at your phone all day?” She actually rolled her eyes as she turned back around and went back to texting on her phone. 

“Ashlee, isn’t that what you’re doing right now?” Their mom smiled, not looking away from the road.

“It’s different mom!” Ashlee cried. “I’m texting Madeline right now, and she’s real .” She waved her phone around as if that would enhance her point. Their mom just huffed lightly in a laugh before she spoke again.

“Seriously though James, college is a great place to make friendships that last a lifetime, don’t lock yourself away in a dorm.”

“I won’t mom.” He said softly, earnestly. “I’m gonna be fine.” His mom didn’t bring up the subject again until they were walking down the hall to his dorm with James’ things. 

“Do you know who your roommate is?” She asked concernedly, glancing around at the rambunctious boys roaming the halls. 

“Yeah, it’s some guy named Lance.” He said distractedly, looking at the room numbers they were passing to make sure they didn’t miss his dorm.

“Did you call him?”

“Yeah mom, I left him a voicemail but he didn’t call me back.”

“Well did you sound like a nerd when you called?” His sister chimed in from behind.

James stopped in front of the door to his dorm and glanced back at her briefly to answer. “I sounded like myself.” 

“That explains why he didn’t call you back.” James snorted goodnaturedly, digging in his pocket for the keys while his mom chided her with a snapped ‘Ashlee!’ James unlocked the door and entered, setting his things down on the side closest to the door after making sure Lance hadn’t claimed a side of the room yet. 

“It’s a little smaller than the brochure.” His mom commented worriedly, setting down the things in her arms onto the bed.

“It’s big enough for the two of us, mom.” He said, trying to sound reassuring. As a single mom she had a tendency to worry too much about him and Ashlee, something which sixteen year old Ashlee found to be a severe annoyance, but James found to be comforting. She couldn’t provide them with everything, but she loved them and maybe she was a little overbearing, but at least she cared. 

“But what if you want to have friends over?!” She looked around the space again as if suddenly a new room would pop up if she looked hard enough.

“As if that’s gonna happen.” Ashlee laughed, chucking James’ sheets down on the bed. James ducked his head in embarrassment while their mom chided her again. James didn’t mind her teasing, but to be honest James was a little afraid about how he would make friends as well. He didn’t really have friends in high school and as an introvert he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to make any in college either.

“James,” his mom said, interrupting his thoughts, “please don’t let the computer be your only friend.” 

“It’s not gonna be mom.” He waved his phone around. She tried to hide her smile at the joke, trying to seriously encourage him to make friends, but before she could speak again Ashlee interrupted. 

“Mom, can we head back now?” 

“Yeah honey, sorry. I love you James.” She hesitated for a second before speaking. “And I know this isn’t MIT and I’m sorry, but-”

“No mom, don't do that. It’s okay, I’m gonna get there eventually.” She smiled through watery eyes and came over to give him a tight hug and a pressed kiss to his forehead. 

“How did I get so lucky with you?” She pulled away to grip him at arm's length, getting serious. “Be good- or I mean don’t be good! Have fun, but-”

“Mom!” Ashlee called from the doorway impatiently. 

“I love you James!” She called as she left the dorm, blowing kisses in his direction as if it was the last time she would ever see him. James let his smile drop as they left and looked at the empty bed on the other side of the dorm.

“Please don’t be a stupid jock.” He silently begged, praying to whoever was in charge of dorm assignments. James was a stereotypical nerd in his highschool, and sufficiently scrawny enough that he was always picked last in sports and teased about his size. All he needed from his roommate was someone slightly intelligent and nice enough to not make fun of him for being academically inclined. 

James got to work setting up his side of the room, first and foremost pulling out his computer and setting it on the desk. James’ computer was an old 2015 laptop his mom gave him when she finally bought a new one for work. It wasn’t a great computer, but it did everything he needed it to do and it wasn’t like he could afford a new one anyways. He opened it and pulled up the assignments he’d been working on completing for his classes. He’d spent the last two weeks reading syllabuses and starting the assignments on them, which weren’t many, considering only two of the teachers seemed insane enough to assign work before class. 

Luckily one of those classes was computer science, the class James had been looking forward to all summer.  Their assignment had been to create truth tables, which was one of the easier tasks and James believed it really showed who would be able to take the class and who wouldn’t. They were a simple concept, for example if A is true then B is false and vice versa. James had added in an additional variable when doing his tables like the reading recommended trying, because he had done truth tables hundreds of times before and wanted to have a little fun with it. He glanced over the assignment to make sure it all worked properly, but turned his head when the door opened.

There in the doorway stood a tall man with curly brown hair and a backpack slung on his shoulder. He walked into the room, surveying it with a frown, eyes landing on James. James stood quickly and held out his hand.

“Um, nice to meet you, you must be Lance.” Lance glanced down at his hand and shook it with a strong grip.

“And you must be my soon-to-be-transferred-to-another-college roommate.” 

“Um, yeah I guess that’s me.” He said, a blush blooming on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, right so this is your side of the room,” he said, gesturing to the side farthest from the door, “as you can see I left it completely untouched.” Idiot! His brain scolded. Why would you say that? It makes it sound like you definitely did touch it. Lance glanced at him without turning his head, clear amusement on his face. Quick, say something! “Do you need any help bringing anything in?” 

“No, I’ve got it covered.” He dropped the backpack onto the sheet less mattress. “Thanks, though.” 

“Right, cool.” He bounced on the balls of his feet for a second, remembering his mothers words. He had to at least be friends with his roommate right? “Did you want to grab a bite to eat?” 

Lance shot a smile at him. “Yeah actually that’s a great idea. I am kinda hungry!” 

“Yeah?” James said optimistically, a smile blooming on his face in response. 

“Yeah, I’ll see you around man.” Lance gave him a nod in acknowledgment before leaving the dorm with his confident swagger. 

“Oh, yeah, I have things to do here anyways. I have to set up my bed and stuff, maybe we can chat about it later over…” James trailed off when Lance didn’t bother to stay to listen to the words. “...or whatever I guess.” James let out a frustrated noise and shut his laptop’s lid. He decided the best thing to do would be to just set up his side before heading out to lunch so he grabbed the sheets on his bed and got to work.

By the time all his clothes were put away, his bed was made, and all his school supplies were put in the desk his stomach was complaining about the late lunch and he grabbed his meal card and headed to the cafeteria. He had looked up the campus map online before coming to school and quickly walked over, glancing at the line for a party as he passed. He saw in an email that the school was hosting some kind of welcoming party, but James didn’t bother to look at the details, he knew he wouldn’t want to go. 

When he got his food he walked past the line again, so he could eat in his dorm, but froze when he saw a familiar face.

Chapter Text

It was definitely her, the blonde hair, her favorite gray dress, and a book in hand. She was in line, standing next to a couple of girls and James was about to walk over to her when a blonde guy arrived first. James hung back, staying half hidden behind a column as he watched the two talk. 

Hannah. Besides James she was one of the smartest people in their grade back when they were in high school together. That was what had attracted James to her, she was one of the only people he felt he could have an engaging conversation with. Not to mention the fact that they just made sense. They got along fine and they had the two highest GPAs in the school, why wouldn’t they be together? Hannah apparently disagreed, rejecting him thoroughly when he asked her to prom. James frowned at the couple as they talked together, Hannah settling her book under her arm as she giggled at the guy, tucking her hair behind her ear in a way that even James recognized as flirting. The guy chatted with her happily until a minute or two into the conversation.

Both of them looked frustrated as they talked and the guy raised his voice, waving his phone around before storming off. Hannah looked hurt and James decided to walk over and check on her. Her friend talked to Hannah briefly before chasing after the guy who left and Hannah walked toward the pathway James was just on. James raced to catch up with her, his bag of food rustling as it swung around. Hannah had opened her book to read it as she walked, but she looked up from the book after hearing him call,

“Hannah?” 

“Hey.” She said, not slowing her pace.

“You go to school here?” He asked, finally catching up to her despite her brisk walk.

“Yep.” 

“Me too-”

“Cool.” James frowned in frustration as she snapped at him.

“I mean, I haven’t seen you since-”

“Since prom night in May. Yeah.”

“Hannah please,” he looked at her with a beseeching look.

“Sorry.” She sighed. “Look James, can we just not talk about it.” 

“Look I was just trying to impress you, I don’t understand why you won’t talk to me anymore.” 

“You’re talking about it.” She snapped, picking up her pace a little more.

“I don’t understand what I did wrong.” He pleaded. “I won’t understand if you don’t tell me.” 

She stopped, nearly making James trip as he lurched to stay with her. “James. When you asked me out to prom and I said I just wanted to go as friends you said that was okay. That was fine. The problem was when at prom you got up on stage and dedicated a song to me.”

“It was a romantic gesture! Was my voice that bad?”

“Your voice was fine James,” then under her breath, “don’t be so vain about it.” Speaking up she said, “The gesture was nice James, and I’m sure some other girl would’ve appreciated it, but I didn’t. The reason I refused when you asked if I wanted to go to prom with you is because you don’t even know me. Sure we’re friends, but if you can’t even comprehend that I wouldn’t want to be singled out in a crowd of people, then you don’t know me well enough to go out with me. I understand that you wanted to express your feelings to me, but there's a way better way of doing that than humiliating me.” 

“Hannah,” James said crestfallen, “I’m really sorry. Seriously, my intentions were the exact opposite, I was just trying to show you that I liked you before we graduated and went off to college. I tried for four years and nothing worked, it was my last chance to impress you.” 

Hannah softened in response, stretching out a hand to settle on his arm. “I know James. But for all four of those years I rejected you every time, and you still pursued me. Maybe you should ask yourself why that is.” She pulled her hand away. “Now,” a familiar grin slipped onto her face, “why don’t you walk me back to my dorm while I read this.” She jangled the book in her hand. 

James sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with one hand, smiling right back at her. “If you want to read, I'll watch the ground so you don't trip on anything.”

“My hero,” she remarked dryly. Hannah did not read even a sentence of her book as she and James walked to her dorm, chatting the whole way about her Jane Austen novel. When they finally reached her dorm she smiled lightly before closing the door, leaving him with a, “see you in CS James.” 

James couldn’t fight the grin that lit his face the whole walk home. When he got back to the dorm he found the door locked and assumed Lance had locked it when he went to bed, perhaps assuming James wouldn’t be home. No worries, that was why James had a key as well. He slid his key in, struggling for a few seconds to unlock the door before it successfully twisted and the door swung inward rapidly. James gasped as he fell forward, losing his balance thanks to the door he had not yet pushed open. He fell into a warm body, but was quickly righted as two hands pushed him back. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just come back tomorrow, all right? I got company.” James looked and saw the voice belonged to a very mussed Lance, lipstick smeared across his face. 

“What? Why?” Stupid question , his brain critiqued, the lipstick stains and shirtlessness should explain that part well enough . “Where am I supposed to sleep?”

“Not here. Just figure it out, man.” The door slammed shut and the lock clicked, James’ key still stuck in it. James looked helplessly at the door for a few moments before resignedly pulling the key out of the door and trudging down to the laundry room. 

He settled on the couch in the room, taking off his jacket and using it as a blanket for his upper half. He was almost asleep when his phone rang, the screen lighting up with his mom's contact. She asked him a variety of questions, about if he ate, how he was finding his way around campus, how soft his sheets were, etc. The question that gave him pause was when she asked about his roommate. 

“Um,” he started, trying to find something that was both truthful and wouldn’t make his mom worry. “Lance seems… pretty accepting of me.” He didn’t know what else to say about the man he had met for maybe a minute. His mom excitedly rattled on about how pleased she was that he was finally getting a friend, only ending the call when James mentioned how he’d like to be well rested before his classes the next morning. 

James woke the next morning to the alarm he’d set on his phone. He sniffed dubiously at himself, remembering he’d yet to take a shower and was sleeping in his rumpled clothes from the other day. He put his jacket back on, then sighed as he looked at his phone’s nearly empty battery. He turned it off, stuffing it in his jeans pocket and crossed his arms, hunching his body over to make himself smaller. He got into the elevator to get to his dorm on the fifth floor, telling himself that even if Lance had the girl in the room he would demand she leave so he could get his things. He knew that was a big fat lie, but it was nice to think about himself yelling at Lance’s stupid face. 

The elevator opened, a well dressed man who seemed to be in his forties stepping in. James shuffled uncomfortably, trying to disappear into the corner. The man glanced at the elevator buttons, not pushing any after seeing the button to the fifth floor lit up. He shot a wiry grin at James’ appearance. 

“Fun night?” He asked. His grin reminded James of a snake oil salesman. 

“Not so much.” He muttered, arms crossing tighter against his chest, keeping his gaze firmly away from the man. 

“Women!” He laughed, clearly expecting James to agree with him, but seeming not to mind when James did no such thing. The elevator dinged and James tried to get past the man, but he walked out as well. James prayed they would be going opposite ways, but no, the man kept an easy pace with him, both of them coming to a stop at the same door. The man shot an inquisitive look at James. 

“Say,” he began, “are you my Lance’s roommate?” Just his luck, James thought. Well, at least he could see where Lance got it from. James nodded miserably. The man smiled and raised his fist to knock on the door. I literally have a key, James thought, is he so stupid that he didn’t realize I could get us in this dorm? Inside the dorm there were shuffling noises and two distinct voices. 

“Oh! Get dressed, get dressed!” Lance’s voice.

“You promised me coffee and bagels.” A whining high pitched voice responded. 

“Yeah, I know. I'll send you the gift card for bagel bros, but right now you gotta get dressed,” Lance’s harried voice rang through the thin door again. There were shuffling noises and Lance’s dad’s grin only grew.

James shot him a distressed look as the man pounded on the door again, calling out, “Hey, hey, hey! You in there?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Lance’s voice responded, a lot louder than it had been before, but no less panicked. “I'm coming, pops! Just, uh, putting on some pants!” There was another few seconds of shuffling before the door unlocked and swung open, a sleazy grin on Lance’s face that echoed his dad’s. “Sorry pops, you know how it is.” The girl behind him looked incredibly abashed, looking between the three men red-faced, clutching her phone like a lifeline. Lance ushered the woman out, shooting James a surprised look as if he hadn’t expected to see him, and the girl hastily ran from them. 

“Dude…” Lance’s father said, smiling all the while, “I thought I was gonna have to call the fire department to get you out! Come here!” He pulled Lance into a hug, but it wasn’t a fatherly hug, it was like the hug a man gave to his friends. “Like father like son huh?” He laughed, Lance laughing along with him.

“It's good to see you, man.” Lance said as soon as they pulled out of the hug. “Thanks for coming out. You had a good trip up?” Lance moved aside so they could step into the room. 

“Yeah, great trip! Wow!” Lance’s dad looked around the room with an appraising look. “Reminds me of my ol’ college days. Awesome, bro, this is awesome.” James awkwardly shuffled himself into the room, reaching for the bag on his desk that contained his toiletries so he could take a shower. An unfamiliar woman walked into the room, looking barely older than Lance and James herself, she held a duffle bag that seemed filled to the brim. She clung to Lance’s dad as soon as she entered, sticking to his side like they were magnets. Lance looked just as uncomfortable as James felt for a second before he cleared his face for a more neutral expression. 

“Oh, hey, this is Inga.” Lance’s dad said, gesturing to the woman in his arms. 

Lance ducked his head, “Inga?”

“Hi.” She replied, an easy smile on her make-up covered face.

“Inga?” He repeated. Then, quieter, “What happened to Fabiola?”

He laughed, “Inga happened to Fabiola.”

“Oh.” Lance tried to laugh along with his father, but it sounded fake to James’ ears. 

Lance’s dad turned to look at Inga and the duffle bag she carried, “Hey, Inga, unpack everything, and then put it all away nice and organized if you please.”

“Sure.” She said easily, pulling out of his arms to place the bag on the sheetless bed.

“Ima take the big guy out to breakfast.” 

“Sure.” She agreed again. 

“Isn’t she great?!” He poked Lance in the side as he tugged him close. “C’mon, bagels and coffee.” 

Lance ducked out from under his fathers arm to snatch his phone from off the bedside table before racing out to catch up with him again. James felt his face get red as he was left in the room with the unfamiliar woman, but she paid him no mind, pulling sheets out of the duffle bag and setting them up on the unrumpled bed. James frowned. James turned to look at his own bed. His very rumpled, ruined bed with brand new sheets his mom had just bought him. His bed which his roommate had definitely just had sex in. Clutching his toiletries bag in a white knuckled grip James ran outside, seeing Lance and his father still turning the corner to the elevator, and he ran to catch up. His face, red from a mixture of anger, embarrassment, and exertion, held a livid expression and he called out Lance’s name before he could push the button to the elevator. 

Lance turned, his hair bouncing, untamed and still ruffled. “Yeah?” He answered, a confused smile on his face. 

“I cannot believe you had sex in my bed, I’m going to kill you.” James wanted to respond, but what actually ended up coming out of his mouth was,

“Uh… do you know where the showers are?” 

“First floor man, by the gym.” Lance responded, stepping into the elevator his dad had evidently pushed the button for. “See ya,” he called before the doors closed, a wiry grin the last thing James could see before the doors closed. 

Chapter Text

After James had showered and collected his things, he sat in his Computer Science class plotting ways to get back at his roommate. When James had gotten back to his dorm after showering Inga was gone, a well organized side of the room left in her wake. James had stripped the sheets off his bed, holding his breath in case any trace of last night's activities lingered on them. He had briefly considered burning the things and buying new ones, but he knew he was already on a strict budget and wouldn’t be able to afford new sheets. He thought about trading them for Lance’s new ones, but his hands shook too much at even the thought of Lance’s revenge so he scrapped that plan as well. James ended up throwing the sheets in the wash and deciding he would come back for them after class, not that anyone else would be doing laundry on the first day of school. 

Slowly students trickled into the class, Hannah waving at him when she saw him, but deciding to sit next to the girls she had walked in with. Class started with the seats next to James still empty and the professor passed out the syllabus, talking to the class about her attendance policies. 

“Ah, and here’s a perfect example.” She waved her arm toward the front of the class, where a sheepish Lance stood in the doorway. 

“Sorry I'm late, professor, I was just reading that book in your syllabus and I lost track of time.” He shot her a charming grin, and if the lie had not been so obvious James might have believed him based on his face alone. “Won’t happen again, I promise. The material was just so interesting.” 

The blonde woman shot him an unimpressed look, clearly used to dealing with students like Lance all the time. “Interesting. Well for future reference, lateness will put you on the fast track to getting an F in my class. Which you would know if you read the syllabus I sent out two weeks before class started. Take a seat.” She gestured to the only empty seats in the class, the ones right next to James. A blonde boy at the front of the class gripped Lance’s hand in a familiar handshake, seemingly congratulating him for getting off the hook.  “Oh, and wipe the girl off your face, please.” The teacher called to him, Lance and the blonde boy’s smiles falling at her words. 

Lance shoved himself into the chair next to James, face stormy. “All right,” she said at the front of the class. “So, your assignment was to create truth tables based on the reading. So, who among you did the assignment?” James raised his hand meekly, glancing around expecting other hands to be raised but they weren't. He jerked his arm back down, trying to make it look like he was stretching or something, but Lance shot him a look that made it clear he wasn’t very believable. 

“Um, I’m sorry.” Hannah called out, “Professor Barnes, today's the first day of class, when did you assign this?”

“It was in your syllabus. Y’know, the one I sent each and every one of you over two weeks ago.” She shook the remaining syllabus in her hand. “What’s your name?” She pointed to James. He shuffled uncomfortably, his stupid face going red again. 

“Uh, James Singer.” He fought the urge to add a ma’am to the end of it.

“All right, James, since you're the only one who apparently read the syllabus, or completed the assignment, would you care to stand up and explain it to the class?” Absolutely not, James’ inner voice insisted. James, never one to disagree though, found himself standing up at her prompting and stuttering out,

“Uh, yeah of course.” 

She snapped her fingers, startling James “That, my friends, puts you on the fast track to getting an A!” 

“Right, uh, so um, truth tables are, uh…” He trailed off, seeing the judgmental faces of all his classmates. He looked down and saw Lance’s face, angry brown eyes staring daggers into him, and saw the face of all the guys back home who’d shoved James around and stolen his glasses to flush them down the toilet. Those guys had made his life a living hell just by being in school with them, what could guys like them do if he was living with them in the same dorm. 

“Um, actually, I didn't do it, it was a different one. I didn't complete it at all, actually.” He sat back down, too long limbs fighting to shrink himself into his chair, hunching himself down. 

“Uh-huh.” She sighed, fingers coming up to massage the bridge of her nose, pushing her glasses up her face. “Listen up, I’m going to say this and I’m only going to say it once so pay attention.” She used the syllabus in her hand to smack the table of the blonde boy who was playing on his phone. “This class is your doorway to every other computer science course in this entire college. It is a requirement, and so I make it tough. Why is that a requirement?” She paused dramatically. “To weed out the unworthy. The coding field is overcrowded with dabblers. So, if you want to take any other computer science courses at this college, or you want a career in it, you have to take my class, and in order to pass my class, you have to work… very hard.”

“Now I know you’re all probably rethinking your decision to sign up for this class now that you’ve met me. So, I’m going to dismiss class today so those of you who wish to drop my course may do so. And those of you brave enough to stick around, go read the syllabus and complete the assignment. Class dismissed.” She sat down behind her desk, adjusting the glasses on her face as students trickled out. “James,” she called as he passed her desk, “stay for a minute please.” Lance laughed, throwing an arm around the blonde boy and leaving class, both of them shooting him identical looks James couldn’t interpret. 

“Um, sorry.” James apologized, not quite sure what he was apologizing for.

“Don’t be sorry James.” She said, waiting for the last few students to trickle out before speaking to him. “I know you did the assignment and lied about it. I was in college too and I know a little something about peer pressure.” She shot him a conspiratorial grin. “Do you want to know a secret James?” He nodded hesitantly, leaning in as she did the same. “I don’t really grade the syllabus assignment, I assign it to see who is passionate about the class. See who I should keep my eye on for the semester. It’s clear you have a passion for computer science, don’t let your peers take that away from you.”

“I- I’m not.” He automatically lied, adjusting his glasses.

“James, it’s okay.” She tried to make eye contact with him, but James’ eyes leapt everywhere but hers. “I know you have the potential to do well in my class, don’t let your fear of not fitting in keep you from something you love.” When James didn’t respond she sighed and waved her hand. “Go.” James eagerly did, shifting his backpack strap as he opened the door and raced out, only to get caught as an arm slung itself around his shoulders.

“Hey roomie.” From one cage to another he supposed. Lance’s arm locked around James, tugging his body against his in a vice-like grip. Lance’s blonde friend blocked him in on the other side, a thin brown haired boy James remembered sitting next to the blonde brought up the rear, the boys encircling James. James was herded to a small corner study space, a quiet zone sign placed on the table. The brown haired boy pulled out the chair and twirled it to face James, and Lance released his grip so the blonde boy could push him into the chair. James assessed the three boys looming over him.

Lance was typically handsome and strong, he looked like the kind of boy who played quarterback in high school. The blonde boy was bigger, probably stronger, with a heavy set jaw, and his hair was longer, softly falling into his face. The third boy resembled James more than he resembled his companions, thin and wiry with hair that was only barely avoiding being a bowl cut. Lance ran a hand through his curls, pushing them back as he let out a disappointed breath.

“Oh James.” His eyebrows furrowed and he frowned, eyes reflecting a sadness that James could only interpret as sympathy. He set a heavy hand on James shoulder, a pressing weight. “Listen, me and the other students, we kinda… Well, we came up with a plan. I don’t know how you seemed to miss the memo.”

“For what?” James asked, glancing between the hand on his shoulder, and Lance and the two other boys. 

“To pass CS.” He said, as if it was obvious.

The blonde wrinkled his brows. “Wait, uh, what plan?” His face smoothed out as he opened his mouth in shock as an idea came into his mind. “Bro, are you gonna sleep with Professor Barnes?”

The brown haired boy shot Lance a disgusted look. “That’s nasty. Don’t do it.” 

James watched as Lance’s lip curled in disdain at the two idiot’s words, but a smug expression slipped onto his face so quickly James questioned if he’d seen it at all. “Of course not Wes, she would probably fall into a depression, even though she digs me.” James only needed to think back to the disapproval Professor Barnes had regarded Lance with within seconds of seeing him to know that wasn’t true. “The thing is I would get expelled and we don't want that, so we have to do this a little bit differently. Here's what I'm thinking, she can't fail all of us at once, okay?” She definitely can fail all of us , James thought, but he didn’t dare say it out loud to Lance, just nodding along to his words. 

“As you could see in class today, everyone is on the same page…” He trailed off meaningfully, dragging his hand away from James’ shoulder until the only point of contact was the tip of his finger, which he dragged down to his chest. James shivered at the contact, eyes locked in place as Lance stared him down. “Except for you.” The air felt electric, and he didn’t dare breathe for fear of disturbing the moment. “So, I’m gonna tell you when and if we do the assignments.”

“But how are we gonna learn?” James almost clapped a hand over his mouth, wishing he could swallow the words back up. A boisterous laugh startled him, jostling his body and causing him to break eye contact to look over at the blonde boy. 

“Bro, we don't wanna learn. We just wanna pass the CS requirements.”

James frowned, the brown haired boy, seeing this, shot an arm out to punch the blonde playfully. “Speak for yourself Wesley.” He swung an arm around James, turning the chair to look at him, “Sorry, I hate him. I want to learn.”

“See, he wants to learn.” James said numbly, words sounding weak even to him. 

“Of course,” Lance spoke up, eyes bright, “learning can be done without turning the assignments in. You seem to be a computer whiz, aren’t there lots of things you’d rather be learning on your own? Class takes all the fun out of it.” James nodded, a frown on his face, he did already know most of the stuff this course taught. And he did want more time to work on his apps raising money for Stanford. Still though, Professor Barnes had been right when she said her class was a requirement. It was a prerequisite for every single CS class in the college, and if James got one bad grade then he could kiss his scholarship goodbye. He opened his mouth to protest, but Lance, seeming to sense that he wasn’t fully convinced, cut him off.

“Hey James,” he said conversationally, “did you know Wes is on the football team?” He patted Wes’s bicep, Wes letting out a laugh, and flexing as soon as he realized what Lance was doing. “I know we’re roommates and all, so I just wanted to give you a heads up that as one of my friends Wes will probably spend a lot of time in our dorm.” He leaned down, mouth so near James’ ear he could feel the breath as Lance whispered conspiratorially. “Wes isn’t real smart, so he prefers his fists do the talking when things don’t go his way.” James shivered again, goosebumps rising on his arms. Lance leaned back casually. “Something to think about. We'll be in contact. Till then, do you, Boo-Boo.” He gave a two fingered salute before sauntering away.

“See you later, alligator.” Wes shook his body violently, hands grabbing James’ shoulders in a grip so tight James thought he must be leaving bruises, startling him so bad his glasses fell halfway down his face. Wes and the brown haired boy followed after him, both of them throwing taunts at James as they left. 

James looked down at his shaking hands, and prayed he had no more classes with Lance, he didn’t know if he would be able to take it.

Chapter Text

Lance’s POV for once

Lance didn’t wait for Wes and Daniel to catch up with him, wishing his two high school friends had never found out they were going to the same college. Wes and Daniel’s fathers were both friends with Lance’s, so Wes and Daniel had tagged along with him since they were kids, which hadn’t annoyed Lance very much when he was young, but the older he got the more he hated the two girl obsessed numbskulls. 

“All right guys,” Daniel began after the two rushed to catch up with his pace, “what dating app would you recommend?”

“None of 'em, man,” Lance said gruffly, annoyed already, “dating is for putzes. Why would I waste my money on a movie?”

“Or dinner!” Wes chimed in.

“Or flowers.” Lance finished. 

“I’ve never given a girl flowers before.” Wes said. Lance rolled his eyes and turned the corner, Wes had never done anything nice for a girl in his life, even for sex. Daniel probably hadn’t either. Unlike Lance the two hadn’t seemed to figure out that just by being nice to someone you had a higher chance of getting what you wanted. 

“Hey don’t diss flowers man,” Daniel said. “My dad gives my mom flowers all the time and it always makes her happy.” Lance didn’t bother to mention that Daniel’s dad only got her flowers when he’d cheated on her the night before, which is why she had received so many. Wes pushed Daniel playfully at the rebuttal. 

“I’m gonna fall,” Daniel warned Wes, pretending to lose his balance as they walked onto the staircase. 

“That went out with the 20th century. It's a waste of time and money.” Lance said returning to the topic of flowers, he tried to lighten his voice to a more playful tone as he noticed his cynicism leaking through. He sat on the rail of the stairs and began to slide down it. “It's a numbers game. See, the market is saturated in single, slutty girls, and it's a buyer's market.” Lance tossed a charming grin at a girl and her friend on the other side of the staircase as he passed. 

“Hey, Lance, do you have a minute?” She called as they were walking down. 

He paused, looking up at her. “Actually no, we're in a board meeting,” he gestured to the two men at his side, using them as an excuse to not chase after another random woman like he knew he was expected to. 

“It's kinda private.” Daniel sneered at her, looking more like a weasel than a person at that moment. Lance tried to hide his frustration with the brown haired boy at his comment.

“Oh, you don't remember me?” She had an expression of hurt on her face and Lance felt guilt twinge his stomach. 

“Well, do I know you?”

“Uh, yeah, we slept together.” He winced, that explained it. He never remembered any of the girls he slept with, too busy imagining them as someone else. He stepped away from his friends, trying to put a degree of separation and privacy between them.

“Um…” 

“You never called.”

“I will call you. I promise, I will call you.” He lied, putting his hands in the air in a calming gesture. “But I gotta go now, okay? Bye.” He turned away from her, frowning as Daniel and Wes clapped him on the back, the two smiling when they heard the girl’s friend say behind them,

“He is not gonna call you.” 

Wes and Daniel laughed, pushing Lance playfully and praising him. Daniel said, “So since dating is clearly a waste of time, what would you guys say is the best Hook-Up app? You would know huh Lance.” He shoved himself against Lance with a laugh. Lance sat down in one of the study areas in the building with comfortable seating, giving him a good view of James who was on the floor above them. James quickly turned back to his computer when he realized he had been caught staring down at him through the glass safety rails. 

“Well, I guess the perfect app hasn't even been created yet.”

“Yeah.” Wes agreed, nodding dumbly. 

“What features do you think we need?” Daniel asked, rubbing his chin in thought. 

“It would have a girl out of my bed the second I’m finished with her.” Lance said, thinking back to the disgust and shame he felt with all the girls after the post-coital haze had worn off.

“Oooh,” Wes hummed approvingly.

“Yikes, I don't think teleportation exists yet, Lance, so…” 

Lance shot Daniel an annoyed look. “I was being theoretical.”

“Yeah, theoretical.” Lance had to fight the urge to strangle Wes as he continued on with his stupid comments. 

“It would have to make sure that a girl couldn't find me after, you know? Or even if she wanted to find me she wouldn't be able to because the information would get lost or something.” Lance despised running into girls he’d slept with before, hated conversations like the one he’d had just seconds ago. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, I get what you mean, like, it could mix up our identity or something.” Wes said, and Lance shot him an incredulous look. 

“Yeah, sure, like that.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Daniel exclaimed excitedly. “Why don't we just create an app like that!”

“What, you know how to code now?” Lance said, rolling his head to look over at Daniel on his other side. 

“Well, no, but we're taking a computer science class, we can learn.” Lance turned his head to look at Wes, then back at Daniel, knowing none of them had ever earned a grade higher than a B in their lives. 

“No, we can’t. We don’t even understand the book.”

“Yeah, we can’t even understand the syllabus.” Lance actually snorted at Wes’s comment, rolling his head to look up. He froze as his eyes landed on James, an idea forming in his mind. 

“I’ll be right back.” Lance got up, leaving his posse seated in the study area, taking the stairs a couple at a time as he approached James. He heard a tinny voice ringing from the boy’s crappy computer’s speakers saying,

“Disruption is not an app. Disruption is not a gadget. Disruption is not a business model. Disruption is a cataclysmic change in human behavior brought on by consensus.” Lance knew what motivated people, and he figured out within seconds of meeting James that fear was a very good motivator for him. He placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders, scaring him so badly he snapped his computer shut like he’d been watching porn. 

“I’m not doing the homework, I’m just reading the book. You didn’t say I couldn’t read the book, is that okay?” The boy cried in a panicked flurry. Lance rolled his eyes and settled onto the table. 

“Relax. Say, what’s the name of the book?”

“It’s on the syllabus.” Lance shot him a look, James seemed to realize that he should elaborate. “It’s Programming Social Engagement Platforms .”

Lance’s eyebrows shot up behind his hair. “Are you serious? You’re kidding.” He looked down, seeing Wes and Daniel roughhousing, wondering if James had heard their conversation from up here. 

“I never kid.” James said, anxiety in his voice. 

“Mm-hmm.” Lance hummed thoughtfully. “Is the book hard?”

James shook his head. “I've read it before. I mean the original edition.”

“What in the last two weeks?”

“No, I read it back in sixth grade.”

Lance let a grin slip onto his face. “James, how long have you been coding for?” 

“Since I was seven.” 

Lance’s smile only grew, and he snatched James’ computer off the table. 

“Hey that’s mine!” James snapped, reaching for it, but Lance had already hopped outside of reach. 

“Oh, you’ve been promoted. You’re invited to my board meeting. Come on, grab your stuff.” Lance stood out of range, but waited for James to shove everything in his backpack before walking him down the stairs to the study area he and his friends had claimed. “Pull up a chair,” he told James, setting his laptop onto the table in front of an empty space so James could sit with it. He settled back into his own chair, next to where James set his chair, stolen from a nearby table. 

“All right, uh, Daniel, Wesley, you remember James. James, this is Daniel and Wesley.” He gestured to them each in turn. 

“Okay, if this is about computer science, maybe we should all do the homework, I'm just saying.” James held up his hands innocently, as if to ward off their disagreement.

“Uh, you haven’t quite gotten to voting status yet, so for right now you’re just a consultant, okay?” James looked at him through his lashes and nodded, adjusting the glasses on his face.

“Of course, yeah.” 

“So, I have an idea.”

“Whoa!”

“Hey.”

Twin complaints echoed from Wes and Daniel’s mouths at his words.

“ We have an idea,” he looked at Wes and Daniel exasperated, “and we would like to hire you.”

“To do what?” James asked, looking between the three of them suspiciously. 

“To build an app.” Lance saw James nod automatically in agreement, rolling the idea around in his mind, which is why he glared at Daniel when he heard him say,

“Hey wait, we need to interview him first before we give him any job.”

“True, true.” Wes agreed, snapping his fingers into a point at Daniel. 

Lance sighed, “Have you ever built an app before?”

“Yes.” James nodded. Lance saw Wes and Daniel sit up straighter in surprise and excitement at James’ words.

“Tell us about it”

“Which one?” 

“Whoa, whoa! Which one?” Wes was practically salivating at the mouth at his words.

“You’ve made multiple apps?” Lance asked, looking James up and down appraisingly. 

“Uh, well, yeah, I've built seventeen for IOS, and twelve for Android.”

“Okay, so what do they do?” Daniel asked, pulling up his phone, presumably to look for one of these apps. 

“Um, well one of them was a simple matching game, I made one to identify nearby homeless shelters to help lead homeless people to them, one of them helped organize events like food drives-” 

“Okay, well, it’s time for you to do something important.” Daniel said, turning his phone off.

Lance rolled his eyes and slung an arm around James’ shoulders. James flinched at the contact, but Lance ignored it. “Can you guys believe that this genius is my roommate? How perfect is that!” 

Wes laughed, glee overriding his senses. “This is perfect.”

“Mm-hmm I love it.” Daniel agreed, nodding and rubbing his hands together. 

“James, you are going to build one more app.” He turned his head to look at James, who was much closer than he had anticipated thanks to the arm he had slung around him. “And this app will take the world by storm.”

“What will it do?”

“It’s quite simple James, this app will take men and women and put them together so they can meet up.” Daniel chimed in.

“So it’s a dating app?”

“Wrong, it’s a hook-up app.” Wes said.

“There’s already hook-up apps out there.” He said, half-statement half-question.

“No, not like this one.” Lance insisted, using the arm around James to tug him closer, trying to ignore the warmth that burned in his chest. 

“What’s so different about this one?”

“The difference is that on this app you have to agree to certain terms and conditions to make sure that you don’t ask for names, and you cannot ask to see the person again.” 

“That means all the guys are gonna be on it.” Wes interrupts. 

“Which means all the girls will have to be on it if they want to be with anyone.” Daniel finishes with a slimy grin.

James frowned, and being so close Lance couldn’t help but notice how his nose twitches at the movement. “An app can’t control human action. Besides, what’s so wrong with a girl knowing your name?”

“I guess that’s for me to know, and you to figure out how to code.” Lance says lowly, voice nearly a whisper as he leans down to James’ ear. 

“Do…” James hesitates. “Do you think all the girls will be on the app?” Lance removes his arm, suddenly feeling cold.

“Oh, okay. So he does like girls.” He tries to play it off with a laugh. He points at Wes. “Dude, pay up.”

“I’m not gay!” James says, panic in his voice as he frantically glances between the three of them. “I do… I like one girl. I’m not saying who it is.”

“Stick around, okay? Listen to me, and she’ll be eating out of the palm of your hand.” Lance fills his voice with oozing smugness and leans back on his chair, arms behind his head. James frowns and stands up to leave, laptop clutched in his arms. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, James c’mon man, where are you going?”

James hesitates before speaking. “I’ll think about it.” He leaves, lanky legs carrying his body away at a brisk pace.

“So it’s a maybe.” Daniel concludes as Wes begins pulling out his wallet.

“You won fair and square, man.” Wes grabs a couple bills out to pass them to Lance.

“Yeah, pay up.” Lance folds the money and sticks it in his pocket, but his gaze lingers on James as he leaves. Man, he wishes he had lost that bet. 

Chapter Text

“How was the honeymoon?” James asked, feeling the warm pavement through his worn soles as he walked beside his grandparents and his father. 

“It was the best one yet.” His grandfather replied, hands flailing as he spoke.

“It was absolutely fabulous James!” His grandmother clapped her hands, turning to look behind at James and her husband, her long blonde hair shifting. “You know, an annual honeymoon would save any marriage.” She turned away from him and shot a glance toward her son beside her. He attempted to ignore her until she took his arm. “I wish you and Leah would’ve tried it, honey.” She gave him a comforting shake before letting go. 

He scoffed. “Thanks for the early warning mom.” James rolled his eyes at his dad’s back, his grandpa shooting him a grin as he noticed. He tapped the side of his nose like he always did when he promised to keep something secret. His father, attempting to turn the attention away from him, turned away from his mom so he was walking beside James and his grandfather. “So James, have you met anyone yet?”

“Um, yeah, I’ve met a lot of people.” James responded, purposely evasive as he gripped his backpack straps to soothe himself.

“Any girls?” His dad added, annoyed.

“No, dad. I’m trying to focus on my studies.” James knew his dad had always been a little disappointed in the fact that he’d never shown any interest in girls in highschool. James’ dad had always been a self proclaimed “ladies man” so women and football were the only topics he seemed to be interested in bonding with him about. James had been so relieved when Hannah befriended him in his senior year, because he knew it was finally his chance to bond with his dad over something. 

“I’m gonna ask for a paternity test!” His father said towards the sky. James frowned and tried to hide the sting the bruising remark had dealt him, hands fisting his backpack straps ever tighter. 

“Hey, I should ask for a paternity test!” His grandfather said, throwing a comforting hand on James’ shoulder. 

“Ouch!” His dad laughed.

His grandfather pointed toward his wife who was now clung to his arm. “Very familiar with the gardener this one.” 

“Oh Phil!” She slapped his arm playfully, a smile beaming on her face. 

“Dad I was only kidding,” James’ dad said as James walked ahead of the group.

“Me too, me too.” 

“James,” his grandmother let go of her husband's arm to walk forward and grab his shoulder to pull him into a comforting half embrace, arm slung over his shoulders, and the other hand settled on his arm. “If you want any advice about the fairer sex, you should ask your grandfather.”

“They don’t act much fairer.” James replied bitterly, hands letting go to drop by his sides. James blinked as the wave of disgust washed over him and tried to figure out where the sudden hatred had come from.

“You’re not becoming one of those anti-feminists, are you James?” His grandfather waved his hands around, pointing a finger at him.

“I don’t know grandpa, I’m still studying the situation.” His grandfather laughed and his grandma whacked his arm before letting go with her hand, arm still providing a grounding weight across his shoulders. 

“Dad, I don’t think your romantic advice pertains to James’ generation.” His father said with a wiry grin. “They’re doing everything on their phone now. I mean, that’s how they meet each other, hook-up with each other, and break-up with each other.” 

The three listeners all wrinkled their noses. His grandpa’s hands moved up and down as he spoke up, “I don’t care what you say. Women and men have not changed for 10,000 years.” 

“Phil,” James’ grandma let go of him and moved towards his grandfather, “I’m not so sure about that.” She shot him a look James couldn’t interpret. 

“Well, maybe a little bit.” He conceded with a loving look to his wife. The four of them continued to walk around the mall, settling down at the same familiar coffee shop his parents had been using for custody swaps since they got divorced. His grandfather bought them lunch and they sat and ate until his grandparents had to leave. They were always James’ favorite part of being forced to be with his father. James’ dad had never taken much of an interest in his son’s life, and James sometimes thought that the only reason he had fought for visitation was because it wouldn’t be good for his image if he hadn’t. But his grandparents had always been loving, his grandfather cracking jokes at every occasion, and his grandma always knowing what he needed to hear. 

His grandparents were the only reason James had treasured his dad’s weeks as a kid. They loved him and spoiled him in ways his mom couldn’t afford too. James felt guilty over it, because he knew it hurt his mom to know she would never be able to buy him things other kids his age had, but James couldn’t deny that it felt amazing to feel like a normal kid for once. James knew his sister felt the same, but she had always been more open about it, pleading with their mom to let her stay with dad for just a few more days. James had never done the same, because despite the joy of not being the poor kid for once, James had overheard a conversation his parents had one night before the divorce, and he knew that his dad didn’t want kids. Didn’t want them. Him. James was a mistake. 

He’d never had it in him to tell his sister, she didn’t need to know what their father thought about them. And it didn’t matter anymore, once the bank had foreclosed on their house and forced them to move in with their grandparents. 

So once his grandparents left James waited for his father to hand him his check for his half of James’ tuition. James’ knew his grandparents pressured his dad into doing this, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. His dad would never truly love him, so at the end of the day he didn’t care why he received the money, just that he needed it to keep himself fed. Once the check was in his pocket and his dad said his awkward goodbyes, James headed for the nearest ATM, which just so happened to be at the mall’s front. 

As he waited for the ATM to finish processing a slick, black, sports car rolled up in front of the store, and the owner of the car smiled and slid his glasses down as he saw him. Lance leapt out of the car, not bothering to open the doors and strutted over to James, leaning an arm against the wall in a pose that made him look like a model.

“What? Is the well dry?”

“No, I just have to wait for my dad’s check to clear.” Lance let the smile drop from his face and he rubbed his thumb across his bottom lip. James followed the movement intensely before he realized what he was doing and snapped his head up to look at Lance’s eyes. Lance glanced around conspiratorially  before leaning in, dropping his voice as he said, 

“You think about my offer?” James adjusted his glasses.

“To make the hook-up app?”  Lance hummed in agreement. “Yeah, the answer is no.” James looked back toward the ATM, too afraid of Lance’s reaction. “That’s the last thing I want to do.” He said lowly, hands fidgeting meekly with his backpack again. His dad had left his mom for some stupid hook-up, and James didn’t want to help other men do the same. 

“That’s fine.” James glanced up in shock at his words, watching Lance’s blank expression with suspicion. “Maybe you’re not the right guy for it anyways.” Lance shrugged. 

“Yeah…” James agreed, trailing off. They stood in silence for a few seconds and James removed his card from the ATM.

“Do you mind?” Lance asked, gesturing toward the machine. James shook his head silently and moved aside. “I mean,” Lance said, “if you were so smart, you would’ve been accepted to Princeton or M.I.T. or maybe even Harvard, right?” He didn’t look at him as he spoke, all his attention seemingly on the machine in front of him. James bristled, eyes glaring at the side of the head that wasn’t even glancing at him.

“I got accepted to Princeton, M.I.T., Harvard, and Stanford.” He snapped, pride taking the best of him. 

“Oh yeah, then why aren’t you there?” 

“Because-” James cut himself off. He glanced around, but there was no one around watching their confrontation. “Because my parents don’t have the money.” James glanced down at his sides where his hands were unfurling from the fists they’d been. He didn’t remember letting go of his backpack. 

Lance picked up the cash the ATM spit out and said quietly, “Yeah, well if you were so smart I’m sure you’d have a scholarship right?” 

“The Ivys don’t give academic scholarships. Federal aid and financial need scholarships aren’t enough to cover the costs, and with my family’s business it just-” James cut himself off, his roommate didn’t need to know. Lance was those highschool guys all over again, if he gave him ammunition he would use it to crush James later. “Just, never mind.” 

“James,” He startled as Lance’s hand tilted his chin up so he was looking him in the eyes. “I am your saving grace!” He removed his hand and spread his arms wide, an easy smile settling on his face. His hazel eyes sparkled at James, full of promise, and his smirk showed off his teeth which were too white to be natural, but crooked and slightly gapped, like he’d never worn braces. His voice broke James out of his stupor as he said, “I mean, if you do this app for me I will give you all the money you need to go wherever you want for schooling.” He was walking backwards toward his car, and he winked before he slipped on his sunglasses. “Think about it.” He opened the door, and slipped in, starting the car as he left by saying,

“You’d be like Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Matt Damon or Ben Afflec. Let me know, okay?” He drove away without waiting for a response, not that James had one. He left James standing with his card still in his hand, face red and hot for some unknown reason, and mind churning. 

Chapter Text

Lance tried to hide his frown as the girl’s foot edged toward where he was sitting. She had placed herself on James’ desk while Lance sat on his small futon. She had been looking at him the same way since they’d entered his room and Lance knew if he didn’t get her out quick he would have to have sex with her to maintain his reputation.

“So when’s your next class?” He asked, shifting his body away from her, trying to make it look natural.

“An hour…” She trailed her voice off seductively. Lance wished Daniel and Wes hadn’t seen the girl in their morning COMM class and encouraged him to go for it.

“Yeah?” Lance asked, forming a suggestive grin on his face, eyebrows raising. The girl moved to slip off the desk, and like an angel from heaven James came bursting through the door. The girl froze, still on the desk, and James glanced between them with a critical frown.

“I’ll need my desk.”

“Well this isn’t going to take long is it?” Lance forced himself to protest weakly.

“Well I’ll need it if I’m going to help.”

Lance stood. “Wait, you decided you’re going to do it?” James licked his bottom lip, pulling it up into his mouth in an anxious bite. Lance followed the movement until the girl spoke up.

“What’s going on?”

Lance tore his eyes away from James to look down at her. “It’s a CS project James is going to help me with.”

“Can’t you code in the study room down the hall?” She protested, standing to set a hand on Lance’s arm.

“No.” James didn’t elaborate, but Lance could see the determination in his eyes. James hadn’t managed much more than weak resistance to Lance in the time he’d known him, but he could tell that this time James wouldn’t fold so readily. That was the only reason Lance allowed himself to continue protesting to protect his reputation.

“Well, I’m going to need my room dude.” He moved his arm so it slipped around the girl’s waist, she smiled and leant into his side.

“And I’m going to need my room.” James looked into his eyes, and they held the contact for a few seconds. Lance felt his nerves standing on end like an electric shock was running through his veins as he stared into his light blue eyes. Lance only looked away when he felt his lower half twitch with interest and he pulled away from the girl before she could tell, blurting out,

“Yes, yes, yeah, you can code here.”

James dropped his face and Lance could see the relief on it. When he raised his head again the determination had decreased, but his eyes shone with a newfound confidence in its place. “Okay but seriously she has to go.”

The girl’s offended look turned into shock when Lance pushed her toward the door. “You heard the man, get out.”

“Will you call me later?” She asked, incredulous, as Lance opened the door.

“Probably not.” Lance admitted in a rush.

“He won’t.” James spoke up and Lance couldn’t hide the laugh that barked out of him as he finally managed to get the girl outside the dorm.

“Okay, I’ll come by after class.” She said, a pissed expression on her face, obviously not used to being turned down.

“No, no, no. James and I have very important work to do…” Lance turned his head to look at James and felt that spark as their eyes connected again, his body’s interest in the situation increasing with every second. He turned back to the girl. “... And we need peace and quiet, but thank you.” He closed the door in her face, not even bothering to hear if she had anything else to say. Lance felt tension in the air as soon as the door closed and he turned his body back toward James, and they stood on opposite sides of the room, both stiff, though for different reasons.

“I have conditions.” James said, swallowing thickly.

“Sure,” Lance said easily, moving to lounge on the bed after realizing that standing would only draw James’ attention to his growing problem.

“I want to do this anonymously.”

Lance raised his eyebrows in surprise. “What? Why? Wait, who’s gonna take the credit if not you?”

James fidgeted and ran a hand through his tousled blonde hair, Lance wondered for a brief second if James would like his hair getting pulled. “Well considering that I have not been accorded voting rights yet I would say,” his face turned red, “I would say you would take the credit.”

Lance figured if his eyebrows raised any further they would leave his face. “Me?”

“Yeah, you.” James was looking away from him now, still shifting in place, looking uncomfortable in his own skin. Lance had never thought of embarrassment being a turn on for him, but James’ frantic fidgeting was making Lance incapable of thought.

“Why?” He managed, swallowing in an attempt to wet his dry mouth.

“Because I don’t want people knowing I’m a part of this app.” Lance was going to elaborate, asking why him specifically like he’d meant, but James continued on before he could. “Which brings me to my other conditions. No girls, no parties, and no staying up till 3 am with your friends. I need to be able to focus in order to work on the app on top of all my other schoolwork.”

“Not a problem James.” Lance felt a rare genuine smile spread across his face at the idea of having an excuse not to bring women back to his dorm, and James gave him a shy grin in return.

“Let’s get started then.” James put his bag down and set his computer on the desk right away, plugging it into its charger and opening it up to begin to work. Lance only stuck around for a while, listening to James work and asking him about it occasionally. He gave up on understanding as James ranted passionately about it with words Lance couldn’t even attempt to comprehend. Lance let himself leave for his next class after the hour was up, Daniel and Wesley meeting up with him afterwards. Daniel and Wes demanded details about the girl as they walked back to his dorm, Lance lying to them the whole way.

“Hey, where have you guys been?” Lance turned to see Rachel trailed by a few of her friends behind them as they came down the stairs.

“Oh uh, we’ve been studying.” Lance said, letting his confident persona take the wheel.

“Really?” She raised an eyebrow, a smile lighting her amused expression. Lance felt himself grin back, he loved hanging out with Rachel, she was probably the closest thing he had to a real friend or a sister. They’d met back in high school where she challenged him and bantered with him, and she was probably the only girl who didn’t mind meaningless sex. Lance had been pressured by his father to have sex with her in high school, they had been each other’s firsts, and when Lance had been distraught afterwards she had comforted him. Sex had never been a big deal for Rachel, she had just wanted to see what all the hype was about, and found out she really liked it. Rachel had made Lance realize his attraction did not lie with women, and the feelings he’d felt for Rachel had been more brotherly than romantic. He had never slept with Rachel again, and felt disgusted every time he remembered the experience, but they remained good friends despite it.

“Yeah, we’re actually coding a new breakthrough project.” He shot her a smug grin. “And it will be out soon so don’t fret ladies.”

“That sounds cool. What is it?” She put a hand on her hip, eyes twinkling with mischief.

“Oh well uh, we haven’t made it public yet.”

“What language is it in?” One of Rachel’s friends piped up.

Lance laughed, trying to figure out what he meant. He nudged Daniel and Wes, “C’mon what language is it in? Go on, tell her…”

“English!” Wes said as if it was obvious. Daniel and Lance continued to laugh as if it was a hilarious joke.

“She meant what programing language.” Rachel shot him an unimpressed look.

“We know what you meant, but we’re gonna keep that under wraps for a little while while the project’s still in development.” He turned away from the girls, Daniel and Wes trailing behind him.

“Does this project have a name?” One of the girls called.

Lance responded without breaking his stride. “Jungle.”

Chapter Text

Lance froze as he entered the room. Papers were taped to the walls and spread across the room and the few whiteboards and cork boards their room contained were spread across James’ bed and both desks, moving Lance’s tv to the floor. Lance hadn’t been gone for more than a couple of hours, when had James had time to do all of this?

“Uh James?” Shot shot up like a rocket at the sound of his voice, papers fluttering to the floor as he frantically stood and turned his body to look at the noise.

“Oh Lance!” His eyes were wide and he was incredibly rumpled, curls coiled and tangled, clothes wrinkled, and hands clenched tight at his sides. He adjusted his glasses on his face and furrowed his eyebrows down into a determined expression. “You missed our meeting.” 

“Yeah, sorry.” He absentmindedly glanced at all his things that seemed to be shoved in a corner to make room for everything. “Why does it look like a hurricane came through our room carrying the contents of a paper factory?” 

James’ cheeks flushed a delightful soft red and his hand went up to shift his glasses again. “I’m a visual learner. I can’t really process without seeing it physically written out.”

“Well I can’t live with my things crammed in a corner.” 

“Well I can’t code anonymously except in this room.” James shot back. Lance didn’t fight the smile that alighted his lips at the hint of James’ personality he’d hidden up to this point. 

“Sit down.” James’ eyebrows furrowed suspiciously at Lance, but he only hesitated a few moments before settling back in his desk chair. “What language we doing this in?”

“English.” 

“That supposed to be a joke?”

A smile quirked up his lip. “Was it funny?” 

“No.” Lance ducked his face before James could see the unsuppressable grin. “Seriously man, what am I supposed to tell people if they ask?” 

“C, Java, HTML, and Ruby.” He couldn’t help but notice the flush hadn’t left James’ face, and combined with the smile and hints of real personality he felt his heart beat faster and harder than was probably healthy. He collapsed on his bed and plugged his nearly dead phone in just for something to do. They sat together in companionable silence, only broken by James’ occasional light coughs and sniffles. 

The room had gotten dark before Lance finally got the courage to look back up, only to see blue eyes staring intently at him in the low light of their screens. Surprisingly James didn’t look away as their eyes met, saying,

“When am I getting paid?”

Lance swallowed. “Uh, in time for you to enroll at M.I.T.” 

“The deadline is February first.” 

“Better get started then huh?” James opened his mouth then hesitated. Lance rolled his eyes. “What?” 

“My computer isn’t fast enough for that. And with how complicated the code is working out to be I don’t know that my computer will be able to handle the software I need.” 

Lance hummed for a second, thinking. “Just do what you can, I’ll figure it out.” They didn’t exchange any more words the rest of the night. The next day Lance and James finally had the meeting he had missed the day prior, more for Lance’s benefit than James’, but it allowed Lance to gather all the information he needed to formulate a battle plan. 

The next day they had CSIS again, and over the course of the last week students had dropped out left and right, others coming up to Lance and telling him they could no longer agree not to do the homework for fear of their grades. Wes and Daniel had freaked at hearing this, but he had strategized, and after doing average on a couple of assignments and quizzes he’d come up with a solution. 

Which is why when CSIS finally arrived Lance strutted into the class, actually wearing his messenger bag on his shoulder for once, filled to the brim with papers and his computer, all he needed to cruise by this class with minimal effort.

“Alright class, only two more weeks before the drop deadline closes. Which means after that there will be no more refunds, and you’ll end up with a withdrawal for your grade, a mark I assure you you do not want on your record. Now, let's see who’s actually committed to this class and their weekly reading with a little pop quiz.” Lance lazily filled in random bubbles of the quiz, spending more time watching James who had secluded himself into a lonely corner this period breeze through the quiz, finishing long before anyone else. Lance didn’t need to worry about quizzes like this if his plan worked, and much preferred staring at James’ flushed skin, and adorable attempts to cover his light coughing in a loose fist. Lance let Professor Barnes’ lecture roll over him for the class period, half lidded gaze trailing from her to a very concentrated James, taking notes thoughtfully. He was a little surprised when the lecture ended, but quickly composed himself and dithered until everyone filed out of the class and he was left with Professor Barnes.

“Is there something you’d like to talk about Lance?” She asked politely. Lance internally rolled his eyes. He may not like to do work, but he isn’t stupid. He read Professor Barnes the second he met her, and he knew she didn’t like him, and she couldn’t hide it worse if she tried. 

“I’d like to be excluded from class assignments and quizzes from this point forward.” Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline at his audacity. 

“On what grounds?” Lance could practically hear the scoff she tried to shove down.

“On the grounds that I’m making an app that more than fills the class requirements. Which you can see here.” Lance pulled the paper from his bag with a flourish, pushing it towards her. She barely glanced at the paper before raising an eyebrow at him.

“That’s great. I encourage students to pursue coding projects on their own time and come to me if they need help or have questions. However I do not allow my coursework to be replaced by such projects, even if the criteria matches.” 

“I completely understand Professor, and I don’t expect you to do this for every student, but I just think that it’s such a failing of the system that students who don’t excel at quizzes or assignments have their grades suffer just because they have a different skill set. If I can prove that I am learning the material and produce a functioning app that contains your coursework I believe that would prove I’m learning from you, while ensuring my grade doesn’t suffer.” Lance noted the almost imperceptible twitch of her expression and smiled internally. Hook. Line. Sinker.

She looked him up and down, before studying the paper he’d given her before. “I’m not opposed to compromise…” She muttered, lost in thought. It only took a few more moments before her gaze sharpened and she stared him in the eyes. “I don’t find it acceptable that you don’t complete any of my coursework. There is an exam at the end of the year worth 20% of your grade. You will take this exam, and I will be provided bimonthly summaries of your project of a certain length to be determined. I’ll need a full summary of your plan for the project by next class, and if you come see me during office hours we can further discuss a system that will prove you’ve understood my content despite not doing my assigned coursework.” 

Lance pulled a binder out of his bag, setting it down on the desk with a feral shark-like grin. “I took the liberty of preparing the project summary for you already since I assumed you’d want one. I look forward to discussing this further.” He turned and left the room, pausing briefly in the doorway as he heard a bemused,

“Project Jungle?” 

—----------------

James coughed miserably as he left class, sure his face was red and blotchy from holding in the wracking coughs during class. James teetered back to his dorm, feeling faint and already imagining his soft, warm bed. The walk was a blur and before he knew it he was crashing down on his bed, bag falling to the floor with a loud thump. He had a brief moment of worry for his laptop that was ignored as a new wave of coughing overtook him. He sniffled his stuffy nose and pulled the covers up to his neck, burying his face into his pillow. Then moved his glasses from uncomfortably pressing into his face to his bedside table.

After dozing for a length of time that could have been minutes or hours, he frowned at the sound of the door as Lance came in, loudly talking on the phone. “No Wes, I really tried, but Professor Barnes wouldn’t go for it. She said each project had to be individual for her to be willing to give credit, and since I’m the one paying for the app I get to be the one to take credit for it.” A pause. “Well obviously you still benefit from this, I mean you get to use the app don’t you? Oh one sec,” his voice quieted and James let out a pleased noise at the change in volume. “Sorry I’m in my dorm now and James has all these dumb rules I gotta follow in order for him to make the app. I’ll call back later.” Lance started making noises on his half of the room which James blocked out in favor of the sensation of his jeans. He squirmed against the harsh denim before unbuttoning them and sliding out of them, kicking them out of the bed and onto the floor with a contented sigh. 

“Woah, what are you doing?” There was alarm in Lance’s voice. 

“I’m sick.” James explained. 

“Really? I had no idea. Well that explains why you took off your pants.” Sarcasm, James figured. 

“Itchy.” James elaborated. 

“Thanks, genius.” James shivered as a hand invaded his warmth, snaking between his head and his forehead. “Well, you feel hot, so I’m going to agree with your sick assessment. What can I do to fix this?” The hand pulled away and James looked up through bleary eyes at Lance, who was hovering over him, hands on his hips determinedly. 

“Well my mom would usually make me a cup of hot tea. Oh and some chicken noodle soup.” 

“I’m not your mom James.” There was a tone of amusement in his voice. 

He didn’t bother to respond, he didn’t think the jock would ever make the nerd tea or soup, so he just let himself lull back to sleep. He jolted back awake when a hand nudged him. 

“Sit up.” Lance commanded, and James obeyed, taking the opportunity to slip his glasses back on his face. One of the little breakfast trays with legs was set over his lap, the kind made for serving people breakfast in bed, and on it was one of the worst looking bowls of chicken noodle soup he had ever seen, and a steaming cup of tea with the bag still in the cup. His fuzzy brain pondered on where Lance had possibly obtained one of those little trays as his stomach took over and had him eagerly delving into the soup. He thanked whatever virus had infected him for dulling his taste buds as he choked down overcooked noodles and undercooked chicken. After a few bites he finally turned his attention away from the food and up to Lance, who hadn’t stopped hovering since he’d entered the room.

“Thank you.” Lance blinked at him and James quit speaking, unable to process the reaction or interpret human communication with his mind like it was right now. He was bad with social cues even under ideal conditions, he had no chance under the haze of sickness. 

“Yeah whatever, just to get you functioning again. How long is this going to set us back?” 

“Probably just another day or two.” He decided he couldn't stomach any more of the lukewarm soup and sipped at the tea, wincing away at the first sip. His burnt tongue informed him of what order Lance had boiled the water in for his two concoctions in the dorm kitchen. 

“Is it okay?” James looked up to see Lance, eyebrows furrowed and bottom lip worried by perfect white teeth. “I didn’t have any and I couldn’t find anything when I dug around in your crap so I just picked up some herbal tea from the campus store. Kid at the counter wasn’t any help when I asked if the stuff was good, but the box said it was medicinal so I figured-” 

“Lance,” James cut in. “It’s great, it’s just really hot right now.” 

“Oh, right, sorry.” Lance didn’t seem to have anything else to say, and neither did James, so he just blew softly on the tea before taking a tentative sip. The temperature wasn’t scalding this time, and allowed the flavor to actually invade his senses. James understood why it had been labeled medicinal in seconds as the strong mint tea cleared out his sinuses, lungs, blood, and quite possibly his colon all in one fell swoop. He fought not to recoil as he realized Lance was watching him intensely, and forced a smile onto his lips. 

“See, it’s good now.” James didn’t bother to interpret Lance’s relieved expression. He let himself take a few more sips and Lance seemed to lose his interest in watching James, retreating back to his side of the room. James slipped his earbuds into his ears and turned on a Simon Lang video and set the breakfast tray on his dresser to take care of later, but cradled the mug of tea as he lounged on the bed, allowing Simon’s voice to roll over him and relax the tension of his shoulders. 

The tea wasn’t bad in small doses, and even better when accompanied by his favorite youtuber. It wasn’t just the technology aspect of the videos that interested James, in fact, James had watched his videos before he’d even bothered to entertain the idea that he’d ever have access to a computer long enough to be able to code. No, it was Simon Lang himself who had enraptured a junior high James. He’s never bothered to put much thought into why, but he let his videos be his safe place all throughout high school. Whenever life got a little too much or his bullies got a little more active, he retreated to his phone and let Simon teach him about algorithms, functions, scripts with a relaxed, self-confidence that seemed to come all too easy for him. 

When James opened his eyes he stared at Lance who had also settled himself on his bed, and was flipping through some textbook. For a moment the sight had him thinking of Hannah. She was probably doing the same thing right now if she wasn’t in class. Cozying up with a book, the only difference is she would actually be compelled by the content within it, unlike Lance who’s eyes glazed over as he flipped through the pages with little care. 

“Lance…” He heard himself say, and Lance glanced up through his eyelashes, face unmoving from where it was angled down at the book. 

“Yeah?” 

“How do you get a girl to like you?” Lance hummed and looked down, hiding his expression from view. 

“Well usually they see my face and that’s enough, but if that can’t hook ‘em then going shirtless seals the deal.” He finally turned to face James again, a charming, boyish grin alighting his face. James rolled his eyes and if anything that made Lance’s grin all the bigger. 

“No,” James huffed, coughing as the motion disturbed his lungs. “I mean how do you get a girl who doesn’t like you to like you?” 

Lance ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t waste time on girls who don’t like me.” He said simply. “If a girl knows you and isn’t attracted to you then there’s no point chasing after her, it’s not gonna make her like you, it’s gonna make her think you're a creep.” James frowned as a multitude of thoughts fought to make it through the fog in his brain. 

“I don’t understand women.” He settled on. “It makes sense for us to date, it’s just… logical.” Lance laughed.

“Love isn’t exactly logical. You don’t decide who to date based on how practical it is.” 

“I don’t understand.” He felt himself repeating. “I want to date her because it makes sense for us to date. Isn’t that love?” 

James felt Lance’s eyes settle on him, an unreadable expression on his face for the second time that evening. “What do you find attractive about her?” 

“She’s like me, we’d be happy together. We both enjoy reading, we have interesting conversations, she’s academically focused like me, and…” He trailed off with a frown, trying to think of something else about her he liked. 

“What about physically, do you think she’s hot?” 

“Yes.” James said instinctively. 

Lance rolled his eyes. “Elaborate, genius.” 

“Um, well, she has blue eyes and blonde hair, and uh- well-” he sipped his tea, just to give his mouth something to do other than hang uselessly open. 

“Give up on her.” He nearly gave himself whiplash for how quickly his head shot up at Lance’s words. 

“What?”

“If she’s not interested in you then give up chasing her. She’ll come back to you if she’s actually into you.” Lance seemingly decided the conversation was over after that, rolling onto his stomach and propping his book up with his pillow. 

James set the tea to the side and curled himself under his blankets again, thoughts racing as he examined the conversation in his mind. At some point he found the siren call of sleep coming to him and surrendered himself to it. He let content, pleased hums slip out of throat as he drowsed in his cocoon of warmth, unaware of roommate’s intense gaze which had returned to him. 

—----------------

James was getting significantly better very quickly Lance was pleased to notice. To make things even better the new laptop he had bought for James had arrived so James could finally stop using the old, slow garbage he had been programming with. Lance knew buying someone a computer was a crazy gesture and he had no idea how to give the thing to James. 

He’d thought about giving James his current computer, less than a year old at this point, but he had gotten the new laptop specifically with coding in mind. He had even gone on those nerd servers to find out what the best computer was for all the tech stuff. Lance’s family had absurd amounts of wealth, so it wasn’t like the computer was a big deal of money to him, but he knew James would freak out at a gift like this, so he had to be subtle in giving it. 

“James.” Lance said entering the room, box in hand. James looked up, adjusting his glasses absentmindedly, illuminated a soft blue from his screen’s glow. “This is for you.” He held out the box and James stared for a few seconds before hesitantly taking the box. They stared at each other for a few more seconds before James gingerly looked down at it and, with suspicion written on his face, carefully opened it. He audibly gasped when he’d broken it open enough to see inside and practically ripped into the box to confirm that there was a laptop inside. 

“Lance… this is crazy. I can’t afford this man.” James’ eyes were wide, but he hungrily examined the computer. 

“Then it’s a good thing you’re not paying for it in cash. Consider this a down payment on the M.I.T fund since you haven’t seen a cent of it yet. Plus, I’m gonna need weekly project summaries for CS, and I’m gonna need someone to tutor me for the CS final since I’m not actually doing any of the class work.” James finally tore his eyes away from the computer to look up at him, eyes shining. 

“Thank you,” he whispered. “But this is too much. Lance, I can't take this.” He held the computer out.

“Yes, you can.” Lance, selfishly, placed his hands on top of James’, desperate for that moment of skin to skin contact with him, and pushed the computer back towards James. “If all the work you’re doing for me isn’t enough to convince you then accept it as a gift. Because I take care of my friends, and you’re one of them.” Lance let James pull away from his hands to put the computer down on the desk, and was surprised when James lept up from the chair to crash their bodies together in a tight hug. 

“Thank you Lance. Thank you.” His voice was still soft with shock, but the choked up quality of it told Lance he was moments away from tears if not already crying. Lance’s arms only hovered for a second before returning the bear hug, closing his eyes and savoring the most authentic physical contact he had ever had since his mother. He felt shaky and close to tears himself when James let go and looked at him with watery eyes, hands still tight on his arms. “Your app is going to be ready in less than a week with this thing. I promise you.” 

“Don’t stress about it dude.” Lance said, letting a hand rub the back of his neck to try and return to his persona. “Just don’t go telling anyone about this.” However, Lance’s traitorous brain was already thinking of other gifts he could give James if this was going to be the reaction every time. 

Chapter Text

“Lance!” James called out excitedly, his final run through coming clear with no bugs. “I think Jungle is ready for beta rollout!” Lance’s head shot up from his book and he practically launched himself across the room to stare at James’ computer despite not understanding any of the code on the screen. 

“Already? You weren’t kidding about how fast you could do this thing with that new computer.” James felt flush with embarrassment, but the proud smile on his face couldn’t be wiped off. 

“The app’s features have all worked great in my tests, I implemented everything you guys agreed on. No personal information, only pictures and names, but I added a verification system to ensure people don’t use the app to catfish. After you match with someone you can message and meet up, then after meeting up you check off that you met up and the app then blocks that person from your view so you can’t meet up after, only hook up once. You guys suggested that kink feature so I added a section to the profile where you can enter in your kinks and limits, that way compatible people can match up. There’s a rating feature where you can mark the accuracy of the person’s photo and profile information.” 

“You’re amazing man.” Lance said in awe as James scrolled through all the test profiles. 

“There’s just one problem.” Lance finally glanced away from the screen to look at him. “How are you going to convince people to use your app? I built everything you wanted, but there’s no incentive for people to use it when they already use other apps like tinder to hook up.” 

Lance smiled at him after hearing this. “Don’t worry man, I’ve got that part covered no problem. Upload the app and I’ll spread the word.” James turned back to his computer, nearly flinching as Lance landed a heavy hand on his shoulder suddenly. “Oh, and don’t forget we’re gonna need a project summary for Professor Barnes. And while you write that, I’ll be writing a big fat check for your first semester at whatever Ivy League you’ve chosen to attend.” James let that stupid smile slip onto his face again. 

—----------------

Lance: Rach, need u to promote my app to girls on campus. Ur sorority? 

Rach: i dont think girls will like ur dumb hook up app idea

Rach: prob could get my sorority tho… for a price 😏 

Lance: Anything 🙏 pls Rach I’ll owe u

Rach: ur fam cabin in tahoe still open for christmas??? 

Lance: Fineeeee 🙄🙄🙄 how many people? Dad will kill me if the place gets trashed again

Rach: 3 of my friends plus any cute boys we find in town 😚 thankssssss

Lance: Every girl on campus better be on the app before break

Rach: dont worry, i got it 😉

After their text conversation Lance hadn’t been expecting Rachel to work quite as quickly as Wes and Daniel had been spreading to the boys. Yet Rachel had seemed to take the promise of the Lake Cabin to heart as when Lance passed a common area on his way to lunch he heard her voice along with her sorority sisters. 

“So far I’ve gotten four swipes.” 

“I’ve gotten nine.” 

“I’ve only gotten two. What does that mean?” 

“Let me see your profile picture.” Rachel’s voice Lance recognized. “It’s obvious, you need to stand out more.” 

“How do you stand out in your underwear?” A sarcastic voice rang out that Lance thought might be Hannah, the girl Rachel complained about because of how often it felt like she slut shamed the other girls in the sorority. 

“By not wearing any, of course.” Rachel replied drily. He stifled a laugh as the girl gasped in outrage and the other girls tittered. “Just kidding, I’m not trying to end up on one of those nudie websites for perverts. How many swipes do you have Hannah?” 

“Zero.” 

“Oh Hannah,” Rachel sighed. “Do you need help too?” 

“I’m not gonna play with that app.” 

“More guys for us then.” Another girl said.

“I just don’t see how it benefits us.” 

Rachel laughed. “It’s sex Hannah, as long as I get off it’s benefiting me.” 

“Ew, that’s crass. Who have you met then?” 

“I haven’t really met anyone. You just hook up with people one time.” 

“Wow, sounds liberating, girls. I’m gonna go study.” 

After the shuffling sounds of her leaving Lance heard, 

“So seriously Rachel can you help me fix my profile picture?” 

Lance rushed to James to check on how their app was doing, but when he was halfway to the dorm he got a call from Daniel. 

“Lance!” Daniel yelled into the phone as soon as he picked up. “Jungle is now out of the campus and into the real world!” 

“Seriously,” Wes called into the phone as well. “Me and Daniel are at a bar and these random older guys were talking about hooking up with girls on Jungle.” 

“We’re viral!” Daniel cried happily. 

“Seriously?!” Lance asked, rushing into his dorm room where James was at his computer, “James pull up whatever app information stuff you have. Daniel and Wes say people off campus are using it.” Daniel and Wes kept chatting on their end but he tuned them out in favor of looking at James’ wide eyes. 

“I know Lance, what did you do? Jungle already has over 5,000 users and it’s been live for less than a week. This has never happened to me before.” 

“Shut up! Over 5,000?” Daniel and Wes were cheering.

“The numbers keep climbing, I’m working on it nonstop. I don't know how to manage a user base this wide! If this thing keeps growing you’re going to need a lot more than just me managing it.” 

“Forget M.I.T James, cause this thing is gonna make us into millionaires.” 

—----------------

“Merry Christmas, happy hanukkah, and happy kwanzaa ladies, I’ll see you in the new year!” James heard Daniel call to the ladies as he exited the class with Lance and Wes, all of them chatting happily among each other. James lagged behind, luxuriating in his last few free moments before he met up with his dad to head home for Christmas break. Lance paused in the doorframe, looking back at him as he was putting Professor Barnes’ book in his bag before turning back to leave. 

“Impressive, huh?” 

James turned to see Professor Barnes staring at him. “Uh, yeah. I loved your book.” 

“Not my book James.” She said, lip quirked. “Jungle.” 

“Oh yeah.” He ducked his head down. “Yeah, Lance is the man.” 

They sat in silence for a few moments before she said, “Is there something you want to tell me James?” 

He froze. What? Did she know? What was happening? “Um… Merry Christmas Professor Barnes.” He tried. 

She sighed. “Merry Christmas James.” He left quickly at her dismissal, heading for the parking lot to find his dad’s car. It wasn’t too hard to find the shining new large truck and he let himself into the front seat silently as his dad fiddled with the radio. The drive to the house was mostly silent with only the occasional commentary. It wasn’t until they were parked in front of the house that James’ dad said, 

“So, how do you like living with grandma and grandpa?” 

“It’s good.” He looked at his dad before glancing away from the eye contact his dad kept trying to make. 

“What are you gonna do on break?” 

“Some coding, maybe some studying.” 

He sighed. “No visiting, partying, socializing, womanizing? I mean that’s what you need to be doing on vacation!” 

James glanced away from his eyes again and swallowed slowly. “Yeah, dad, I’ll definitely do some of that.” 

“I just don’t want you to miss out on anything.” He sounded sincere, and maybe for the first time, vulnerable. After James stayed silent at this comment he sighed again. “Well, look, I gotta get back to the office. I’ll see you on Christmas day, okay?” 

“Good.” James finally held the eye contact. “I’m looking forward to a nice family Christmas, dad.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” A pause. “I love you James.” James grabbed his bag and left the car. His dad drove away as he was walking up to the door, left unlocked for him. He didn’t wait for anyone to greet him, instead heading right up to his room to put his stuff away. As he was heading up the stairs he heard his sister’s voice emanating from his room. 

“Look at the new blush I got! Isn’t it so pretty? It’s called berry.” 

“So cool,” a voice agreed as he entered the room to see his sister holding up a blush container to her phone screen. 

“What are you doing in my room?” He asked, as her head snapped up to look at him. 

“It’s my new home office now!” She grinned, hanging up on her friend to stand up to hug him.

“And what are you working on?” He returned the embrace. 

“Myself.” She giggled, pushing him away and settling on his bed. James rolled his eyes and set his bag on his desk to unpack his school stuff. “Anyways, how was your first semester?” 

“Uh, interesting.” He said absentmindedly. 

“Did you make any friends?” 

“I think I did.” 

“Invited to any holiday parties?” 

“No…” 

“I think you didn’t.” She laughed loudly and he snorted. 

“Where’s mom?” 

“She’s at a holiday lunch with her friends. Have you said hi to grandma and grandpa yet? They’ve been asking when you were getting home.”

“I’ll go to them right now.” His grandparents were very excited to see him when he headed down to them, and later when his mom arrived home she expressed the same joy at having him home. If he was being honest, it felt really good to be with his mom again. As much as he loved the solitude of his dorm life, and as genuinely good of a roommate Lance was towards the end of the semester, nothing beat being at home with his family. He was almost excited for their Christmas dinner the following weekend. 

That was until the weekend finally arrived, along with his dad and her new girlfriend. The second the door opened his mom ran to get his gift and his sister ran to hug their dad who exclaimed, “Hey, hey, hey! There she is! How’s my beautiful girl doing? Merry Christmas, baby.” 

“Merry Christmas to you too, daddy!” His grandparents were smiling at his sister and dad but James saw their faces drop in an instant at the sound of heels. 

“She’s kinda young…” His grandpa whispered to his wife. 

“Oh sweet jesu-” Grandma cut herself off as his dad approached with the girl. “Hey guys, this is Tiffany.” James looked at her and immediately agreed with his grandparents’ comments. Even Ashley looked uncomfortable with the age of the woman, who appeared closer in age to James than anyone else in the room. She was young blonde, and wearing a short, strapless dress that crossed in front to show too much cleavage than seemed appropriate for Christmas dinner at their conservative grandparents house. 

She smiled as she approached. “Is there a powder room I can use? I just wanna check my face before dinn-” 

“Yeah, sure, sure, sure. It’s right down the hall over there to the right.” His dad pointed out to her, everyone staring as she left the room.

“Um, dad? I don’t think mom is going to be okay with… that.” Ashley said instead of addressing the elephant in the room. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, she’ll be fine. You’re mother and I are the best of friends. Mom and I had a cool divorce.” 

“Okay.” Ashley said skeptically, sitting beside James on the couch. Their mom arrived and James saw her hand her gift to him and heard them chatting, straining his ears to listen as Ashley started talking with their grandparents. 

“Looks like you got settled into my parents house here.” He said lowly. 

“We had to settle somewhere after you blew through your inheritance and foreclosed on our house.” She snipped. James fought back a laugh. 

“I’m sorry about that.” He muttered, abashed. 

There was a moment of silence before she said, “It’s in the past.” James cursed at the sweet tone she said it in. The same one she had spoken in when she was still trying to convince herself that dad cheating on her hadn’t meant anything and that he still loved her. “You know what? Let’s just have a lovely holiday.” 

“I am all for that.” He said, quieting down at the sound of heels. Tiffany had returned it sounded like. 

“Merry Christmas!” She squealed. “Here, this is chocolate from Sweden!” 

“Switzerland.” His dad corrected. 

“Are you Ashley’s friend?” His mom asked. 

“No, no, this is my girlfriend Tiffany.” 

“He found me on Jungle.” James froze. He couldn’t listen to this anymore, his dad had found his girlfriend on the hookup app he had made. Tuning back into his grandparents he heard them in hushed conversation. 

“The dress is a little higher than in your day and my day. I don’t mind it,” his grandpa said defensively. 

“Oh for goodness sake.” His grandma repeated in shock. 

“I mean I’m not saying it’s proper in our day, but it’s proper in their day.” 

“What is he thinking?” 

“I mean she’s very attractive,” 

“She looks like she’s 12 years old. What’s wrong with you?” She snapped. They both stopped speaking as their dad approached with Tiffany. 

“Hey mom, dad, this is Tiffany.” They shook hands. 

When his grandma shook hands with her she smiled. “It’s nice to meet you Tiffany. Are you one of Ashley’s friends?” 

“No, mom, that’s my Tiffany.” His dad said at the same time as Tiffany said, 

“That’s so funny everyone keeps asking me that.” 

“Can I get anybody a drink?” Grandpa said, trying to diffuse the tension. “Would you like a drink?” He said to Tiffany. “Maybe some chocolate milk…” James heard him try to whisper to grandma. 

“Are you guys going clubbing after dinner?” Grandma asked as his grandpa left to go get drinks for everyone. James left too, not wanting to keep hearing the snide commentary he was sure he’d keep hearing all through dinner. He decided to keep working on upkeep on the Jungle servers, the app had gotten bigger still and required a lot more work now. He let himself work on fixing reported bugs for a while as he heard more and more family arrive downstairs, the volume steadily increasing. 

He heard slow, shuffling footsteps enter the room and finished with a line of code before turning to look at the visitor. 

“Aren’t you taking any time off for Christmas?” His grandpa said, hands in his suit pockets. 

“I’m trying to catch up on some work.” 

“All right.” He sat down on the bed and beckoned for James to come sit with him. James did and his grandpa slung an arm around his shoulders, hand rubbing his arm reassuringly. “Well, I don’t think you can catch up with whatever it is you’re looking for when you’re looking at a computer all day.” 

“What am I looking for?” James didn’t look up at him, eyes on the floor. That was one of the things he liked about his grandpa, he didn’t feel the need to make James hold eye contact whenever they spoke like most people did. He knew James was listening even when he couldn’t see it.

“I think…” He said slowly, “I think you’re a little lonely and upset. I think maybe you’re looking for a family, a perfect one. I think maybe you’re trying to be alone because you don’t want to see what a mess we really are.” 

James hummed. “I think I’m just wishing we could be normal for one night.” 

He tucked himself into his side, pressing his face into his grandpa’s chest and hugging him tightly. “I think in order to do that you need to face it.” He stood up tugging James along with him. “Merry Christmas, kiddo.” 

“Merry Christmas.” 

“Now, I have a favor to ask. I need you to help me face the family. Let’s go down there and you tell your aunt Gilda that you can’t see that she had any bad plastic surgery. The rumor is a deer shot her.” James laughed and let himself be tugged down, taking a moment to straighten out his button down shirt before going to eat dinner with his family.  

Dinner was surprisingly fine. Mom drank a little too much, dad drooled over his girlfriend, Tiffany and Ashley texted the whole time before grandpa took their phones and James made small talk with his uncle while aunt Gilda reminisced on how she used to be young and hot. Maybe it wasn’t most peoples normal, but listening to his grandma make snide comments to him just to make him laugh, and hearing his grandpa dote on his grandma was his normal, and it was honestly really nice in comparison to his weird roommate situation. 

Lance… he was being weird. James didn’t even know what it was, but after getting James that computer, after James had finished Jungle Lance had been weirdly affectionate. He’d sling an arm around James if they were walking together, he’d pay for James’ lunch, he’d bring back an energy drink or tea randomly. And even though James had finished the app, Lance hadn’t brought a single girl back to the dorm. He didn’t want to break the tentative peace their dorm was in, so he’d never brought up any of his confusion to Lance, but it was putting him on edge. Like being in the calm before the storm. 

“James, your mothers looking a little tipsy.” His grandma whispered over to him, breaking his train of thought. James glanced at his mom and noticed she was well past tipsy and into full out blackout drunk. She used to drink when dad left them, but she hadn’t ever drunk this hard in a long time. “Maybe you should help her to her room now? I’d rather she not throw up on my great grandmother’s antique china.” 

“I got it grandma.” James said, relaxing at the fond smile she shot him in response. He got up to the other side of the table where his mom was still sipping from a glass of wine, glaring daggers at dad. “Hey mom, I’m feeling kinda tired, can you come upstairs with me?” 

“Of course sweetie!” She said, a little too loudly, still clutching her wine glass as she stood. James slung her arm around his shoulder to half carry her as they headed upstairs. At some point she freed her arm from James so she could pull her phone out of her dress pocket. She opened the camera app and fumbled around trying to flip the camera to take a photo of herself. When James finally managed to herd her to her bed she pushed the phone towards him. 

“Mom. what are you doing?”

“I’m taking a picture.” She drunkenly snorted in laughter. “But my arms aren’t long enough, so I need you to take it for me.” 

“Um, what is it for?” James took the phone and frowned as she posed in what might be a caricature of sexiness if not for the fact that she was currently incapable of coordination, and also unable to ever be sexy in her life on virtue of the fact that she was his mom and that was illegal. 

“It’s for my collection.” She said after a clear moment of thought. 

“Okay, I’m not taking it unless you tell me what you’re doing.” James did not want his mom making a mistake just because she was drunk and jealous of dads new way too young girlfriend. “I’m scared.” 

“There’s no need to be afraid, it’s all good in the hood.” Another snort of laughter. “It’s just a picture, James. Take it.” She said seriously. James sighed.

“Ready?” 

“Ready.” 

James took a couple pictures as she posed on her bed, incredibly uncomfortable. 

“Okay let me see!” She ran over to glance through as he scrolled. “Oh that one's good.” She tilted her head. “Can you photoshop out about five pounds? Is there an app for that?” 

“There’s an app for everything.” 

“Download it!” 

“Mom-”

“Download!” 

“Mom, you’re way too drunk for this,” he took the glass of wine out of her hand to place on the bedside table along with her phone. “Just get to bed mom.” He tucked her into the sheets, she happily complied. “Good night.” 

“Good night, baby.” She shut her eyes. James stayed at the door to turn out the lights, just before turning them out saying, 

“Merry Christmas mom.” 

Chapter Text

Lance: How are the grandparents? Bored you to death yet? 

James: No, dad brought a Jungle hook up to Christmas dinner so the house hasn’t been boring in hours. 

Lance: Lol fr? Lmao thats totally against terms of service. Contact info is not supposed to be exchanged. Maybe u should kick ur dad off the app or suspend his account for a retraining period 😂

James: Too little too late now anyways. My moms totally pissed at him so the damage has been done. The only thing he could do to fix this at this point is to give her back her moms china. I heard Tiffany say she broke some of it though during dinner so I think that’s a bust anyways. How have your holidays been? 

Lance: It’s only the day after Christmas so theres still time for my dad to ruin it, but whatsherface got traded out for some new girl so im spending Christmas listening to them have nonstop sex. Its whatever tho, dad got me a new phone and a massive check. He doesnt know what to get me since I already buy myself whatever I want. Next year hes just gonna end up getting me a hooker at this point lol 

James: I’m sorry. That sucks. 

Lance: I said dont worry about it lol. Its cool man. Get anything good from ur folks? 

James: Grandparents paid my tuition. Mom got me a new calculator. My dad got me a season pass for the campus sports game, apparently I can use it to get into any of them free of charge. 

Lance: 😂😂😂 Ur dad is delus-

“What’s up you big losers?” James immediately snapped away from his phone as soon as he heard his moms voice. He set his hands on his computer, his sister lounging on the couch next to him, still tapping away at her phone. “No plans tonight?” James looked at his mother, she was standing in the doorway in a nice dress.

Ashley relied first, “No, I’m still tired from yesterday. I need a spa vacation after talking to aunt Gilda all evening.” 

“Yeah, I’m uh, still studying for next semester.” 

“Only a psycho does the work a semester ahead of time.” James made a face at her which she returned before looking back at their mom. “Mom, are you going out with your friends tonight?” 

“Um, a new friend.” 

“Who?” 

“I don’t know his real name yet, but we’re meeting at a cafe.” 

James froze and took the chance to speak up. “Where did you meet him?” He asked urgently. 

“Well we haven’t actually met. And I don’t think I can technically say meet. Sorry it’s really confusing, there’s all these funny lingo terms I have to use or something.” 

“Lingo for what?” James felt like his heart was beating out of his chest while simultaneously feeling cold all over. 

“I don’t know, all I know is that he really liked my profile photo.” 

“Mom! No!” Ashley shouted. “Mom, I do not approve.” 

“Okay, well, it is not for you to approve or disapprove, because I’m the adult and I get to make the decisions. Okay? I’m going and I will be back later before you both are asleep.” 

“At least tell me where you met him so I can do some research.” 

“Fine, I met him on Jungle. I thought if your dad can do it why can’t I. I’ll see you both later. Love you! Bye!” She left, leaving James glued to the couch. 

“Has mom lost her mind?” Ashley asked him after a few moments of silence. 

“Dad finally drove her crazy.”

“Do you think she knows Jungle’s a hook up app?” 

“If not she’s about to find out.” 

“Should we follow her or something?” 

“And do what?” 

Ashley thought in silence before shaking her head and standing up. “Whatever. I’m gonna ask dad. He’ll know what to do.” 

“Is dad still here?” 

“Yeah he and Tiffany stayed the night in the guest bedroom. He’ll know what to do.” She repeated, leaving the room leaving James alone. He glanced at his phone only to see several missed texts. 

Lance: Helloooooo???? 

Lance: Look I wasnt trying to be mean about ur dad I didnt know u were sensitive about it

Lance: Sorry man I didnt mean it 

Lance: Whtvr Wes and Daniel stopped by so Im prob gonna go out with them so Im busy too

Lance: Gonna go to a bar and swipe on some girls or smth 

Lance: Dont even need Jungle tho, I can get em on my own so dont bother texting back cus ill prob be having sex 

James frowned down at the screen. Lance was being so weird. First he wants to spend all night texting with him then the second James doesn’t respond he starts texting like some kind of jealous boyfriend. James truly did not understand people. Just as he was trying to think of a response his dad came into the room and settled down on the couch beside him. James put his phone down to look up at the man. 

“Hey buddy, heard your moms going on a date.” 

“It’s not really a date.” James muttered. 

“But it means your moms moving on huh?” His dad settled a hand on James’ shoulder that he resisted the urge to shake off. “That must be hard kiddo. Accepting that me and your mom aren’t getting back together.” 

“You and mom haven’t been together for three years at this point, I accepted you weren’t getting back together a while ago.” 

“Hey come on buddy, why don’t you look up at your pops.” James glanced his eyes up at his dads briefly, eyes darting away after that brief moment of contact. “It’s okay to be mad about this. It’s okay to not be okay about me and your mom being separated. I know this kinda stuff messes with a kids mind-” 

“What kind of stuff? Accidentally knocking their mom up then being forced by his parents to marry her to not embarrass them? Or maybe cheating on their mom several times? Or maybe sleeping with a girl young enough to be their age? What about any of that stuff could mess with a kid’s mind? Oh maybe you’re referring to the part where you tell the kid’s mom that they were a huge mistake?” James snapped at him, standing up to pull away, fists clenched at his sides and face red with the pent up anger. 

His dad sat there, silent, for once being the one to not make eye contact as James stared daggers into him. “You weren’t a mistake James. Unplanned maybe, but you weren’t a mistake.” His dad put his face into his hands. “I’m sorry kid. I’m sorry.” His dad fidgeted his hands together in front of him, looking down at them. “I didn’t mean to screw up your life. I know I’ve never acted like it, but I love you. You’re my son and I care about you.” He stood up and grabbed James’ shoulders. 

“You’re my kid and I love you and your sister dearly even though I was a crap dad. You were always so different from me, determined and smart like your mom, you didn’t get anything from me except a predisposition to heart disease. I never knew how to talk with you, especially when all I could ever see in you was your mom. I haven’t been fair to you kid. Is there anything I can do to make it up? To maybe stop screwing it up more?” 

“Stop dating girls closer in age to me and Ash than you and mom for one thing.” 

His dad huffed a laugh. “Sure thing kid. I don’t think I have anything in common with her anyways. To be honest I just didn’t want to show up to another Christmas alone.” 

“Give mom her china back, and make more of an effort with Ashley, she really loves you still and she wants you to be in her life.”

“What can I do to not screw up your life?” 

“Stop pretending to care. Stop saying you love you me. You were my dad for fifteen years and you don’t even know me! Mom raised me, mom cared about me, mom helped me fill out college applications, mom let me cry on her shoulder when I couldn’t go to M.I.T cause we couldn’t afford it! If you want to stop screwing up my life, stop showing up just to disappoint me again.” James couldn’t fight back the tears that flooded his eyes as he turned away from his dad to look at the door. 

“I do love you.” 

“How could you? You don’t know me! Did you know you’ve literally never given me a Christmas present I’ve actually used? Not a single one. You’ve never asked me about my real hobbies, you only ever talk about girls and football as if you’ll somehow make me into something I’m not. How can you love me and not care about me all at once, dad?” 

Neither of them said something for a long moment, and James didn’t think he could even see his dads face if he looked at him, eyes so clouded with the pent up tears he had spent years suppressing. 

“So what are you into these days kid?” 

James laughed. Loudly. And a little hysterically. “Give mom her china back, dad. I’ll see you at Ashley’s birthday party next year.” 

“I drove you here to your grandparents, at least let me drive you back.” James wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at his dad. He hadn’t cried, but James thought he might for once look his age. It was as if the look on his face brought out all the wrinkles, gray hair, and mistakes from his past. 

He felt stupidly like laughing again. “That would be nice dad. I’ll see you in a couple days.” 

“Sounds good son. Goodnight.” 

“Night.” James threw himself onto the couch as his dad left, his eyes already feeling heavy with exhaustion. It felt cathartic to finally get those feelings off his chest. It wasn’t like mom was ever going to confront him. She didn’t ever seem to want to give up on the idea that she might get back together with him, maybe she still loved him, or maybe she just didn’t want to be divorced at this point in her life and have to start over. Whatever it was, she did everything she could to preserve the peace between them, and killed James that his dad could just be awful and get away with it. Ashley could have her dad, James didn’t need the guy. 

James felt his eyelids drooping even though his mind was actively trying to remind him that there was something important he was supposed to be worrying about. Whatever. It could probably be worried about in the morning he thought as he let himself lull to sleep on the couch. 

He was woken by the sound of heels clacking on the floor and he shot up as he realized what he’d forgotten. 

“Mom!” 

“James, honey, go to bed.” His mom passed him, taking the moment to take her heels off her feet. James noticed her wet face and smeared mascara and felt sick. 

“Are you okay mom?” 

The question only seemed to make her more miserable as her previously composed expression suddenly crumbled and her eyes watered again. “Oh honey, I’m gonna be just fine.” James got up and she met him halfway in a hug. He held her as she tried to quiet her sobs. “Sorry baby, I swear I’m okay, I’m just a little emotional tonight.” 

“What happened?” 

“Nothing, nothing happened. We just went into it with different expectations. Once he found out how differently we thought this night was going he just called me some names. Nothing I can’t handle. I just haven’t had to deal with stuff like this in a long time so it caught me by surprise a little. I’m fine honey. Your momma’s just fine.” 

“This is all my fault.” James squeezed her tighter as he muttered those words. 

“Of course it’s not your fault sweetie! Don’t say things like that!” She pulled back and used her thumbs to swipe at his cheeks as if wiping away tears. “I’m just gonna have to wrap my head around the way things are now. Different than they were back in my day, but us Singers are fighters huh? There’s nothing this family can’t figure out. We can do anything if we set our minds to it.” 

James wrapped his hands around hers, still resting on his cheeks. “You’re right mom. I’m gonna fix this.” 

She laughed. “I know you can, baby.” She kissed his forehead tenderly. “I love you. Let’s get some sleep now.” She moved to pick up her heels and slipped her arm around him as they went upstairs together before going their separate ways. 

“I love you mom.” James said as she entered her room. “That’s why I have to do this even though it means kissing M.I.T goodbye.” He whispered to himself, opening his computer and beginning to shut down the app. 

—---------------- 

Lance was a little buzzed right now. He’d had a few drinks, but he felt really good, and Wes and Daniel were both here so maybe he’d drank more than he usually did, but he was fine. He glanced at his phone again. Stupid James. He was such a stupid girl, getting offended by some stupid text about his dad that he didn’t even like. Probably. They’d never talked about their families before, but James had sounded dismissive of him over text so he probably hated him. Whatever he was just being overly sensitive. 

Lance glanced across the room to see a guy staring at him. He was as skinny as a twig and wearing some mesh thing that showed off his lithely toned body. Lance shifted his eyes to see Wes and Daniel chatting up some girls nowhere near him, so he made his escape over to the guy. It had been a while since he’d been with a guy, too risky near campus, but Lance was feeling really good right now and the only people from campus were Wes and Daniel and those idiots wouldn’t figure it out if Lance made out with them. 

“Hey,” Lance leered once he’d arrived, flashing that signature smile. 

“That normally work?” 

“If it doesn’t I just take off my shirt. That usually does the trick.” The guy laughed, one of his hands landing on Lance’s arm in an obvious ploy to feel him up. 

“Witty. Look, I seem to have lost my friends somewhere in here, which leaves me all on my lonesome.” 

“A handsome guy like you should never be alone in a place like this! Who knows what kind of men lurk around here?” 

“Guess you’ll just have to stay close then.” The guy reeled him in where Lance happily followed, their bodies pressed tight against each other. “Real close.” 

At this point Lance didn’t bother to waste time, just mashed their mouths together eagerly. And okay, maybe he was a little drunker than he thought, his technique was quite messy, but the guy wasn’t complaining, moaning along happily into their kiss. Lance set his hands on his waist, it was small, and the guy was skinny so he could feel the hip bones press against him. Lance moved one hand up to his short cropped hair, short on the bottom, longer on the top, enough for Lance to grab a grip onto. 

Lance was a little taller than James, he had to duck his head down to kiss him, but it made it really easy for James to pull away and press kisses against his neck. Lance gasped for air and also let out some embarrassing sounds. He used the hand still gripping James’ hip to pull their lower halves together. “James…” He moaned. 

“Look dude,” James whispered into his neck, “I may be pretty high and drunk right now, but I still have some shred of self respect left. My name’s Sebastian.” 

“Sorry, sorry.” Lance felt a lot more sober than he had a second ago. “Sorry, I don’t think I can do this. I- uh-” He pulled away.

“Bad breakup?” The guy- Sebastian- asked, crossing his arms. 

“Can’t break up if you were never together. I’m really sorry man, let me buy you a drink.” 

“Don’t. Unless that drink is water. Good luck with James.” The guy turned, effectively ending their interaction. 

Lance turned to look for Wes and Daniel and felt sick. He was seriously drunk. Making out with a guy in plain view of them! What was wrong with him? Luckily the two seemed to be actively engaged in a conversation with some guy and not looking anywhere near him. Lance headed straight for the bar and got himself a glass of water that he chugged immediately. Once he had calmed himself down enough he meandered over to the two. 

“Might want to call an exterminator then dudes.  Your app has some bugs.” The guy Wes and Daniel had been talking with turned away from them after flashing a blank screen at the two.

“What’s going on?” Lance asked them. 

“The app is down!” Wes exclaimed as Daniel tried frantically to get the app to work on his phone. “Jungle is down dude!” 

Daniel turned his phone off and looked up at the two of them with rage. “What did that little twerp do now?! James is a dead man. Call him right now and tell him to fix it! Thinking he can shut our app down? We’ll teach him a lesson.” 

“Um no,” Lance held his hands up to calm them down. “The app is not down . James just told me there was some kind of update he was working, some back-end stuff. It’ll be up real soon. Couple of days at most. I just forgot to tell you guys. Relax. Here, I’ll call him right now to check up.” 

Lance left the bar, not waiting for them to reply, pulling his phone out to call James. James didn’t pick up. Lance called again. He didn’t pick up. 

Lance: Call me!!! 

Lance called him. No answer. 

Lance: Srsly call me back

Lance: Covred for u w/ Wes and Daneil pls call bck

Lance: WHy is app down!??? 

Lance: U bettr be sleeping rn or ur dead 

Lance gripped his phone tightly as the phone rang one more time before pulling up the voicemail tone. 

“James 

What

The 

Fu-"

Beeeeeep

Chapter Text

James had done a thoroughly good job of ignoring the many texts and voicemails he had been left by Lance the past few days before the new semester started. He knew he would have to face his roommate the second he stepped foot into his dorm, but he had enjoyed the few days of family bonding relatively phone free which was an upside. His dad’s car idled in the driveway as James stood there facing his sister and mom. 

“Mom, I just want to let you know I see what you’re doing for me and Ashley. Trying to be friends with dad so that we can still pretend like we have a normal family.” He reached out to grab one of her hands with his and just held it as he said, “But I just want to let you know that it’s okay if you want to be mad at him. And it’s okay if you want to start a new life. Nothing will change between us.” 

She teared up and pulled him into a hug. “Oh thank you, baby. I needed to hear that.” 

“Just promise you won’t start your new life with someone Ashley’s age.” The three of them all laughed together and she pulled away from the hug so Ashley could move in to hug him too. 

“Your room becomes my home office again the second you step foot off this drive way.” She whispered, trying to pull away from the hug. 

“Virgin.” He whispered into her ear before letting her go. 

“Cyborg freak.” She mumbled back so their mom couldn’t hear. “I’m gonna miss you. Don’t let your computer melt into your hand. Promise to at least think about stepping foot outside.” 

“I’ll consider it.” 

“Oh! Oh!” Their mom said, rushing inside before coming back out with a small box. “Here, very special Chinese herbal tea. It will knock you right out so you can finally get some good sleep. I take this stuff every time I need to sleep off a hangover, works like magic. Not that I expect you’ll be doing much drinking, but it’s nice to imagine you’re getting out a little.” 

Ashley snorted in laughter and James took the box with a small laugh of his own. “Thanks mom. I love you both. I’ll see you in a month for Ash’s birthday.” 

They both hugged him one more time before he slung his bag around his shoulder and armed with the tea, got into his dad’s car. Just as he got in his phone started vibrating again. He declined the call and settled in for a quiet ride. When the phone rang again his dad clearly had other plans. 

“Gonna answer that bud? Must be important if they’re calling again.” 

“It’s not.” James insisted. 

“Oh you seem snippy about it.” He paused. “Girlfriend problems?” James felt his mood sour and he was about to snap back that he had made it clear he didn’t have a girlfriend when his dad suddenly said, “Or uh, boyfriend troubles maybe?”

He looked at his dad in shock, seeing his dad making shifty looks to him, glancing away from the road occasionally. “You’d be okay with that?” 

“It’s the twenty-first century kiddo. I never understood it, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a modern man. So boyfriend troubles then. Gay guys can’t be too different from girls. Just apologize. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know what you’re apologizing for, chicks- or uh, people like that.” 

“It’s not boyfriend troubles dad. I was just surprised you were okay with that kind of thing. You’d only ever brought up girls to me before.” 

“You were right about me not caring as much as I should’ve. I’m trying to fix that. If you don’t like girls that’s fine. I’m interested in you now. I always should’ve been.” 

“Thanks dad.” James smiled at him, and his dad smiled back a sheepish grin. 

“So, why don’t you tell me about what classes you’re taking this semester.” 

—----------------

Lance hadn’t been able to get Wes and Daniel out of the room ever since they’d gotten back to campus. They were pissed the app hadn’t been functional for almost a week at this point. Despite Lance’s reassurances the two were still scheming up torture methods to get James to finish his update and bring the app back up. Probably because they couldn’t have sex without technological innovations. 

When the dorm door opened they both hopped up and immediately started shouting at the entering James. 

“Yo! Jungle is still down dude! What is going on?” 

“There’s no way you’re getting paid for M.I.T. unless the app is back up today!” 

“We’re gonna tie you to the desk until you fix this bro!” 

“I’m trying to get it back up guys, I can’t do anything about it!” James said defensively, setting his bag down on his desk and getting as far from Daniel and Wes as he could. 

“James you need to get Jungle back up right now okay? Our lives are on the line.” Wes snapped, getting closer to James than Lance was comfortable with. 

“You’re sex lives maybe.” Lance finally piped up, still lying on the bed, propped up by his elbows.

James looked at him, Lance kept his face deliberately blank. “Okay,” James said. “If you guys want me to do this then I’m going to need my room back.” 

Wes and Daniel both fired out complaints immediately. “No way!” Daniel cried. “You’re gonna sit right there,” Daniel ushered him over and grabbed his bag, “And you’re gonna work. Right now.” He pulled out the laptop and set it down on the table in front of him. 

Wes settled on Lance’s bed to watch as Daniel tossed James’ bag to him. Lance saw James sigh and open his computer, pulling up some different programs. 

“Lance?” He asked. 

“Yes?” 

“I’d like some tea with honey please.” 

“Wes, Daniel, get out.” 

“What?!” They both turned to look at him in shock. 

“I’ve got him okay, he works best when there’s less people in the room. I’ll watch him, you guys go.” Lance couldn’t have Wes and Daniel see how James bossed him around when he was coding. It was fine when they were alone and Lance could appreciate the feeling of caring for somebody, but there was no way he was going to let two stooges see him doing it.

Lance kicked them out despite their protests and started grabbing the tea kettle from the corner of their room. “Lance, I’d like the new tea from my bag. It’s in a box right on top of all my stuff.” Lance rolled his eyes and grabbed the box. 

“Dude this thing’s all in chinese or something. What even is this?”

“My mom gave it to me, it’s to help me stay awake, so I can study and stuff. Could you make it double strength? So I can get this done tonight?” 

“Yeah. I’m gonna make myself some too.” 

“You always do.” Lance laughed. 

“I’ll be right back.” 

—----------------

James pulled his glance up from his computer when he heard the light snores of Lance fall out of his mouth. He considered for a moment whether he should wait for Lance to fall into a deeper sleep, but realized that he would rather take the chance of leaving now than having Lance wake up before he could. He shut his laptop lid and stuck it into the backpack that sat beside the desk. He zipped it up slowly, eyes locked on Lance’s snoozing form. Getting up from the chair he made sure to keep his eyes on him while he tried to soften his footfalls crossing the room.

James realized how stupid a decision that was when his foot fell on something that was definitely a shoe and not the floor, causing him to lose his balance. His arms flailed in the air, but it wasn’t enough as his body rapidly careened toward Lance’s. He managed to land with his hands on either side of his head, taking enough impact that his body only lightly fell against Lance’s and his legs remained to the left of his splayed out body. Any hopes of Lance being a deep sleeper were dashed when he intook a quick breath and his eyes fluttered open.

His gaze was still glazed with sleepiness and he didn’t really seem aware of what he was doing as his hand slipped up on James’ hip. An unintelligible mumble left his lips as he smiled up at James hovering above him and moved his thumb in warm circles on his hip.

“Hey Lance.” James whispered, still breathy from panic. Lance’s smile widened, but the sleepiness didn’t leave his eyes.

“J’mes! Wha’ ‘re you doing ‘n my dream?” James had to fight the grin threatening to light up his face as he realized Lance thought he was still dreaming. He shot a quick prayer of thanks to his mom and whoever invented that tea as he got ready to abuse his sleepiness. 

“What do you think I’m doing in your dream?” He asked, deliberately remaining vague, realizing he had no idea why Lance would dream of him. Lance seemed to realize though, as his hand tightened on his hip and his eyes widened.

“Really?” He asked, excitement and disbelief in his voice. “Okay, but you h’ve to pr’mise not to tell anyone.” 

“Who would I tell Lance? I’m just a figment of your imagination.” Lance seemed bolstered by this news and his other hand rose to the back of James’ head. It took him a second to process what was happening as Lance’s hand pushed his head forward, but it clicked when his lips met Lance’s. He froze and his heart rate must have tripled in that split second as Lance’s lips moved like the pushing and pulling of the tide against James’ frozen ones. It was only when Lance was pulling away, a confused noise at the back of his throat, that James realized he was wasting his chance to convince Lance he was still asleep and moved his lips in response. 

James tried to forget the fact that he was giving his first kiss away to his womanizer roommate who apparently was not as straight as he appeared, and instead focused on the movement of their lips. It took very little time for him to realize why women loved his roommate as even his sleepy disorientated kisses entranced James. It was just the slick movement of chapped lips against each other, but there was something so pleasant about it James found he didn’t have the slightest urge to pull away. In fact, James found he wanted more, even when he imagined kissing Hannah his fantasies had never gone past a peck or the closed brushing of lips, but here he found himself willingly opening his mouth against Lance’s.

Lance eagerly reciprocated, like he hadn’t even imagined in his dreams he would be allowed to press open mouthed kisses against his lips. Lance took the lead, opening his mouth as well and quickly incorporating his tongue. It brushed against James’ lip and instead of pulling away in shock at the unfamiliar feeling, James pushed their mouths together even harder. Lance’s tongue brushed against his and James was unsure of what to do, so he tentatively brushed back with his own. James felt lightheaded and realized he hadn’t breathed since the kiss had started and he pulled back to gasp in some breath. Lance took the moment to breath as well before pulling James right back in. 

It didn’t take long to decide that James loved kissing. He loved it. He loved the way Lance’s hand winded through his hair, gripping and tugging to adjust James’ head into more comfortable positions. He loved Lance’s hand on his hip, a reassuring weight with a thumb rubbing comforting circles into the skin. He loved the way his chest settled on Lance’s, allowing him to feel both their chests heave with the lack of oxygen. If James had it his way he would lie on that beanbag half on top of Lance forever, kissing until he died. James didn’t even mind when Lance’s kisses slowed down, he liked the languid press of lips just as much, but he didn’t like when the hand fell from his hip and the lips slowed to a stop. 

Pulling back up, causing Lance’s hand to fall from his head, he realized Lance’s eyes were shut and small snores were once again leaving his puffy lips. He was asleep. He was ASLEEP. James raised a hand with a frown, ready to shake Lance awake so they could continue when it froze. It was good that Lance was asleep, he had done this whole kissing thing as a ploy so Lance wouldn’t even realize he was awake. This was not supposed to happen. James tried not to scramble away as his brain’s flight system was activated, instead moving in slow motions so Lance didn’t wake up. He snatched his bag from the floor and booked it out the door, horror settling over him.

What had he done. WHAT HAD HE DONE. He was straight, Lance was straight, or apparently he wasn’t- Lance! Apparently Lance wasn’t straight, James was definitely still straight, he loved Hannah and he had for four years. The only reason he enjoyed kissing Lance was because he hadn’t ever kissed anyone before and he was only human, he was bound to find kissing pleasant. It was just human nature, Lance had no factor in it. Lance. What would Lance do if he found out it wasn’t a dream? Lance told him not to tell anyone, what was he gonna do to him if he found out James knew he wasn’t straight?! He was going to need to ask for a new roommate, or find someplace to lock himself away forever so Lance could never find him. 

His walk to the girls dorm was filled with paranoia, and he constantly checked over his shoulders in panic anytime he heard anyone walk by.

Was he gay? Were those the kind of thoughts he should be having right now when his roommate was going to hunt him down and kill him in a few hours? In the grand scheme of things he should probably worry about his life more, but it felt like he had been getting a lot of signs. He tried to push the thoughts out of his mind as he arrived at Hannah’s sorority house. 

He knocked on the door only for it to be opened by three girls he didn’t recognize. “What are you doing here?” 

“I need a place to sleep tonight.” 

“Okay who here are you trying to hook up with?” 

“What? No one! I just need a place to sleep and I’m kind of friends with Hannah so I thought maybe she might let me crash.” 

“Wait,” the blonde with curly hair eyed him up and down. “You don’t want to sleep with me?” 

“No!” He shouted exasperated. 

“I told you he was gay.” She said and the girl who first spoke swore and pulled some bills out of her jeans. 

“What?! I’m not gay, why does everyone keep thinking that? I like girls okay? I like Hannah!” 

“Oh James…” James shot his head up as Hannah walked down the stairs. 

“You were not meant to hear that, I’m so sorry. I mean, it’s not like you didn’t already know, but I mean-” 

“James.” She cut him off as she reached the door. “You’re gay.” 

“What?” James ran a hand through his own hair in distress as he shot his eyes to look at the gaggle of women staring at him. 

“I thought you would figure it out! You kept asking me out, but you never gave any reasoning besides it just ‘making sense.’ When we would do homework on the bleachers you stared more at the football players than you did the cheerleaders. And to be honest, no one writes that many essays on the homoerotic qualities of classic literature for English class without being a little gay themselves. If you’re not gay I’m sorry, but I really think you might want to spend some time self reflecting.” 

“I’m gay! I’m gay? How did I never know?” 

“Hey man, I once had a guy figure out he was gay by having sex with me, so don’t worry about it.” The curly haired girl chimed in.

“I just kissed Lance and I still didn’t figure it out until you guys just told me now.” He started pacing. 

“You kissed Lance!” The girl in the middle laughed. “Yeah you can definitely crash here tonight. Someone set up the couch for him, we gotta get this man some help.” One of the girls rushed off and Hannah and the curly haired one ushered him into the house. 

“Thank you!” James stopped pacing and faced the girl. “I don’t take up that much space, I just need like a closet or something.” 

“A closet. Huh, you really are funny! Nah, there’s a guest room upstairs. If Lance comes looking for you we’ll turn him away no problem.” She moved out of the doorway so he could enter. 

“Thanks.” James repeated, following her in.

“So,” the curly haired girl started. “Why are we hiding you anyways? Lance not take the kiss well?” 

“Well actually he kiss- no I mean, I need to hide from him because I shut down Jungle.” 

“I knew Lance didn’t make Jungle!” The girl gestured for another girl to give her money. “He’s clever, but he’s not smart. Did he pay you to make it?” 

He sighed. “Yeah, and it was a fine deal, but I think I made things worse. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but I don’t know if I considered the ramifications of this app. I mean, it just enables people to treat others as sex objects, and I think the app’s kind of shady. I mean, if I didn’t shut it down we might get shut down because people were using it for human trafficking. Plus I really can’t keep the app up at the rate it was growing, it wasn’t like Lance had a team of customer service agents ready to take complaints or coders to keep the app up. It was doomed from the start, he just had no way of knowing that.” 

“Sell him the infrastructure or the rights to it or whatever then, that way you still get the money. I mean Lance will have no clue what to do with it so the app will go down and you’ll still get paid.” The middle girl said. 

“I think the app should just stay down. It was sexist anyways, it’s like James said, it allows men to view us as sex objects. If men think they can just get sex anytime then they won’t want to get married.” Hannah rubbed James’ arm comfortingly. 

“Good, I don’t want to get married either, so the app served its purpose fine. Lance won’t know what to do with the app, you might as well let the kid make some money from it.” Rachel snapped. 

“Look guys, can we talk about this all in the morning? I’ve kind of just had a really big self revelation and I’d like to take some time to process it.” James pushed his glasses up so he could rub at his eyes. 

“Come on James, I’ll take you to the spare room.” Hannah tugged him upstairs and away from the other girls. She left him there after a quick conversation, leaving him alone with his thoughts. 

Gay. I mean, that made sense. Gay. Logically, it would explain a lot. James pulled his phone out of his pocket to call Ashley who picked up on the third ring. 

“Shouldn't you be asleep by now?” 

“Ash, am I gay?” 

“Yeah obviously? Did you not know?” 

“No, I just figured it out like ten seconds ago.” 

“I thought you’d already told dad and that was why he was acting so weird around you. You know he was asking me about what it was like liking guys during Christmas. I thought maybe you told him and he was trying to figure out how to be supportive.” 

“Dad knows I’m gay, and yet even I didn’t know I’m gay?” 

“Hey, I don’t think mom knows so you could probably still come out to her and maybe grandpa. Grandma probably knows, but grandpa seems pretty clueless.” 

“Okay, thanks.” 

“Goodnight nerd.” 

“Goodnight virgin.” He held the phone away as she hung up. 

Huh. Gay. 

—--------------

Lance cracked his neck as he woke up, his whole body feeling uncomfortable and tense despite the deep sleep he had experienced. He realized he felt stiff because he was lying on his bean bag rather than his bed. Craning his neck he noticed James wasn’t in the room. Crap. 

James. He was supposed to make James fix the app. Wes and Daniel were nowhere to be seen so if Lance could track down James he could probably still fix this and keep James from being pummeled. Oh yeah, and he could save his CS grade if James just got the app back up again. So lots of advantages to getting James to fix this. Lance quickly dressed himself and called James, not expecting it to work. To his surprise James picked up just as he was about to hang it up. 

“Hey Lance.” 

“James! Hey, where are you right now?” 

“Um, I’m staying with some friends. Look Lance, I can’t fix the app. I’m sorry for taking it down, and I know you can’t pay me anymore, but I can’t put the app back up.” 

Lance paced the small room. “Okay. Okay. I don’t really want to have this conversation over the phone, but do you think you could come back to the dorm and we could talk about it? I’m not going to hurt you or try to make you put the app back up, but I think we need to talk about it. You did a lot of work so you should probably still get paid, but my CS grade is screwed if this app isn’t live by the end of semester. So I think we need to talk about where we go from here.” 

There was a pause over the phone and Lance pulled it away from his ear to see if the call was hung up before James’ voice finally came over the phone. “Yeah, I’ll be there in ten.” 

James hung up and left Lance standing in the middle of the room with his hands in his hair. Lance sat down on his bed and spent the next ten minutes trying to plan out what to say. He stood when the door opened, a sheepish James, bag slung over one shoulder appearing. 

“Hey,” He said. 

James nodded, or maybe just bobbed his head. “Hey.” They both stood there silently looking at each other. “I should apologize for running away. I guess I just thought I was going to be shoved in a locker if I didn’t agree to get the app back up.” 

“Yeah, Wes might’ve done that. Might still.” He chuckled to himself despite the unfunny joke. “But, I’m not like that. It’s your app, you made it. I screwed myself. I’m gonna flunk CS.” Lance sat down back on the bed, sighing deeply and dropping his head down into his hands. 

“The apps still created, it’s just not live. I mean, you could still show Professor Barnes the app and get a grade.” 

“I can’t. She knows I didn’t do it. I got my score back on the midterm and I blew it. If I had the ability to make Jungle then there’s no way I would’ve failed that test. It’s whatever, I’ll take it again, or maybe just take another class. You did all that work for nothing. I’ll pay for your tuition at M.I.T.”

“What?” Lance looked up at James, who was standing helplessly confused. Lance laughed. 

“You deserve it. You made Jungle, it’s not your fault I was stupid enough to believe this could work.” Lance stood and grabbed one of James’ arms. “You’re brilliant. You deserve way more than this dump. Go be genius and become the next billionaire.” 

James glanced at the hand on his arm then looked back up at Lance who felt his eyes getting teary. This felt like goodbye somehow. James swallowed slowly. “Lance, I’m gay.” Lance froze. 

“Oh, uh, I- I don’t really know what to say.” Lance didn’t have to say anything else because James’ lips were pressed against his the next second. Lance instinctively responded, and once his brain kicked back into function he noticed how awkward James was. His hands weren’t touching Lance, and his lips were unmoving, just pressed hard against his. Lance moved his lips slowly and grabbed James’ hands, originally with the intention of moving them to his body, but James took it as an invitation to intertwine them. So Lance stood there kissing and holding hands with a brick wall. 

Lance pulled away. “I don’t know what’s happening here, but you’re going to have to pretend to be a functioning human being if we’re going to do this.” Lance let go with one hand to pull James’ face to his and adjust the angle. This time James seemed to get the memo and responded in a more practiced way, and Lance was getting the weirdest sense of deja vu. It felt familiar more than just his fantasies and dreams. 

“Can I repeat the fact that I’m really confused right now?” Lance whispered against James’ lips. 

“That was me when you kissed me last night.” 

“What?!” 

“There’s a lot I have to catch you up on.” 

Lance let James tug him back into a kiss. Oh well. James would explain it to him later. Whatever it was they'd figure out the rest together.