Chapter Text
Grian has always wanted to be an architect.
Ever since he was little he built houses out of wooden blocks, and then when he got a bit older he used any building material he could get. Clay, stones, snow, anything was up for grabs. So, he applied to a university for people like him to learn about things he loves so he can do it for a job and make his parents proud. It all sounds like a dream come true... Well, he was miles away from all his family and friends in a city he didn't know. And okay, maybe he was unbelievable stressed out from the coursework and the amount of writing and research he didn't think he had to do. But hey, this is what he wanted, so he should be happy.
Grian was now in the second year of university and two years into his course, and this time, he was not going to let himself get distracted. He would be head down the entire time and think about nothing but work. There was one problem...
This year his class got merged with the other architect class that were doing the same course to account for all the dropouts, which they were many. And his new desk neighbour was... interesting to say the least.
His classroom neighbour was a tall and broad man, Very tall. Many Grian was just short but the stranger looked like he could pick him up with ease. He seemed... fake. Always smiling with that wolfish grin of his, always got this superficial shine in his incredible deep green eyes- Not that Grian paid him much notice, he didn't seem like the best influence so they never made much conversation.
It was only the first few weeks but the burnt-out student tried to keep his head down as much as possible and blur everything around him so all he could see was his massive to-do list and all he could hear was his teacher's dull tones. And yet, his neighbour's voice still managed to pierce through his bubble.
"-y, could I borrow a pencil? Or a pen? I uh- forgot mine," The towering man spoke with the softest of tones, his voice was deep, and kind, it was a lot of things, but it was definitely something that caught his attention.
"Oh- Um yeah, sure," Quickly, Grian rummaged through his pencil case full of lead dust before offering a pen and pencil.
Their fingers brushed as his classmate grabbed it, his skin was rough and yet gentle, and with a sheepish grin, he uttered in his charming voice, "Thanks."
The shorter man tried not to think about it as the class drained his energy, each tick of the clock being ingrained into his brain, but he couldn't ignore the fact that it frazzled his mind in ways he hated. He must really be touch-starved...
At the end of class, as he was packing his bags, a tapping was felt on his shoulder.
"Thanks again," A kind voice uttered as a pen and pencil were placed into his hands, the touch sending electricity coursing through his skin, it was awful.
And with that, he left, never even giving him his name.
-
Through eavesdropping and a process of elimination, Grian found out that the long-haired brunet's name was Scar.
It was good that he knew that because it slowly became a habit for the shorter young adult to have to give his desk neighbour a pen and pencil every single day. And each time he would sheepishly ask for one, giving another excuse that was always different. It began with forgetting, losing them under the couch, to really bizarre things like it getting run over by a truck or his grandma accidentally eating them.
Grian actually started looking forward to hearing his next story of why he couldn't bring a pen or a pencil to his classes. But the thing that really meant a lot was that he always gave it back at the end of class.
As Scar sat down in his chair, the other blurted out, "What is it this time? An alligator thought it was a duck and swallowed them whole?"
"Ooh! That's a good one!" His smile shone back, nearly as bright as the sun, but Grian couldn't stop himself from noticing how it was crooked, and how much more charming it made his cheerful grin.
Rolling his eyes, the dirty blonde man offered his pen and pencil that were now designated for Scar, "Here."
He was always grateful, every time, maybe a bit too much for just a simple pen but he still smiled from ear to ear as his hands clumsily grabbed it, his skin grazing by longer than it should. It always short-circuited his brain, every time, and maybe that's why he kept on giving him pens and pencils even if it meant he would have to do this for his entire course.
It became their little routine, and Grian loved routines.
-
Grian knew that group projects were coming up soon, and he was dreading them more and more. Mainly because all the other times he's been in a group project with others, he did a large majority of the work which was incredibly stressful. So when the teacher told everyone to find a partner, he quickly tried to find someone he knew. Before he could do much though, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Uh hey," It was his desk neighbour, the mystery himself, "I was wondering if you wanted to be partners?"
Great... Grian's eyes returned to the class to see that all his friends had already been chosen by the new students, so there wasn't much of a choice... "Sure."
Scar's face lit up instantly, flashing a toothy smile as he instantly started to ramble, "Oh great! Because I already have a few ideas for what we could do-"
And on and on he went. It was impressive how much he could talk before he had to gasp for air. It was even more impressive how many ideas he had for a simple prompt, even though Grian struggled to write them all down. He was very... passionate, to say the least.
"And maybe there could be like uh- Have you ever been to Disney land?" The brunet man spoke so quickly that it took a while to figure out that it was a question for him.
"Uh- no I haven't-"
"You haven't?!" Outrage filled his voice but somehow Grian knew that it wasn't directed at him, "Hang on-"
Suddenly, he pulls out his phone and it doesn't take long until pictures of different victorian and tutor-style houses and designs were put in front of his face, "Basically, in the park, there are different areas where-"
"Isn't the prompt for a modern craftsman-style house?"
His green eyes blinked, and suddenly it dawned on him how offtopic he had gotten, "oh uh... right."
A bashful pink glow struck on his tanned skin, averting his gaze as he rubbed at the back of his neck, it was... Grian snapped himself out of his stance, he must seem like such a weirdo for staring so much. As his mind wandered, he picked up Scar's phone, with a cracked screen and cat popsocket, that was still on his desk, noticing a few images of the park that could be useful. Grian leaned in to show him, scooting his chair closer, just so he could see of course.
"We could use these windows for the design," He pointed out, "And this colour palette."
His new partner leaned in too until their shoulders touched, making it hard to concentrate, "Oh yeah!"
And they stayed like that for a while, pointing out ideas they could use, at least until their teacher told them to start packing up their stuff. Grian moved quickly, leaning away from the touch to put his notebook into his backpack. And as he was walking away, somebody grabbed his wrist.
The towering man lift up his wrist until his palm was up and with his other hand a slip of paper was placed, through a chuckle he spoke, "Text me if you have any non-Disney related ideas."
And with that, he left.
Unravelling the paper, clumsily written with a familiar borrowed pen was a number with a name underneath.
'Scar :D'
-
Grian was sitting outside with a few of his friends by a large oak tree, picking at cold chips he picked up from the cafeteria, usually, this would have been a peaceful moment but his mind was buzzing with activity. In his other hand, he still held the slip of paper that Scar had given him. He had drawn little doodles around the paper, stars and planets, it was... cute. And that was a problem.
"What is that?" Impulse's voice interrupted through his intense staring contest with a piece of paper.
"Jesus-" Grian nearly jumped out of his skin before clearing his throat and putting it away in his pocket, "It's uh- Just my new partner's number, for work reasons, obviously."
"Ohh right, you have Scar, right?"
Harshly swallowing a dry chip, the dirty blonde man spluttered out, "You- You know him?"
"Know him? Everybody knows Scar," Impulse uttered like it was a true and simple fact, Grian looked around at his other friend's faces and see them nodding in approval.
"The uh- Long hair- the tall dude with a cane, that Scar?" Doc questioned.
"What other Scars do you know?" Ren answered.
"You don't know everybody that I know."
"Alright, alright-" The shortest member interrupted, speaking with his hands, "Seeing as I'm the last person to know this guy, could anybody tell me what I'm getting myself into?"
A quick look that everyone gave to another, followed by a snicker and knowing grins, made his stomach twist up into a tight ball of regret. Etho spoke up first from the giggling bunch of girls he had unfortunately called his friends.
"Scar is... a really nice dude, I think you would like him," There was a certain twinkle in his eye that was hard to decipher with his mask covering most of his face.
"Oh yeah, I mean, the man is nothing if not passionate," Impulse noted with bashful concerned tones intertwined in his words, "He probably works as hard as you do seeing as how many times I've found out passed out on any surface he can."
"Okay..." Grian trailed his words with narrowed eyes, "And the catch is...?"
Doc had the most mischievous smirk on his face as he spoke, "Well... Let's just say that his attention span is less than none. Nothing against the guy but he can get swept away with his ideas and thoughts."
"I've seen him tell a 2-minute story in an hour with how many side tracks and backstories he gets distracted by," Ren noted casually.
"That explains why I spent a lot of my time looking at Disney land today..."
With a sigh, Grian went back to his chips that were now cold and as hard as a rock, wishing he could have gotten a dip or maybe a better partner. Babysitting an absent-minded daydreamer so he could get a passing grade wasn't his idea of an ideal situation but there wasn't much he could do now. He should just get this over and done with as quickly as possible so he'll have enough time to do the majority of it by himself... again.
-
Scar let out a muffled scream into a pillow at his friends' crowded apartment, who were trying their best to comfort him. He had just let himself in and was laying down on the couch, taking up the entire setee with his crisis.
"I don't understand why you're so upset, I mean, it worked, you're his partner!" False noted, leaning against the head of the couch.
Scar lifted his head just to exclaim, "Yeah but I already messed it up! I barely let him speak the entire time!"
"Oh, you poor helpless romantic," Bdubs spoke as he sat cross-legged on the floor, chuckling to himself, patting at his hair.
Mumbo walked in and sat down on the arm of the couch, holding a mug of coffee, "Scar, I understand you're upset but can I get my couch back?"
The man finally sat up, holding the pillow to his chest tightly as his friends sat next to him, "Maybe I could fix this, is there any way you guys could find out what he likes-"
"No, no, we've already done a favour for you by partnering with his friends so he'd say yes, you're just gonna have to talk to him," Cub spoke, not even looking away from his tablet where he was drawing concept ideas, "You still owe me my I.O.U by the way."
The brunet took a deep breath and screamed even louder into his pillow until he flopped onto his couch, looking up at the cracking ceiling with defeat. Just then, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Taking it out, he nearly jumped right out of his seat if his legs didn't hurt as much as they did. Grian just texted him! Oh god, Grian texted him.
(Grian) 1:13 pm
Library tomorrow, 4th free period
this is grian btw
A gleeful noise erupted from his throat as he flapped his arms in excitement, "Oh gosh, oh my goodness, what do I say? What do I do?"
Bdubs looked over his shoulder and pursed his lips, "Probably just okay,"
Scar's fingers furiously typed as he quickly sent out a message.
(Scar) 1:14 pm
O.K ;D
His emerald eyes stared at the text intensely and nearly folded in on himself when he saw that it had been read. Bringing up his knees to his chest, he buried his face into his support pillow, "... Gosh, I'm hopeless..."
And all his friends could do was nod as they patted his shoulder and head in an attempt to comfort him. But all Scar could think as he let his mind drift, was how much he wished for tomorrow to arrive quicker.