Chapter Text
there’s a sudden buzzing in his head, he tilts it to the side, trying to alleviate the pain, but to no avail, it continues. like something was alerting him, trying to say something like, “hey idiot! look over there!”, but decides to try and ignore it. but he shouldn’t have; something was alerting him. there you stood, well, walked to your next lecture. and there he stood, eyes widened and almost gawking at the sight; how could someone look so disheveled, yet so elegant? well, it was college, he pondered. he was bound to see some pretty people cross his pass on his way to class, but this felt different. not just the sudden ringing in his ears and pounding in his head that almost subconsciously alerted him of your presence, but something about the path you walked on felt familiar..felt..OH NO. his inner voice groaned, realizing the way you were headed was the exact same route he was instructed to take for his newest class.
johnathon was not the kind of man to take an entertaining class, especially when there were so many things he wanted to pursue that weren’t exactly fun. to him they were, of course, he loved quantum physics as much as the next science nerd, but the typical college student would avoid any seriously brain bursting class like the many he was taking. however, the class he was headed to now was somewhat supposed to work as a nice, end of day, easy class. or so, he thought it would be easy. to his surprise, the second he walked down the arts commons, he realized he didn’t exactly fit in. what was a science major doing in the art department? it was totally out of the norm! his mind cried out, mentally cringing at his decision of openly choosing to embarrass himself. art majors are no friend makers. he pondered again, the tips of his lanky fingers tapping rhythmically against his knuckles. how the hell am i gonna make it out of here alive? he sighed heavily, already feeling a sense of dread in the air. he takes in a hasty deep breath, and nearly wheezes out an exhale. an arm then reaches out for his shoulder, probably to make sure he wasn’t about to pass out on the way to his final lecture, especially after such an ugly sounding exhale. it felt small against his broad and rather large shoulders, a voice beginning to speak, muttering something before finally being loud enough to be heard. “you okay?” you ask, you hand giving his shoulder a light squeeze, causing him to jump at the sudden and very unfamiliar contact. “hah? oh! yeah yeah, ‘m alright! hahahaaaa..” god was he awkward, his voice silently trailing off as he gave a haphazard response.
taking that as a sign of discomfort, you remove your hand from his shoulder, letting it fall against your side in embarrassment. “good, ‘looked like you were gonna pass out over here. whatcha so nervous about?” you keened, tilting your head in his direction as the two of you now walked together to class. god, please stop talking to me. his inner voice rang throughout his mind, then cleared his throat to hopefully shut it up. “oh um, ‘just a little anxious about being in the art department..’s kinda scary.” his words half mumbled, still trying to adjust talking to someone he was disrespectfully ogling at earlier from across the campus. “huuuh? what’s wrong with the art department? ‘you a business major or something?” you joked, tip-toeing to nudge your shoulder against his, sort of in attempts to ease his nerves. you earned a still very anxiety laced chuckle from him, but it still felt like a victory nonetheless. “no, ‘just an equally as lame science major-“ “-no way? what’re you studying? whatcha working on specifically? what brings you down to the art department anyway? any chance you go by dr too?” you went on and on and on with questions, and it absolutely stunned him. stunned in a deer-in-headlights-that-also-got-tazed-50-times-but-also-being-tied-up-in-a-straight-jacket, kind of way, which was far too foreign for his liking. but, he kinda got off on the adrenaline; liked the unfamiliarity, the risk. “y-yeah its uh dr. ohn. but johnathon is fine or er uh..oh its really all too much to explain right now, uuhh maybe some other ti-“ “we can maybe chat about it over lunch?” you suggested, absolutely flared up by the idea of making a new friend so soon, it was still the first day back after all. which had the absolute opposite effect on johnathon; his palms sweaty and his stomach churning at the thought of having more than a minute long conversation with someone. “if uh, that’s okay with you. i don’t wanna make you uncomfy or anything i mean i hardly know y-“ “nononono! ‘s alright! honest.” LIAR! that stupid inner voice of his screamed at the reassurance before he could even say something else. even johnathon himself knew what he was doing was insanely out of his comfort zone, but hey, anything for a pretty person. the nicer side of his internal voice hummed, silently liking the idea of stepping out of his personal bubble and getting to know someone, like, in a real way. he nudged your shoulder back, slightly stiffer than you did, but regardless, you beamed at the gesture. “sick! oh, it’ll be great. trust me, i don’t bite.” you chuckled softly, desperately trying to blow away the immense fog of unnecessary tension in the air.
he’s fiddling with his fingers, analyzing each and every crease and wrinkle on his knuckles as he listens to you ramble on about what you’re doing in the art department. turns out you’re majoring in graphic design and minoring in computer programming, are excited to start your fourth year of college at a completely new school, and moved all the way to new york to pursue said career. he nodded mindlessly as you continued to talk, still not being able to directly look you in the eyes; slightly worrying if you minded the lack thereof. his mind wandered, finally connecting the dots as to why you were so friendly with him in the first place. poor thing just wants some friends. his mind mumbled to itself, almost relating to the familiar feeling of that level of desperation; finding anyone who looks remotely nice and striking up a conversation to see if it goes anywhere. unfortunately, for johnathon at least, this was going somewhere. after a few minutes of what felt like a one-sided conversation, the two of you finally reach your shared class; “intro to the studies of realism: traditional art” which was read on a massive sign above the equally large door in front of you. “traditional art huh? what’s that even mean..” he mumbled to himself as you cautiously opened the heavy metal door, you snickered at his words, causing him to dart his head back at you. “oh you seriously are new to this huh..aw.” you teased, pouting in his direction to mock his initial expression before you arrived. this time, his laugh was a little more genuine, playfully punching your arm as you nearly stumbled over the rows of seats in front of you. “oh shut up, ‘m not that stupid.” he mumbled again, a stupid grin on his lips that looked ironically beautiful with uneven stubble alongside it. “never said you were, dummy.” you rebutted like a child, to which he scoffed at. you nudge his shoulder once again, alerting him of two free seats in a nice spot in the classroom, somewhat in the middle but still far enough so that the professor wouldn’t kick you out if he caught you two fucking around; it was perfect. the two of you thought, completely unaware of the weirdly telepathic opinion you shared. taking a seat, the two of you began to unpack your things, pencil cases, miscellaneous pens and colored pencils, and sketchbooks galore all spread across the two tiny desks. his things barely crossing the crack separating your desk from his, you quietly push them back onto his side. “‘m not very organized yet, hah, my bad.” his voice barely above a whisper, hardly noticing his apology, you focus your attention on his perfectly clean mixed media sketchbook that he placed carefully in front of himself. you eye it a little longer, getting an itch in your brain; needing to add at least a “little something” to make it stand out a bit.
you pout, still pondering the thought for another moment. your eyes brighten up and you tap his shoulder, catching himself lost in his own thoughts. “hm?” was all he could muster, unsure of what else to say now that you were so much closer than before, and forcing him to remember the delicate touch of your hand on his shoulder. “would you let me draw a bit in your sketch book? the poor pages are so plain and white! ‘seriously gives me a migraine just looking at it.. ” you sigh dramatically then snicker, already picking out a 0.5 pen from your pencil bag and letting a finger slip under the cover. his eyes almost pop out of his sockets as he sees you already make an attempt at messing with his brand new sketchbook. “hah? what?! doesn’t it have to be clean ‘n unused for when we gotta use it for class?” his sentence ending in almost a shrill tone, sounding horrified that you’d ruin it. you raise a brow at his words, a stupidly confused smile on your lips. he stared at it for a moment, admiring the fact that you took his words so easily, too easily, like it were a joke to you. he admired that gusto, that almost carefreeness; he loved it a little too much. “it’s a sketchbook johnny, ‘supposed to be messy. that’s like, the whole point of a sketchbook! it’s gotta be filled to the brim with ideas and thoughts and emotions. it’s almost like, ya know, dumping your every waking thought and feeling into a physical form, an art form.” you didn’t realize you rambled about your views on art until you caught sight of jonathan’s face. his cheeks slightly flushed and his eyes slightly squinting, his smile gently pushing his cheeks up to make his eyes appear that way. that smile, oh, that damned smile of his, you thought as it mentally frustrated you; not understanding how such a wet dog of a man could be so charming upon first impression. “sorry i was rambling again.” you mumbled, rubbing the back of your neck sheepishly as you mentally cursed yourself for never learning how to shut up. “nonono you’re fine! i really like listening to you talk, your voice..its uh, um..really nice. l-like in a soft soothing way, ya know?” now he turned into a mumbling mess, eyes darting every which way in desperate attempts not to see which expression your pretty face displayed this time. he hears you giggle and stops fidgeting completely, his hands slightly shaky from the adrenaline of making such an embarrassing statement. “that’s so sweet of you to say.” you hummed, johnathon’s brain short circuiting when he notices how your voice dropped an octave. you sounded sincere, flattered was probably the proper way to describe it; the soft smile laid upon your lips agreeing to the fact. hypothesis. his mind stops mid thought to properly conjure up the right mental notes to make sense of the situation at hand. i’m going to keep saying sweet nothings, and see where it takes me. his cheeks already flushing at the thought of flustering you just for the hell of it, maybe liking the idea a little too much.
as more students flooded the lecture room, you noticed a slight shift of mood in the room, it became something much more serious. serious in a studious way, in a “i need you to not look at me right now or else i’ll get insanely distracted” kind of way; noticing how his eyes darted away from you each time you caught him staring. he desperately didn’t want to appear distracted, or even engrossed in your mere presence; so he stood still. his once shrimp like posture now straightened out, his broad shoulders stiff as he held his breath. class began and everything went just fine, it was a normal first day interaction with the professor and the rest of the class. icebreakers and self introductions galore; making you wish they left these horrific traditions to die in high school. mentally, you groan in frustration, turning your head to face the clock just a few feet away from the adjacent wall. there was still a whole hour left before class ended, causing your mind to disband from the current physical state of the moment, and find itself daydreaming to pass the time. your eyes defocusing along with your mind, thinking of anything else but the same old boring professor introduction powerpoint you grew to mentally ignore. schwippp. your eyes refocuse. was that..scratching? or scraping? your thoughts mush together as you try to put together what action could be connected to the weird sound you heard. then your eyes refocus some more, now noticing a white blurred thingy from the corner of your eye. your gaze darts down, now entirely taking in what this white blur was; a piece of paper. a note, to be exact. a note passed to you, by the equally bored man who sat beside you. your lips curled into a smile, noticing how despite his awkwardness and inability to make great conversation, he still showed his intent in socializing with you, getting to know you you better as well; it made your stomach fill with butterflies. your thumb quietly landing on top of the note, swiftly sliding it in front of you, then picking it up by the roughly cut corner.
i know a really good sandwich place downtown-ish, you still up for a ramble filled lunch? :)
oh. how adorable! you mentally squealed, almost like a teenage girl watching a cheesy soap opera while you gushed at the ridiculously cringe worthy romance. you immediately picked up your pen and wrote down a response, clicking your pen and sliding it back in johnathon’s direction. you hear him shoot out a sigh from his nose as he mentally prepares himself for what he assumes is rejection, but quickly realizes his luck as he reads the response back to himself, mumbling aloud as he does so.
of course!!! i’d love to <3
as short as the answer was, it was enough to bring a sense of relief and excitement he’s only ever felt after successfully finishing a blueprint for a new invention, coming up with a plausible hypothesis, and scrubbing the ink blot stain out of his pristine white lab coat. but for some reason, this felt so much better. his head darting quickly to face you as he holds up the note in front of his chest, awkwardly putting up a thumbs up in confirmation that you agreed to your little lunch date; or so he mentally called it that. you nodded your head vigorously, a bright and anticipating smile laid upon your lips; sending shock waves down johnathon’s spine. to which he returned and even brighter smile; sending his own shock waves throughout your own body. the fog of tension in the air finally dissipating, for good this time, a new found emotion flooded your senses; anticipation.