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Of all the things he could be doing right now, Phil was on his way to the student labs. Sure, he loved working in the labs (after all, he did choose to minor in microbiology) but not when the viewing party for a short film he edited was happening. But the stomach flu had caught him earlier that week and he had to make up the lab he missed. He trudged towards the science building on the other side of the campus from his dorm and wallowed in what he thought was a healthy amount of self pity.
He reached the door of lab A2 and unlocked it. The door swung open, and the automatic lights flipped on, revealing the bright, orderly room. It was vastly different from secondary school science labs, which were always littered with lab goggles and hydrochloric acid so diluted you could drink it. As ill-fitting as they were, Phil donned the lab coat and goggles as he’d rather not spill chemicals or Streptococcus anginosus all over himself. Test tube racks were set up and petri dishes were arranged as Phil hummed to himself and became aware how almost therapeutic doing labs was with no one else to bother him.
~
Dan could be at the viewing party for the short film one of the drama classes made, but he really had to finish this research project if he wanted to keep his A- in the course. In his usual fashion, he had procrastinated until the last minute; the project was due Monday, and it was Saturday night and he had done not even half of the month-long project so far. A sigh escaped his lips as he grabbed his coat and left his dorm room. The biting air nipped at him and he pulled his coat around himself tighter, striding quickly across campus, seeking the relative warmth of the labs.
The science labs building loomed in front of him, all shiny and in the best condition out of all the buildings at the university. Majoring in the arts and minoring in a science really put Dan in a unique situation as they were polar opposites. The dichotomy between the two fields and what people thought of them was beyond obvious. While the arts department was constantly scrabbling for funds, the science department was practically bathing in money and had all the best equipment.
His hands were cold enough already but were further frozen when he grabbed the metal handle of one of the double doors and pulled it open. And sure, he wasn’t religious, but he thanked every god he could think of when he remembered the building had a working lift. By the time he had reached the sixth floor, he was a little less frozen and a little more upset about missing the viewing party. His own footsteps echoed through the hallway and he was filled with a slight uneasiness. Empty labs had always put him on edge due to his overactive imagination and possibly reading too many sci-fi horror books as a child. Dan reached lab A2 and fished his key from the bottom of his bookbag only to put it in the keyhole and realize the door was already unlocked. Surely no one else was also in the lab on a Saturday night and it was just some careless student who forgot to lock the door.
The faint humming he heard when he pushed the door open proved him wrong; there was some other poor soul doing labs at this hour. He stepped further into the room and found that the source of the humming was a tall man with jet-black hair and large, thick-framed glasses behind his lab goggles scribbling into a notebook with one hand and pouring something into an Erlenmeyer flask with the other. Dan opened the cabinet to grab a lab coat when he heard a small gasp behind him. He spun around to see the black haired man, and the first thing Dan noticed was this unexpected lab partner was extremely attractive and the second thing was he was vaguely familiar.
“You startled me for a moment there.” the man explained, “I didn’t even hear you come in.”
“Oh, sorry about that, I’ll try to make a commotion from now on when I enter a room.” Dan joked but realized how sarcastic and annoyed he sounded. However, a light laugh escaped the stranger and Dan sighed in relief.
~
Phil definitely had not expected someone else to be doing a lab tonight and was slightly annoyed that his tranquil alone time was no more, but this newcomer seemed friendly enough and he was really quite adorable, so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.
“So, why are you here on a Saturday night?” Phil asked, having decided small talk would be better than a mildly awkward silence accompanied by the tinkling of glass equipment.
“Well, I’m supposed to be at a viewing party for a short film a class in the arts department made, but I also have a research project due Monday that I procrastinated on.”
Phil then realized that it was mostly likely the same party he was supposed to be at, “Wait, you don’t mean the viewing party for ‘Tiptoe’ do you?”
“How did you know?”
“I’m part of the editing team of that and am also supposed to be at the party but alas.”
“Oh that’s so cool!” he seemed genuinely impressed and surprised.
“Thanks! I’m Phil by the way, I’d shake your hand right now, but by gloves may or may not have just touched bacteria-laden blood agar so I’d better not.”
“I’m Dan and I appreciate you not wanting to infect me with whatever that is.” Dan smiled and Phil’s heart may have fluttered a bit. “It must suck being stuck here when you were actually a part of the short film.” he empathized.
Not with you here Phil thought and mentally slapped himself for developing a crush on someone he met not even five minutes ago. He opted for saying something that wasn’t nearly as forward as his thoughts, “Hey maybe if we finish early, we can go together and catch the last hour or so of the party?”
“Yeah, that’d be great, I’d love to.”