Chapter Text
'Drop a heart, and break a name-'
“Hey, can I sit here?”
'We’re always sleeping in and sleeping for the wrong team-' Reaper stopped his music.
“Yeah, for sure, man.”
“Thanks.” The stranger smiled, and their smile is crooked to one side, the same side the glitch over their eye is covering.
The classroom was mostly quiet (thank the stars for that), save for the gentle background hum of people moving through the hallways outside the door. As the noise died down though, the teacher stood and waited for the bell to ring.
Ding, ding!
“Well, let’s get started then! Welcome to AP/IB European history, I’m Dr. Aal. I know everyone hates get-to-know-you games, so I’ll make things quick. Turn to the person next to you, introduce yourself, then we’ll start going over assignment expectations and exam dates. Capiche?”
“Yes, Dr.” echoed through the class as people turned towards those around them and began to introduce themselves.
“Uh, hi. I’m Geno. I’m a junior. Oh, and my pronouns are he/him.”
“I’m Reaper, I’m a junior too. And my pronouns are he/him too…I think.”
“You think?”
“Uh, I just figured out people have different pronouns like 2 months ago, I don’t-”
“Pff, I’m givin’ ya’ a hard a time. It’s valid as hell if you’re still figurin’ it out.”
Oh, he’s just being friendly, Reaper thought. He was worried for a second there.
"Okay, wrap it up everyone, it's time to talk about your graded assignments."
Surprisingly, the professor's spiel on the syllabus only lasted the first half of the hour, leaving a little time for Geno to ask leading questions a few things about Reaper.
"So...what other classes you got?"
"Well, my first hour is IB English-"
Immediately, Geno cut him off. "Are you doing the IB program or something? Cause it sucks here."
"Lemme finish!" He didn't mean for it to come out that loud, but Geno seemed to take it lightly.
"Okay, sorry, sorry. After this hour?" Reaper got a little flustered at the tone of his voice and his mild laughter.
"Concert orchestra, independent study studio arts, and then I'm a TA for my English teacher."
Geno lit up for a second and said, "My brother is in orchestra and they're a junior too! You might know them?"
"What's your last name again?"
"CQ."
Recognizing the name, Reaper replied, "Oh, you're Error's older brother, right? We have a mutual friend since we've all taken English classes together."
"They do love books. Like I can say anything, I'm a physics student." That lent itself to another small laugh from Geno.
"Really? Wow, you have like...a real science job ahead of you and everything. I just um, read a lot and study pharmaceuticals."
"Sweet, I love drugs-"
This time it was Reaper's turn doing the cutting off. "Do you want to get sent to a counselor??"
"Nah, they know me well enough as it is. So many damn attendance issues from doctor's appointments, they're sick of my ass over there."
Huh, that's interesting. Why so often? Not that it's any of my business. Reaper immediately felt bad, thinking disrespectful thoughts and all. The voice of his mother telling him that disrespect is a sin echoed in his head, but the ringing of the end-of-period bell pushed it out.
"See you tomorrow, Reaper."
"Oh, yeah, uh bye."
How eloquent.