Chapter Text
With a loud thump, Jayce’s books hit the table as he sat down, his bag following shortly after on the floor. Viktor looked over at Jayce, a slight disgust in his eyes. Once again, the teacher has placed the disruptive student next to him. It was just plain exhausting at this point, did Mrs. Kiramman not realize that he sat alone for a reason? Viktor glanced at Jayce’s classwork, nothing but doodles and random equations that were definitely not related to the assignment. He smirked and looked away, at least the other kids that were sat next to him had something written down, this kid had nothing.
Jayce glanced over at the kid he was sat next to. A quick glance at his paper told Jayce his name. His handwriting wasn’t the most legible, but Jayce could work out his name, Viktor, and upon further inspection, found that Viktor is rather smart. They got the classwork just 20 minutes ago at the start of class, and this guy was already finished with all 3 pages of it. Jayce looked down at his own papers, nothing but doodles and experimental equations for the science project due at the end of the quarter. Jayce cast a pleading glance over at his old seat next to Vi, now taken by Caitlyn. Vi loosely smiled back before reverting her full attention to Caitlyn, flirting more than likely.
Viktor sighed, tapping his pencil on the desk a few times before looking over to address Jayce, “So.. Do you want to just look at mine? I do not have the patience to teach you the content right now.”
Jayce was slightly taken aback, he stammered, “Oh, uh, I- no. No. I can do it.”
“Hm,” Viktor hummed, “Suit yourself.”
Jayce watched as he pulled a notebook from his bag before he began to furiously scribble in it, clearly focused. Taking a deep breath, Jayce looked down at his own papers again, grabbing a pencil from his pencil pouch. The math problems weren’t that hard really, Jayce knew exactly how to do it, Vi was just so distracting sometimes. Jayce finished his first 2 sheets, having only 1 left when the bell rang for class change. Hastily, Jayce packed his bag, cramming the paper he had left inside and turning in the completed papers to the bin. Viktor stayed behind, packing his bag a little slower.
Jayce practically darted down the hallway, rushing to his science class. Jayce also shared this class with Vi, and he was excited to finally sit next to her again. Vi waved him over, smirking as she leaned against the lockers, “You will not guess what just happened, Jayce.” she said smugly. A smile formed on his face as he walked over, only to quickly go away when he saw Mrs. Kiramman walk up to the science teacher, Dr. Heimerdinger. They exchanged some hushed conversation, but it was obvious they were talking about him. Dr. Heimerdinger flashed Jayce a knowing glance, smiling. As his math teacher walked back to her classroom, Jayce couldn’t help but feel a sinking worry in his chest.
“Dude, what’s wrong? You’re totally zoned out.” Vi put a hand on his shoulder, “I was trying to tell you about Cait, she was just so cute.”
Jayce put on a smile again, “Oh, you just can’t help but flirt with her can you? In front of her mom too?”
Vi smiled, “Hey, she was the one that put Cait next to me, maybe Mrs. Kiramman should have thought about that.”
They both laughed, Jayce was glad to be with Vi again, he had excellent ideas for the science project he wanted to share, and they got to choose partners today. The door to their classroom opened, and Jayce beelined to his normal seat, next to Vi. The class chattered away, all of them were excited about the science project, and they couldn’t wait to choose partners.
Heimerdinger walked in, climbing up the mini stool next to his desk so that he could stand atop it, “Alright, class. Class! Today is the day that you find your partners for the science project. Now, before we get too excited, I must tell you I have decided how partners work, instead of choosing your partners, I will instead pair you myself! Isn’t that exciting?”
The entire class groaned, some kids more dismayed than others, as Heimerdinger began grouping kids together in pairs. Despite Heimerdinger’s appeal for assigning partners to be pairing people who don’t normally work together, most people actually got grouped with someone they really liked. Jayce, however, only felt a pang of sadness as Heimerdinger pointed towards him.
“Jayce Talis! You will work with Viktor.”
Viktor was completely shocked, “But- but Doctor! You promised I could work alone for this, why am I paired with him? Why can’t you pair him with Vi?”
Heimerdinger chuckled, “Well, Viktor, my dear boy, that is because I am going to pair Vi with Claggor. Now, that should be all of the pairings, so get to work everyone! Sit next to your new partners.” He clapped twice, “Chop chop!”
Jayce grabbed his bag and once again moved to sit next to Viktor, who looked absolutely pissed. He sat his bag down and pulled out the chair.
Viktor huffed, “Don’t get in my way. This project is supposed to win me a prize at another competition. I’ll let you help me but once you mess up I won’t let you anymore.”
Shocked, Jayce just nodded, “Well, ok, but if we are both working on it doesn’t that mean I get to win a prize at the other competition too? That only seems fair. What are you working on? Let me see.” Jayce reached out for Viktor’s notebook, who quickly closed it and out it outside his reach.
Viktor laughed, “You? Enter the Young Geniuses Competition? Please. You have to be a model student to attend, all A’s.”
“But I do have all A’s!” Jayce huffed.
“Wait, what?”
The two stared at each other for a moment, silence falling as Viktor studied Jayce, now seemingly intrigued.
Viktor smiled, almost slyly, “You, Jayce Talis, Chief of Mischief, have all A’s? How do you even have the time, you do none of your work during class. In fact today was the first time I even saw you work when you were supposed to.”
Jayce shrugged, “I just do it at home, it’s not that hard.”
Viktor stared a moment more at Jayce, and sighed.
“Fine. But you better not mess this up.” Viktor opened his notebook and placed it on the table, showing him his ideas for the project.