Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The fact that Cipher even GOT into an Ivy League college was a miracle, let alone her graduating high school at all. She assumed she’d drop out after failing Senior year, and then she’d just rot the rest of her life, but SOMEHOW she pulled through and thanks to her family having a legacy.. Thing.. Here, she’s in. Very, VERY strange considering she’s surrounded by rich people, smart people, and creative people. To be fair she can be creative if she tried hard enough, but Cipher generally operates under work smarter not harder so… But that’s contradictory. She’s not that smart. Usually. Sometimes she has to use her brain and its capabilities occasionally surprise her.

Anyways- Case in point for how out of place she was, this girl who she shared a LOT of classes with. Like, a concerning amount. Maybe they were majoring in the same thing..? But here’s the issue: Cipher is majoring in COMMUNICATIONS. For the exact reason, you think too. (Because work smarter not harder). There was no way this GENUINELY smart girl was sharing classes with her. This not only confused Cipher but also made her slightly concerned if this girl was wasting her smarts on objectively the easiest thing you could major in.

Eventually, some dorm changes happened and Cipher SOMEHOW ended up dorming with her. She was quiet and usually was by herself. Cipher somehow hadn’t even gotten her name up until this point, but I mean like what’s the hurt in striking up a conversation with her while she’s here?

Issue: She’s rarely. Here. The most Cipher’s gotten were a few good mornings and welcome backs if she stayed up late. So Cipher had to take initiative here and get the strength to track her down and have a real, actual conversation with her instead of just practicing in the shower because besides the girl being smart, probably rich, and set for life she was also GORGEOUS like genuinely-

Cipher was snapped out of her daydreaming, or probably just dreaming, by a small tap on her shoulder. Slowly she took her head out from her arms, and groaned, glancing to the direction of the tap. Considering how easy her major was, she usually just slept through a period or two. This was one of said periods.

Oh. It’s the pretty purple girl. Cipher immediately straightened herself the best she could and stretched a bit. Hell yeah. This has got to be attractive. “Yeah?” She smiled the best groggy smile she could muster after being awoken from a nap.

The girl stared, a mixture of concerned and confused. “We’re.. Together for the project?” She gestured to the board, which showed instructions and groups. All the other groups already started talking a while ago while these two were just staring at each other awkwardly. Cipher squinted at the board, trying to get her name. Unfortunately, she sat in the back so she couldn’t really.. Read the board. Maybe she needs glasses. Cipher just turned back to the girl. “Oh, I’m Castorice. Nice to meet you..?”

Huh. Weird how that sounded like a question. “Oh..” Cipher was still half asleep. After a yawn and another stretch, she smiled again. “Cipher! We uh.. Kiiiiiinda already met considering the whole roommates thing and also the fact we share a lot of classes. I just.. Y’know. Haven’t talked to you yet. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize.” Castorice smiled back, taking the seat next to Cipher. Her smile faltered, as she seemed more concerned now. “Are you not getting enough sleep? Or are you ill?” She went ahead and put the back of her hand on Cipher’s forehead. What. Huh. HELLO? “Ah.. You’re not hot.. Are you not getting your daily 8 hours?”

Cipher stared at the other for a minute, processing the sudden touch. “Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh… Uhmmm.. Well not really? I stay up late so..” She blinked, staring at Castorice’s hand, and then her face, repeating it several times. “Uh so uhm. Yeah. This is my nap period.”

“Oh well that’s an issue, isn’t it?” Castorice sighed, pulling out her laptop. Holy moly that model came out just yesterday and it runs you up like $900 how the fart did this beautiful maiden manage to score it already. She glanced to Cipher, gesturing to her bag. Cipher realized what she was trying to do and quickly pulled out her Chromebook that was given by her school district way back when and was like. 10 years old. “Oh, that’s quite old. Do you not have money for a new one?”

Cipher paused what she was doing and slooooowly turned to this out-of-touch rich kid. What. “Uh.. No! I don’t, actually.” Was she intentionally trying to piss her off right now? Because if she was it was working really well. “Why? Are you going to buy me a new one or something?”

Castorice seemed confused, but after a moment, smiled and nodded. “If you’d want it, I wouldn’t mind!” Oh good lord that soft smile was DEADLY. Cipher’s knees felt weak even though she was sitting down. Castorice frowned a bit, before continuing, “Why don’t you have the money? Don’t your parents lend you some?”

“Yeah, on occasion I guess..” Cipher shrugged, “They’re pitching in to help with funds but I mean I got a job so that’s how I pay mainly.” She logged into her computer. Stupid school-mandated Chromebooks. Cipher quickly went to the classroom, skimmed the directions, and opened up a doc and slideshow. She turned her computer to Castorice so she could punch in her email.

After doing so, she looked at Cipher, again, with slight concern. “That’s too bad. My fathers usually lend me a small $4,000 every semester and I send back whatever I don’t use.” Okay. What the hell. Was this intentional? Cipher saw the concern but like. This was the most out-of-touch rich kid she’s met, that’s saying a lot when she goes to this school. Apparently, Cipher’s expression was evident of her feelings, because Castorice seemed to notice. “Is something wrong?”

Cipher looked at her with almost envy. Oh, how blissfully unaware. Oh to live in ignorance of how others perceive your words. She was making the one IShowSpeed face where he’s trying to not. Laugh. Trust me she won’t but she’s damn near close to giggling. “Ah… Well… So you see you sound.. A little.. A little tone deaf?”

“Oh!” Castorice glanced down. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re good, don’t worry.” Okay now that she wasn’t pissing Cipher off, she could admit that Castorice not getting this was in fact, hilarious. She blinked blankly at the Google Slideshow, which Castorice somehow seemed to be working as they talked. Wow. Cipher was deadweight in this group. “Ah.. Castorice, should I be doing something?”

“Oh, I’ve outlined everything in the doc you sent me.” Cipher switched tabs. Lo and behold, Castorice also had a complete outline. How. How did she manage to do all this. Cipher slowly turned to her groupmate who was typing something else. Castorice turned to her and just.. Smiled. “It’d be appreciated if you used the time you stayed up to work on this. I still have to attend my evening classes..”

“You have evening classes!?” Cipher gasped dramatically. “Oh my gosh, I feel so bad… Lord knows I’d be fast, FAST asleep during most of them.” Cipher winced thinking of the CONCEPT of staying up late to STUDY and/or LEARN. EUGH.

“Yes, well I do need my Thanatology degree and my morning classes are the mandatory ones and the few I need for my art minor..” Castorice trailed off, typing almost frantically. “Cipher, could you check if I’ve cited the sources in the document? All research and quotes are linked but I don’t know if I’ve cited them.”

“Oh, sure, yeah.” Cipher was already on the doc page. “Uhhhh… Don’t think so. I can do that and add a slide for sources.” She looked at Castorice, very proud and excited that she was actually doing something. After a few seconds, she glanced at Cipher and nodded. COMMON W!!!

—

Cipher yawned, flopping down on her bed. After a minute of laying there, she got out her Chromebook, cracked her knuckles, and opened up the slideshow. Right. Castorice wanted her to do this, so she had to. Also because she’d rather participate in the presentation this time around. And also make Castorice like her. That too.

Chapter Text

MYDEIMOS 🤣

Cipher

MYDEI

MYDEI I HAVE A CHANCE

MYDEIMOS 🤣

????

With who?

Cipher

CASTORICE

MYDEIMOS 🤣

Sure.

Well it’s not going to matter.

She’s going out with me.

Cipher

.

what

MYDEIMOS 🤣

What’s there to be confused about?

You’ve been saying I’m not straight for a while now.

So. I’m proving you wrong.

Cipher

???

brother 

so we’re lying now

hi im not cipher i love men

MYDEIMOS 🤣

IM NOT LYING??

im literally proving my straightness

Cipher

im asking her out first

MYDEIMOS 🤣

We’ll see about that.

She’s going to say no.

Cipher

Sure.

–

Cipher physically winced at the messages. Hopefully the proper grammar in her last message showed her disdain. Last night she did successfully complete the slideshow and even made it look all pretty via copying some other guy's design. When Castorice came back to the dorm she even showed it to her excitedly. She seemed VERY pleased and said it looked great. And even after she reviewed everything she liked it. LETS GO. Cipher has a very real chance of getting a smart rich girlfriend and live her life without worries because her beautiful wife can do everything and. Okay that sounds. Wrong. IT’S NOT LIKE THAT OKAY. CIPHER GENUINELY LIKES HER IT’S JUST THAT THERE ARE BENEFITS TO LIKING HER TOO.

Man. And now this stupid closeted gay TWAT was attempting to get in the way of her peak yuri. What the hell. To be fair Mydei was also rich like Castorice, whether he was as smart as her is a different question… But the point still stands that Mydei is HORRIBLY in denial and Cipher wouldn’t stand to see him try and prove ANYTHING at all. So early in the morning while preparing her daily sandwich, the second Castorice emerged from her room, she pounced at the opportunity. 

“Castorice!” She grinned at her. Cipher glanced at the plated sandwich, and then at her. “You want some? I could make you another one if you’d want.. If I still have bread that is.” Cipher was already inside of the bread drawer squinting at the bag of bread when Castorice responded.

“Ah.. I don’t think I could eat that much right now…” She yawned, rubbing her forehead. “If I could have maybe… A slice of yours that’d be enough for me.” Before Cipher could really respond she helped herself to Cipher’s other slice.  

“Oh yeah, sure!” Cipher looked up from the bread drawer, seeing Castorice eating the sandwich, furrowing her brows a bit. Cipher blinked. “It’s just like.. Fruit jam.”

“It’s.. really sugary.” Castorice commented, chewing a bit more. “You… You eat two slices of this in the morning?”

Cipher chuckled. “Yup! Gets me going. You already know I nap, I need that and like a donut before I have enough energy to do anything.”

“No coffee?”

“Doesn’t really work on me.” Cipher shrugged, finally eating her slice. “Gets me kinda sleepy, actually.”

“Ah.. High metabolism…” Castorice sat down on the singular beanie they had. “I only really drink black coffee so…” Another yawn. She blinked a bit. “Sorry. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Bummer..” Cipher gave her a small pat. Okay. Here we go. Here we go. “Oh yeah! Would you be.. Errr opposed to going out with me tonight?” Okay too direct. “N-Not like that! Just like uh.. Maybe dinner or something…” Yeah as if she has the money. “But like I don’t have cash right now so…”

Castorice was processing it for a second. Then she smiled but it seemed.. Apologetic. “Oh I’m sorry but-” Oh no. “-I’m actually going out with Mydeimos-” OH GOD NO. “-tonight. He seemed really insistent on it so I thought I might as well go.”

Cipher didn’t respond. Mentally she just fell to her knees in a Wallmart but physically she was just standing there. “Aaaalright! Okay! Sure! Have fun~” Cipher plastered on the best smile she could while cursing Mydei out in her head. Did he TEXT her IN THE NIGHT just to GO OUT WITH HER to prove to NO ONE that he was STRAIGHT.

It’s fine. She’d get back at him whenever he’d see her again. And by that: she meant the singular math period they shared. The second she sat down she sloooooowly turned to Mydeimos, trying her damnest not to strangle him. Mydei, on the contrary, seemed to notice and also seemed to be trying his hardest not to start smiling.

“Mydeimos.”

“Cipher. Also don’t use my full name like that.” He turned to her, “Especially not at the volume you’re at right now.”

Strangulation at 7:00. Got it. “When did you text Castorice.”

Mydei shrugged, “..Like 11.”

“PM.” Make that 6:00. Cipher couldn’t fathom this level of stupidity and stubbornness. Though considering it was Mydei, she shouldn’t be all that surprised.

“She takes night classes.” 

“Brother those end at 9 she was trying to sleep.” Cipher hissed and leaned towards him. “Fuck you think you are pal. You should be glad she dropped everything to respond to that. Shouldn’t have wasted time on you in the first place, but that’s another issue.”

“Dude. Fuck you hissing for? You are NOT a cat buddy.” Mydei shoved her away. “What are you. A furry?”

“I did not hiss.”

“Did too.”

“She will NEVER love you.”

“Whatever makes you feel better about the fact you couldn’t even talk to her until..” Mydei paused, “What, yesterday? Dude, you’re such a loser”

“I’m going to KILL you.”

“I’m sure.”

Aaand that’s the professor walking in. Time to shut up.

–

Castorice hated this mandatory oil pastel unit. Maybe she shouldn’t have minored in art, but that was a different topic. Next to her, was one of her classmates. White hair, blue eyes. He was doing the assignment pretty efficiently. It couldn’t hurt to ask for assistance…

“Excuse me…” She got his attention pretty quickly. “Sorry, I’m having trouble using the pastels…”

He smiled at her. He seemed friendly! He eyed the pastel, frowning a bit. “Why’s that?”

“They just..” Castorice frowned, holding up one pastel. “They don’t feel right in my hands..” 

“Oh!” He picked up one of his own pastels. “You’re holding it funny! See, you hold it like this!”

Castorice looked at the way her classmate was holding the pastel and the way she was. He wasn’t wrong. “Oh..”

“Have you used pastels?” He smiled, “I could help you out a bit.”

And that’s how Castorice and Phainon met. Now the two of them were working on that same oil pastel project, but Phainon seemed.. Physically drained. Maybe mentally. He didn’t look happy in the slightest, and Castorice couldn’t figure out why.

“Phainon.” His reaction time was a bit slower. He must be suffering big time. “Are you.. Okay?” Castorice winced. He seemed tired.

Phainon let out an uncharacteristic groan. “No.. Not at all…” His hand slipped, leading to a stroke going across his painting.

“...Phainon was that stroke you just did.. Intentional?”

“Huh?” He blinked, then stared in shock. “Shoot! No it was not.” Phainon quickly went over it in hopes to correct it. It didn’t work very well. “Thanks.” He followed it up with another uncharacteristic long sigh. “See there’s this guy I’ve known him since I was like 4 and I’ve had a crush on him for a while and-.” Phainon paused and  “And like.. He’s going out tonight and I kind of maybe wanted to go out with him tonight so…”

“Is it Mydeimos?” Castorice knew the answer. “I’m the one he’s going out with.”

Now they were just staring at each other. Maybe she shouldn’t have said that. “I can.. Tell you where we’re eating? If that’s any consolation.”

Phainon nodded, but he looked like a sopping wet dog. Castorice gave him the name of the restaurant and that was that.

..Until later that day.

She had JUST got back to the dorms. She had an hour before the date and was trying her hardest to get ready in time. Practically the moment she sat down, her door was opened by Cipher. Not uncommon, not unwelcome. Castorice actually thought if Cipher was here it may help her focus.

“Hey~! Welcome back!!” She grinned at Castorice, as she usually did. Castorice smiled back, still trying to figure out if she should put on eyeshadow or not. “Uh so..” Cipher sat on her bed, “Is it maybe possible to get the name of the restaurant Mydei asked you out to?”

“Oh.” Castorice decided against eyeshadow. “Sure.”

Again, that was supposed to be the end of it. She assumed it would be, atleast.

–

Cipher groaned. ENTRANCE fee. Oh HELL no!!! If she was crashing this date she was going to do it while spending 0 buckeronies because she does NOT have that type of money on her. You know what she does have though? An absurd amount of experience in rock climbing and picking rocks. So she figured going from the back unlocking a window and getting in was her best bet.

Illegal? Yeah. Does she care? Not that much.

God damn it. Wall’s pretty smooth. Guys did their research. Doesn’t matter, Cipher’s just built different. After squatting by the window like a weirdo and budging the window a bit, she was in. Phewie. Finally, she was in, and she can crash this date-

Oh. Directly behind Those Two was Phainon, sadly eating pasta. It looked pathetic, like REALLY pathetic. Cipher put a hand on her chin and comically tapped it for a few seconds, sat down with Phainon. She was like 80% sure Mydei was watching her.

“Hey man…” Cipher was like semi-conscious of how weird she looked. Phainon looked up to meet her eyes and then frowned and continued to eat his pasta and.. Sniffle? “Woah, woah man! Okay listen it’s not that serious your pasta’s going to be salty…” Cipher reached over to awkwardly pat him. “There there.”

He sniffled, and was probably holding back a sob. “It is t..hat se..rious…” Phainon just kept eating his pasty, probably oversalted at this point. It was like he was on autopilot.

Cipher then heard the dreaded “Excuse me” coming from the other table, in a voice that was unfortunately Very Recognizable. Mydei came over and after shooting a glare to Cipher went to Phainon, giving him a small pat. “Hey, what’re you doing here? What’s wrong man are you good?”

“Sniff.” Phainon leaned into the pat. At this point Cipher was staring at them very homophobically. “Not..hing.”

“No something is clearly wrong.” Mydei pushed. Not literally, he isn’t that shameless, but he cared way more about Phainon than the girl he was on a date with.. Suspicious. Or maybe Cipher’s just being biased, either or.

“Hey Mydeimos.” Cipher poked him, “Hey man you kind of missed your shot, yeah? Not very smart to be here while your date is all alone eating her mozzarella stick.”

“Yeah, can you go sit with her?” Mydei’s response was immediate.

“Nah.”

“Why not?”

Oh shoot. Cipher didn’t actually have a good reason. “Uhm. Well. Uhhh.. So you see. Well. I mean. Like. Listen to me I uh.” Mydei was frowning at her. And then, the worst possible explanation popped into Cipher’s head.

Sure she was lesbian, but it wasn’t like the world knew that. At the very most sapphic. Phainon was bi. Therefore it wouldn’t be too far fetched to say.. “Phainon’s my date, actually.”

That actually made Phainon look up and stop eating, very, VERY confused. Cipher just mouthed, ‘Trust me on this’ and then looked at Mydei who was balling up his fist like he was going to punch her. If he did end up punching Cipher, she’d probably die. And that too in front of Castorice! Oh dear lord how terrible that would be!!

Mydei was frowning. Very much frowning. “Is. Is that so.”

“Yup and as soon as we’re done with that pasta we are outa here.” Cipher shot him a :3 Phainon was just confused. “So.. How abouts you go back to your date?”

“I-” Mydei looked like he wanted to retort, but just groaned, going back. Castorice didn’t really seem to mind his absence.

“Phew.” Cipher turned to Phainon. “We can get icecream after.”

Phainon slowly nodded, and started to actually eat his pasta. Another calamity stopped by the hands of Cipher!

–

“You’re back.” Castorice commented as Mydei sat back down. She didn’t know where he went, too busy with these amazing mozzarella sticks but still. “How was your. Bathroom break?”

“...Okay?”

They awkwardly stared at eachother for a second, before Castorice sighed. “I don’t think.. I like guys.”

“Oh.” Mydei stared harder. “Sorry?”

“It’s alright Mydei. I’m sure you’ll find someone who likes you.” She smiled at him. “Perhaps that person is closer than you think?”

“Cryptic.” Mydei muttered. He glanced away. “I.. I can pay if you want to leave.”

“It’s fine.” Castorice chewed on her last stick before continuing. “We can split.”

Mydei seemed okay with it, so that was that. Castorice really didn’t want to push him for more, considering how… Sad he looked. Not sad. Maybe worried. Castorice couldn’t tell, but it wasn’t like she could just ask, could she?

Hm. Maybe she’ll ask Aglaea about what to do later.