Work Text:
Connor thought going to the library to study for his test was a great idea. He had been picturing a quiet room with nothing but bookshelves, filled with a million different stories, surrounding him and nothing else. He even brought soft fruits; bananas, strawberries and watermelon cut into pieces so he would be as quiet as possible.
All the smaller tables were taken, as well as the big, comfortable armchairs by the big windows so he had to sit by the one of the bigger table along with ten other people. They all seemed to be a loner like him; everyone sat quietly reading in their books or writing in their notebooks so Connor figured this would work just fine.
He sits down next to a girl he thinks is in his Spanish class. In all fairness, it’s the second week of the semester. He has not gotten to know everyone yet. They share a friendly smile between each other when he sits down before she goes back to reading.
Connor brings out his plastic box with fruit and the water bottle right away, figures he’ll make all the annoying noise all at once. In the back of his head, he can feel his siblings rolling their eyes at him if they knew.
Around ten minutes or so goes by, before he gets distracted and aims his attention somewhere that is not a long, boring text about the Second World War. A boy sits down across the table from him. He takes a look around, but everything looks the same as it did when he arrived so Connor dives into the book again, highlights a few sentences and writes down some dates on his mind map that he knows he needs to remember.
It’s going well, the studying. Connor decides to always go to the library when he needs to study properly. Not just reading a few pages here and there, like he usually does.
This year, he is going to really try to get good grades. The disappointing looks on his parents’ faces when they saw his grades from last semester were not something he would like to see again. Besides, he’s never going to be able to go to a good college with those. And he needs to go to college. If only to get out of this town.
The boy across from him, again, catches his attention, when he opens a bag of chips. He’ll be quiet though, Connor thinks and looks down at his papers. He’s writing down some bullet points. Trying to keep it short, he can’t give long answers on the test or he won’t be able to finish it in time. He’s learned that from earlier semesters. Connor tends to write too much and run out of time. This year he is learning from his mistakes.
As the boy across from him, the boy in a grey beanie and a pink sweater, starts to eat from his chips bag, Connor learns from his first mistake. Sit alone at the library. Get there earlier, before all the good spots are taken.
Not everyone is as considerate to the ones around them, unfortunately. He chews and chews and picks up chip after chip.
He didn’t want to use headphones and listen to music, as he knew he would be distracted by it, but the beanie boy is a loud chip-eater and leaves Connor with no choice.
The chair scraps against the floor and makes an unpleasant sound as the boy gets up; Connor follows him with a frown over his face until he’s rounding a shelf further down. Connor carefully picks up his backpack, since he doesn’t want to bother the others at the table anymore than Beanie Boy has already. Unlike some people, Connor thinks. Beanie Boy can’t see him but he raises an eyebrow either way. After digging through his backpack three times, he has to realise he forgot the headphones at home. The one time he actually needs them. Beanie Boy has been gone a while now, his books and the half eaten bag of chips are still on the table in front of Connor, but perhaps he left anyway?
He decides to leave Beanie Boy out of his thoughts and go back to what he is here to do, which is study. He goes back to the Second World War, scribbles down quick notes every now and then, and gets his flow going again. The only times he gets distracted is someone leaving the table, a quick glance at them walking away is all they get from him before he buries himself in the book again.
Time flies by, he fills out his mind map until there’s barely any room left on the paper and he’s read most of what he needed in the books. Connor’s going to ace this test.
Looking up, he realises Beanie Boy is back. This time his arrival was quiet.
He’s got big lips, a tiny nose, Connor notices. A nose ring too. It’s quite cute. Big curls pop out from under the beanie. His eyes are wide and blinking, a shining blue shade. Beanie Boy is a lot cuter now than when he was chewing chips too loud.
A thought that sort of disappears when he picks up the bag again. Connor decides study time is over. He has time to study more some other day, some other time when the library isn’t this crowded. He collects his things, takes a deep breath for every crunch he hears coming from across the table. The rustling as he digs his hand to the bottom of the bag… Connor bites his tongue from speaking up. It’s none of his business. It’s a free country; he can do whatever he wants. Even in a library. It’s kind of disrespectful, but it’s not illegal.
“Maybe next time, choose a quiet snack instead.” Connor pushes his chair in, quietly to emphasise what he means. He stares at Beanie Boy, who looks up, confusion in his eyes. Connor walks away as his lips began to part, not ready to hear whatever mocking comment he wanted to throw back.
He straightens his back as he keeps walking out of the library.
* * *
Back at the library, the next day, it’s not as crowded. Connor makes a mental note to go early in the morning from now on. It’s a Friday and most classes don’t start until later for a lot of students. As they sleep in, Connor gets shit done.
He sits down in one of the big armchairs by the window, he puts up his books and notebooks on the small table beside him but leave the box of fruit in his backpack. He is so far away from the other few students that are so alert in the morning that they spend their sleep-ins studying. That is the kind of student Connor needs to be if he wants to get into college somewhere that isn’t close to Minnesota, and if he wants those grades his parents are going to cheer about. The grades his sister had, pretty much.
Instead of diving into the fascinating history of the Second World War, Connor decides to start his English paper instead. After handwriting a page and a half and glancing over to the three computers – all occupied – he makes a mental note to bring his laptop with him next time. His hand is slightly cramping. Those few people that can actually write with both hands are so lucky. Maybe he should practice writing with his left hand…
“No snack this time, I promise.” A voice says to him. Connor looks up and meets eye with non other than Beanie Boy, except he’s not wearing a beanie today but a cap.
So, Cap Boy sits down in the armchair next to Connor’s. Of all the armchairs, and regular chairs.
“Oh- okay, good.” Connor swallows, because Cap Boy’s cheekbones are ‘poppin’ (as his friend Tyler delightedly would point out if he was here now) and Connor has subconsciously devoted his attention to them, even when Cap Boy stops looking at him, he can’t stop staring. He watches how he plugs in his earphones and picks up a book from his backpack. He can’t see the cover clearly, and decides to drop his curiousness. This paper won’t write itself, unfortunately.
They go back and forth of sneaking glances of each other, looking away whenever the other is looking up. That kind of thing. Connor has stopped focusing on studying a while ago; he’s read the same sentence about ten times by now.
“Can I bother you with something else?”
“Huh?”
“Can I bother you with something else,” he says, slower than the first time. “20 Questions?”
Connor nods and puts down his pen, places the notebook on the table. He turns to face Cap Boy. It’s not a date, but he has a curious look in his eyes and a friendly smile so Connor figures, why not get to know him. “Sure, go ahead.”
“What’s your name?”
“Connor. What’s yours?”
“Troye.” There’s a pause before he speaks again. “Gay?”
Connor is a bit startled, “That was forward, but yes. Me blushing whenever you looked at me didn’t give it away?”
Troye laughs, he smiles with teeth and pulls up his legs, “Just wanted to make sure. I am too, by the way so don’t waste a question on that.”
“Noted."
Instead, he asks Cap Boy – right, Troye – about hobbies and his friends, about college and life in general. He asks about his favourite movie, favourite music, and least favourite class he’s taking. Troye happily shares and asks Connor about his fashion style, what he dreams of, his childhood.
They have a lot of things in common. Favourite muffin is blueberry, favourite ice cream is rainbow. Troye tells him that when he was little, he thought that particular ice cream flavour made people gay, because his brother had said so and big brothers are always right, aren’t they?
Connor laughs whole-heartedly when Troye tells him about how he didn’t eat his favourite ice cream for so many years before he understood. They both agree that it’s rude to teach kids to believe things that aren’t true.
“What’s a thing you believed as a kid that isn’t true?” Troye asks him, excitedly waiting to hear the ridiculous answer.
Connor hasn’t actually told anyone this, not because it is that embarrassing, it’s just dumb. “I thought the moon and the sun was the same thing, it just lost its shine during the night or something.” He shrugs, “I never really figured it out, actually.”
“Oh wow, that’s cute.”
It was when he saw the moon and the sun at the same time, he realised he may be wrong about some things.
There’s not much time left, Connor’s alarm goes off, which means his first class of the day is about to begin. They both have other places to be, unfortunately. If it were up to Connor, he’d gladly spend another hour or five in this chair with Troye.
“Sorry I distracted you from studying, again,” Troye says sincerely, but doesn’t look that sincere with a grin pasted on his face.
Connor did get some work done, so he doesn’t mind too much. Not this time, anyway. “It was a nicer distraction this time.”
Troye’s face lights up, he breaks into a wide smile, “Can’t wait to do it again.”
He just laughs as a response, not sure what to say and collects his things instead. They walk out of the library together and part ways once inside one of the school buildings. Troye leans in and gives him a quick hug with his free arm; it goes by so fast that Connor only understands what is happening once it’s over.
“Uh, bye Troye,” Troye waves a hand in the air but doesn’t look back.
It’s only then that Connor realises this might be a long weekend.
* * *
At a nightclub on Saturday evening, he sees Troye across the dance floor. They nod, raises an eyebrow at each other and from there, it turns into an endless night of dancing around each other. Troye isn’t wearing any headwear this time. He’s no longer beanie boy or cap boy, just Troye. That’s the one Connor prefers.
Troye loves music. Connor loves it too, but not the same way. He doesn’t get lost in it the same way. Doesn’t throw his hands up like Troye does, rolls his body and sways his hips. It’s stunning to say the least. Connor bites his lip, head spinning slightly from the drinks he’s been downing throughout the night. For most of the songs, Connor stands by and watches Troye, holds his hands lightly between his fingers, the other hand loosely placed on his hip.
Troye fits into this environment more than Connor does, he blends in with the strobe lights and the music so loud they can all feel it in their chests. It’s as if he belongs here.
“Hey Troye,” Connor says loudly, close to his ear. He rests his arms on Troye’s shoulders, folds them behind his head. A few seconds go by before he catches Troye’s attention fully, striking blue eyes staring into his, lips turning into a sweet, capturing smile Connor cannot resist anymore.
There are a lot of things Connor enjoys to waste his time on. Like hiking with his family, he has numerous photo albums worth of memories from all their trips up different mountains. Connor enjoys nature in general. His family spends most holidays as close as nature as they can get. He likes to go swimming, to lose his thoughts completely and just focusing on going faster and faster, paddling like his life depends on it.
And he likes being with people, in all kinds of ways. He likes hugging and cuddling and kissing. And kissing Troye is great, it’s awesome. His lips are soft and nice; his hands are creating goose bumps on Connor as they stroke his skin, under the t-shirt, around his waist. It’s a good thing they’re in a dark room, although it would be even better if they were in an empty room. Everything in Connor’s head is spinning, or maybe they are actually spinning. He doesn’t dare open his eyes just yet. Troye holds him close, breaths in deep when Connor’s fingers dig into his curly, brown hair.
“Let’s go somewhere else,” Troye says against Connor’s mouth, after another minute of kissing him.
They go somewhere else – Connor’s empty house for the weekend...