Chapter Text
Silver wasn’t sure what he was doing here. Here, being sitting in the passenger seat of a Rhyperior 0464 sedan, Ethan blasting music and singing along to a playlist full of radio-esque songs he’s heard too many times, the dark highway in front of them full of the backlights of countless cars. This guy was loud, sociable and a little too late with his blinkers, and he thought he’d hate this for almost two years straight. Turns out he didn’t. Who would have thought. He has his eyes torn from the reflection of Ethan against the dark windshield by the phone sitting in the center console.
“Mind checking that for me? I’m not stupid enough to text and drive.” Ethan asks, turning down the music for a moment. And Silver can agree with that- Ethan graduated with honors, despite first impressions implicating otherwise.
“Your mom is wondering where you were.” Silver puts it gently after squinting at the bright screen in the dark car.
Ethan grins at that, eyes straight ahead. “She’s cussing me out, ain’t she?”
“I dare not repeat.” Silver says, with sarcastic fear.
‘Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat…’ the radio blares, as they take the exit off the twenty-four highway towards the (legally speaking, small) town the two had grown up in, and passing the church, the worn walls dotting the suburbs, and strip malls far past their prime. (who would want to go to mall after the game store was replaced with a boutique?)
By the time they finally get to his apartment, Silver’s hair was a mess from the summer-warmed wind through the open window, and Ethan’s phone had buzzed a few more time.
“See you, Sil!” His ‘acquaintance’ chirps through the open window, palm trees of the housing complex behind them lit up with shallow night-time landscape lighting.
“Not my name.” Silver dryly replies.
“It is now.”
Ethan’s hand waving out the window and the glint of the streetlights off his watch is all he can see in the dark as he drives off, leaving Silver standing in front of his block.
How did this even happen? College was supposed to be the time he got his shit together- showed his parents what he could do. He’d get the degree and get out. He’d make honors too. And he’d do it all on his own.
He’s pretty sure the two of them couldn’t have gotten off on a wronger foot- snapping at a freshman Ethan with “What are you looking at?” when the two met eyes in the doorway of a study room in their university’s library.
“A new study buddy, maybe?”
He promptly stood up and slammed the door in his face, leaving the slightly shorter teenager blinking at the frosted glass window and a “reservations can be made online at GU-reservesystem.edu!” sign swinging just below it. After that, he was sure Ethan had made it a point to tick him off as revenge.
“What’d you get from Elm on the midterm?” He asked with a smile over one morning of their next semester of lab work- of course they’d gotten partnered up together in their biology practicum course together. Silver was already in disbelief that they ended up in the same section, but Ethan’s friend was absent the first day of class, and… well…
“There’s no challenge in anything he gives us.” Silver had lied. The test was rough, but he was certain Ethan was just trying to rub it in. The late afternoon rain pattered against the heavy laboratory walls outside.
“Wha…” Ethan turned to him in shock, once again pushing up the sleeve of his labcoat that was a size too big under too-bright lights. “It was really, really hard. Are you a genius or something?”
“I’m not. Why don’t you study more? Who knows. It might make you less stupid.” Silver bites back, resigning to having to re-count the amount of spores in the Jumpluff pollen sample the two had been assigned for the night.
“Jeez, man! You better pray I’m not stupid, ‘cause I’m half the grade for this class!” Ethan turns back to his own serving of work with a laugh, but Silver notices the sigh he lets out after. The semester had ended with less quips and more constructive advice once he realized that Ethan was being annoyingly genuine and not genuinely annoying.
And somehow it happened again- he had never asked Ethan’s major, but he found out after the guy had invited himself to sit next to Silver one Monday morning in their third semester- right at the very front, mind you- that both of them were studying ecology.
“What’s wrong? Not feeling well?” Ethan had asked the dumbfounded Silver after he was informed of this piece of information.
“Just realizing you’re going to be sitting next to me for the next three years.” Silver said, correctly predicting the future. The evolution studies professor walked in, so Ethan finally quieted down, but he was grinning like a fool at the idea of Silver picturing him in his future.
“Silv!”
He just wouldn’t leave him alone.
The two walked out of the lecture hall together. With students surrounding them, Ethan had pushed a piece of paper into Silver’s hands and smiled.
“Let’s study sometime. Maybe you can make me less stupid.” He said, before disappearing into the shuffling crowd of students.
It was hard. He didn’t hate him. He hated the fact he wasn’t as good as him. Hated that the kid that had ticked him off so thoroughly in their first week was so annoyingly smart, talented, kind, gifted, blessed with an Elm internship. He hated the fact that it’d probably be Ethan teaching him anything, not the other way around. Ethan had tried his best, and got the highest score on that exam. Silver had tried his best, and barely passed.
He woke up. He had dozed off on the worn apartment couch.