Chapter Text
Luke has been on his ass to go to school recently, meaning he must be getting suspicious of him. Suspicious to the point that he’s making sure Jess steps into the building before taking his eyes off of him.
So begrudgingly, he does end up going for a while.
And immediately resents it.
Though it isn’t because of the obnoxious people around him, but rather, because of one specific obnoxious person who can’t seem to stop glaring daggers at him.
Dean Forester who, by some cosmic joke, seemingly shares every class with him. How extremely convenient. He could supposedly cut him some slack. He gets it, he really does. He’s not as heartless and selfish as people seem to think. He stole the poor guy’s girl; who wouldn’t be fuming?
So really, he gets it. But there is also something endlessly amusing about getting under the other’s skin. All he has to do is give a wink in return, and he can practically see the steam coming out of his ears. It’s a small reprieve from the monotony.
But the amused smile quickly disappears when he heard the woman up front list off the pairings for some big project.
“Jess Mariano and Dean Forester.”
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
He saw the same horror reflected in Dean’s eyes, though admittedly, his was a bit more dramatic. He also watched Forester raise his hand and try to bargain his way out of it. An amicable effort, Jess admitted, but effectively useless nonetheless as the woman didn’t budge an inch and quickly shut Dean’s protests down.
He noticed Dean throwing a glance at him before quickly looking away and slumping into his chair. An upgrade from the glaring to be honest. But the issue still persisted. Jess actually even tuned in to pay attention to what was being said for once, and the project seemed like some research paper worth half their grade for the class. Great, wonderful even. There goes his plan of ditching it, no doubt Dean would be breathing down his neck about it, persistent that Jess does his part.
The bell rang and Jess couldn’t leave the school fast enough. He had almost made it too, but Dean managed to catch up to him. Damn his long legs, how does that keep anything fair?
“Oh no, you’re not running away. I’m not letting you ruin my grades.” Dean said with a clenched jaw, displeasure rolling off of him in waves.
Jess just rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Calm down princess, just trying to get to my job on time. So, if you’ll excuse me?” Jess said with a raised brow, urging Dean to back away.
Dean only huffed, as if he was the only one suffering here. “Look, I need this to work out, I know you don’t give a rat’s ass-”
“You’re correct.”
“-about this class, or school in general. Hell, you probably won’t even graduate, so I don’t know why you’re even here. But I need this to work, and you’re going to do your damn part in it.” Dean said, finger shoved into Jess’ chest.
“Don’t touch me Forester, and we’ll already have a good start.” Jess said with a glare.
He didn’t like Dean’s tone one bit, and he had only said a few sentences so far. At least Dean did back off, which he should do more often if you’d ask Jess.
“Whatever, my house. Tomorrow. Six pm. Be there.” Dean walked off before Jess could even reply.
“Oh yeah, six pm works great for me, thanks fer asking!” Jess yelled after him with every bit of distaste he could muster.
Having to ask Rory for the address to Dean’s house wasn’t something he had looked forward to, nor were the questions that came after. And then the repressed laughter. But here he finally stood, at an average looking house near the outskirts of Stars Hollow, in a neighborhood that looked like every other one in this obnoxious town. He sighed loudly, not believing he was really gonna even entertain the thought. But he’d rather not have an annoying skyscraper badgering him tomorrow on why he didn’t show up.
He eventually knocked, just to have to lower his head when the door was opened by a little blonde girl. One he recognized unfortunately.
“Clara.” He said with a strained smile. “Jess.” She replied with a faux nonchalant tone and attitude to match. Which only made Jess’ brow raise questioningly, unimpressed .
“Dean!! Jess is here!!” She yelled into the house, before going back in and leaving Jess standing at the door.
“…O-kay, guess I’ll invite myself in then.” He muttered as he slowly walked into the house, closing the door behind him before looking around for the beanpole.
“You actually came.” He eventually heard Dean’s voice say from the kitchen, mild surprise painting his face. He was dressed in shorts that reached his knees and a simple short sleeved tee. Appropriate clothing for the warmer weather they’ve been having recently.
“I aim to please.” Jess said dryly with a mock bow, to which Dean didn’t bother replying. Instead, he focused on finishing up in the kitchen. And whatever it was that he was making, it smelled unfairly good.
“It’s just some pasta.” Dean muttered, noticing the curious glance Jess threw. “What, does Luke never feed you?”
“I’m more surprised to see you of all people in the kitchen. Didn’t you want a pretty lady cookin for ya? Or maybe you should get Clara in here-” “Not a word about my sister.” Dean hissed back. “And how do you even know-” realization hit mid-sentence. “Rory told you about that?”
“Sucks, I know. I would also want to keep my misogynistic tendencies a secret.”
“I wasn’t being- You know what? I don’t need to explain myself to you.” He snapped, pointing a wooden spoon at him.”
“No no, please, I want to see how you’d try to bullshit your way out of that one.” He replied with a smug smile. And Dean seemingly took the bait.
“I didn’t mean that I want all women to act like that! I just said the idea isn’t so bad, to have a wife cooking dinner for you. God I never even said I wanted Rory to conform to that!” He bristled. “My mom always did that for dad in the past, it’s what I grew up seeing, I didn’t understand why Rory found it so negative and Rory didn’t see why I didn’t mind it. I get it now. I hadn’t mean it in some fucked up, women hating way, alright? Now get off my dick.”
“Hey, if anyone would be getting off of anyone’s dick, it’d be you.”
Dean blinked. “What does that even mean?!”
“Nothing, can we just get this over with already?” Jess said, stretching out on the couch, as if he owned the place “I’ve got places to be and things to do.” Dean just rolled his eyes at him before quickly washing his hands and drying them off with a towel.
“You finally said something worthwhile.” He muttered as he grabbed his books and put them on the coffee table in front of the couches.
“We sitting here?” Jess asked with furrowed brows but settled down anyways. “Won’t your folks complain.”
“They won’t be home tonight.” Dean replied, settling on the ground with some cushions.
“And you’re here studying instead of partying, really selling the Golden boy agenda.”
“Can you go 5 minutes without insulting me?”
“Hey, last I remember, I tried asking for a truce and it was you who refused.”
“Well, it’s me who’s agreeing now. We don’t insult each other whenever we’re working on this project. Deal?” Dean held his hand out, face determined and filled with expectation.
“I don’t know, I kinda like insulting you.”
“Jess!”
“Alright, alright, no need to make my ears bleed.”
And it went relatively well… More or less. They might’ve stopped hurling insults, but that didn’t mean they stopped arguing. They bickered about everything—the topic, the page count, even the damn font. It was exhausting and slow, and Jess couldn’t help wondering what the teacher had been thinking pairing them up.
With how fast gossip traveled in this nosy little town, you’d think she’d know better.
Time passed and at some point, hurried footsteps came tumbling down the stairs, followed by an annoying whining tone.
“Deannn, I’m hungry!”
“Shit, what time is it?” Dean scrambled off the floor and checked his watch. It was already past eight. He cursed under his breath and hurried into the kitchen, reheating the pasta before pulling out two plates. That’s when he remembered the unwanted guest still in the living room.
He glanced over his shoulder to see Jess sitting on the floor, leaning back on his hands, watching him with mild amusement.
Dean could easily call it a night and send him out into the pouring rain that had started twenty minutes ago. Or...
His eyes flicked back to the pot of pasta. There’d be leftovers anyway, and his mom would kill him if she found out he’d let a guest leave the house on an empty stomach.
He sighed, leaning on the counter, head hanging low between his shoulders as he weighed the options- before finally giving in.
“You wanna eat with us while the weather calms down? Doubt you’d wanna go out while it’s practically storming.” He tried to sound casual, maybe even hoping Jess would turn him down.
“Are my ears deceiving me? Dean Forester, offering his hospitality to lil’ ol’ me?”
Jess’s grin widened, though the surprise on his face gave him away. He hadn’t brought an umbrella, and the idea of calling Luke for a ride didn’t sound appealing either. He glanced toward the window, briefly considering making a run for it - then quickly dismissed the thought. He wasn’t exactly eager to catch a cold.
“Oh, don’t flatter yourself,” Dean said, rolling his eyes. “I just don’t want you ending up as roadkill because someone didn’t see you in the rain - with how short you are.”
“Wow,” Jess deadpanned. “Touching. What happened to not insulting each other?”
“We’re not working on the project anymore, are we? So, truce over.” Dean simply explained with a self-satisfied smirk as he grabbed an extra plate.
“Well since you offered so kindly, I’ll take you up on it” Jess deadpanned.