Work Text:
“Dude, seriously, you’ve gotta tell me what you’re doing to get him screaming like that,” Collin remarked over a bowl of cheerios that Avery had definitely been the one to buy. “No woman I’ve been with has ever sounded that desperate for me”
“For the last time,” Avery said, rubbing at his temples as he typed away at another lab report. Shear stress was stupid. “We’re not fucking.”
Collin waved a hand, the other spooning more cheerios into his mouth, “Yeah, yeah, nightmares. You would be the one to take it slow. But until then he’s got nightmares, huh?” He raised his eyebrows suggestively.
“No–”
“Freaky nightmares,” Collin smirked.
“Collin.”
“About that dick.”
“Collin,” Avery exclaimed, red as he could possibly be at the kitchen table. “We’re not fucking!”
A click of the lock and, “Who’s not fucking?” David said from the front door to the apartment, backpack slung over one shoulder as he pushed inside. He observed his roommates, eyes flicking between them before nodding, “Oh, yeah. Avery, what are you doing to him in there?” He narrowed his eyes, pointing an accusing finger. Avery threw his arms out in exasperation.
It had been three weeks since Collin and David had come back for the semester’s start. Three weeks since they’d come back to the apartment and met the most wonderful boy Avery had ever known in his life. And who they definitely though was Avery’s boyfriend. Thankfully they were chill with Derek kind of just… taking up permanent residence in an apartment he was definitely not paying for. Collin had said it was like having a secret pet.
He hadn’t come up with a good excuse for why Derek had to live with him, but the guys didn’t push for an answer.
“He gets these nightmares, though,” Avery had tried to explain politely one night while Derek slept in their bedroom. “Screams like crazy. And I know the walls are thin and he hates having them too–”
David had waved him off, “It’s chill, man. Can’t control what happens to you in life. Ex-girlfriend gave me some killer headphones anyway.”
So that was that. Derek lived in the apartment now, plans solidified to take over David’s lease once he’d graduated at the end of the semester.
If Avery was being honest, he felt kind of bad for not socializing with his roommates more. Seasonal depression was something nearly everyone had, but if Avery could describe what he dealt with, it was like seasonal depression every season. All the time. Which had severely impacted any social opportunity throughout three out of four of his years at university. Talking to Collin and David after they’d both come back had lead to surprised expressions at Avery’s ability to actually speak and not just rot in his room along with the realization that they were??? Cool??? Avery was still getting used to that. Minus David’s weird assumption that two brown men were automatically related.
“How’s the report coming?” Collin asked, changing the subject thank god. Avery shrugged, leaning forward to reread all of the stupid fucking equations he had to write down. Seriously, the grader for this lab was Satan reincarnated. He’d gotten an 80 on the first report just because he was missing one graph.
“Whatever, I guess. Pratham’s an asshole,” Avery said, running a hand through his hair absently. He’d finally chopped off the green ends. Now it was all just brown. “You wanna read over it for me?”
“Fuck no,” Collin said with a laugh, slurping the milk out of his bowl of cheerios before standing to put it in the dishwasher. “I’m not going through a solid mechanics lab for a third time.”
“I could read through it.”
Avery turned, looking toward where Derek was standing, leaning against the hallway with his hair all messed up and his glasses on his face and ohhhh my goooodddd. He blinked several times before nodding. “Uh, yeah, if you think you could manage?”
Derek shrugged, pushing off the wall and walking up behind Avery, resting his chin on the other boy’s head as he looked at the document open on his laptop. Avery tried very very very hard to ignore the two pairs of eyes glued to the pair.
Physical contact helped a lot Derek had said. Avery knew that much just from the first hospital visit alone, but even with the glasses, which also helped, physical contact with Avery made the forever knowledge die down even more. Plus Avery liked it, so who was he to put a stop to it?
This did not help the rumors Collin and David were perpetuating between themselves. Oh well. Avery could live with the idea he was the ultimate sexual partner.
“Uh oh,” Derek muttered, hands reaching up to wrap around Avery’s shoulders, one pointing at the screen before returning to its position folded around his neck, “Wrong sigma value there.”
“What?” Avery had spent an extra hour in the lab making sure all the data was right. Derek hummed.
“Wrong shear equation. Use average for that one,” Derek’s voice was growing strained as he read the report. Avery tried to shift under his weight, but Derek held tight. David and Collin did not try to even pretend they weren’t staring. “Th’rest looks okay. Hm.”
“You good?” Avery asked, trying to angle up his head from beneath Derek’s. He caught the other boy’s reflection in the laptop– wearing the glasses. That was good. They helped keep things quiet. So did Avery, he knew that, but they needed at least one other solution than being glued at the hip all the time. It wasn’t like Derek could attend Avery’s lectures and labs.
Derek hummed again, one hand coming up to run through Avery’s hair, a grounding motion he’d do. It also felt really fucking good. It was also not helping Collin and David’s assumptions that the pair were fucking. Nothing was helping those rumors.
Not denying they were dating was also definitely not helping.
There just… never really came an organic point in conversation to tell his roommates that “yeah, I mean, I only said I was his boyfriend so I could ride with him in the ambulance. But then it stuck at the hospital so I could make decisions for him and so I could get his stuff from his condemned apartment. And lowkey I definitely want a piece of that but we barely know each other.”
Well, Avery barely knew him. Did. He’d liked to think he knew Derek pretty well, now. Favorite color, favorite food, favorite smell. The way his breathing evened out once he fell asleep. The way his hair framed his face so well now that he’d trimmed it a little. The way his body fit against Avery’s own.
Plus Derek did act like they were in a relationship. He still hadn’t stopped with all of the “I love yous” when things hurt and Avery made it better and lately had upgraded to pet names. Nothing was confined to the bedroom, so Collin and David were privy to all of that all the time.
“What’s your major again, Derek?” Collin asked, leaning against the counter beside the dishwasher, arms crossed. Avery shook himself out of his spiraling thoughts as he tuned back in.
“It was computer engineering before I dropped out.” Derek said, hand still tangled in Avery’s hair. He was taking deep breaths. Fuck, was today a bad day? He hadn’t woken up screaming earlier, but maybe he wasn’t asleep.
Avery had not mentioned the infinite knowledge thing. Like, yes, it would be great to inform his roommates that half of Derek’s meltdowns and his ramblings were just from his curse of infinite knowledge, yes it hurts that’s why he says it all, no he can’t stop it, yes, it’s from the same accident that left him with the nightmares.
It just. Sounded insane. He and Derek both knew it. Again, Minecraft. Did he need to say more? Who was gonna believe that an eldritch horror was dwelling in a video game? Or was. The king was dead as hell, Avery was sure. Probably. Fuck, it better be.
“How do you always know what he’s writing, then?” Collin asked, eyes narrowed. “You’re like a supergenius.”
“Photographic memory,” Derek excused, fingers tugging at a knot in Avery’s curls. “Did you not brush your hair this morning?” He asked, lifting his chin from Avery’s head and looking down at him, yellow eyes narrowed.
“I did,” Avery said, unable to ignore Collin staring straight at him. “But you keep messing with it, man. It’s gonna get tangled.” Derek hummed at that.
“Sorry,” He muttered, not stopping. “It helps. Any contact, really. I can try to chill out.”
“No, it’s fine, Der,” Avery said, lifting a hand to pat Derek’s. “You’re fine, man. Do what you need to.”
“How the hell did you two meet again?” David asked from by the fridge, an absolutely disgusted look on his face.
“Minecraft Discord channel,” Derek said with practiced ease. Avery chuckled lightly. No excuse about the infinite knowledge but one ready about how they met. Weird priorities. David shook his head with a curse.
“Fuck me, dude. I gotta hop on one of those,” He pulled leftover Chinese food out of the fridge. “Like, come on. You two make me sick.”
Avery made an aborted noise at the comment, looking up to see Derek grinning devilishly.
“I can make it worse,” Derek said, tightening his hold on Avery, hand tugging harder on his hair. Fuck, that felt good. “Oh, Avery, my angel,” He cooed, bending over to press his face further against Avery’s head. “How ever can I thank you for coming into my life?”
“Gross!” David said, waving a hand. “Stop!”
Derek did not stop. He nuzzled closer, “You’re just so sweet to me!”
Avery started laughing, failing to push the taller boy away from him, only managing to bait him into pressing even harder against his head, hand scratching away at his scalp. Fuck, this felt so fucking good. He laughed through the automatic urge to just press further into it. His lab report was practically done, anyway.
“You guys are disgusting,” Collin said without much inflection, shaking his head. “Can we start a new apartment policy? No PDA in public spaces?”
Derek shrugged, still wrapped around Avery like a boa constrictor, “I don’t live here legally. Rules don’t apply to me.”
“Ooh,” Avery added smartly, nodding in agreement, “This is valid. Plus he’s like, disabled or something.”
“Super ‘or something,’” Derek agreed. “‘Or somethings’ get to do whatever they want forever, Collin. Doth thou disagree with one as impaired as myself?”
“Oh my God,” Collin finally pushed off from the counter and retreated into the living room, seating himself on the couch as he turned on the television. The Office reruns, always. “You guys are actually repulsive. Keep your old English speech away from me.”
Derek made a noise, jaw twitching, teeth grinding against each other as he fought not to correct… whatever it was that wasn’t right. He was pushing himself fast, Avery thought. He kept trying to keep the knowledge inside, which only worked sometimes. Most of the time he’d just wind up whispering the words to himself under his breath, which gave way to spirals easier than just spewing the words outright.
“Hey,” Avery said, catching something that sounded like “olde English didn’t actually have the same sentence structure” coming from the boy above him. “Derek, hey. Just say it, man.”
Derek shook his head, eyes squeezed tight. “No, it’s. Late old English. Not. Fuck,” He stumbled through a sentence, arms still pressing against Avery. One hand still in his hair. Avery pressed into it now, trying to soothe Derek. “It’s fine. Late old English was what gave way to the modern language spoken throughout most of the country and much of the globe,” The words came out in a rush. Derek hated the word vomit.
“No shot?” Collin said absently from the couch. “What’s an actual old English sentence, then?” He asked.
Derek didn’t even pause, “Þes wer abygþ eall,” He said, fluent in a language Avery had never heard. This was English? Derek seemed to understand the lack of comprehension from everyone else in the room, since he started laughing as he explained, “This gentleman will pay for everything. Just a thing said back then,” He let out a sharp exhale, “Fuck. I’m good.”
“You’re good?” Avery asked, rubbing a hand against Derek’s forearm. He nodded and pressed further into the other boy’s space. Maybe it was a bad day.
Collin and David were none the wiser, now both snacking on David’s Chinese food as they watched the television, laughing at something Michael said.
“What do you want for dinner?” Derek said suddenly, unraveling from Avery’s neck. He sat in the chair beside him, thigh pressed against the other boy’s. “Saw a new recipe online.”
Avery perked up at that. Screen-dependent Derek meant he was always doing something while Avery was away at classes. He’d scroll through Instagram reels, he’d ask Meta what something was, he’d order through Instacart. David and Collin had come home in the middle of the night to Derek cooking a grilled cheese because Avery had been dreaming about it. And Derek hadn’t been able to fall asleep.
“What’s this one?” Avery asked, finally shutting his laptop and ignoring the silent pleas from his grade to reread the report. “Another sandwich?”
Derek nodded. “Yeah. Barbecue. Gluten free bread. It’ll taste good.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know I’m gonna like it?” Avery asked, bumping their legs against each other playfully. Derek smiled at that.
“I know everything, Avery.”
***
The sandwich was really good.
“Dude, Derek,” Collin whined from the living room, eating some mix of ingredients he’d found in the fridge. “When are you gonna cook for all of us? That smells fantastic.”
Derek shrugged, blowing a strand of dark hair out of his eyes, “Keep asking. Maybe it’ll happen soon.”
“Really?” Collin brightened for a second before Derek let out a laugh, pushing roasted potatoes onto Avery’s plate.
“Hell no.”
“Man, what the freak!” Collin threw his arms out in exasperation. “Avery, why do you get a live-in maid that none of us can use?”
Avery shrugged but Derek beat him to the punch, “Boyfriend privileges.”
“Boyfriend—“ Collin’s mouth dropped open at that one. “Okay. Yeah. No way you two aren’t fucking, dude. Don’t try to convince me.”
“What?” Derek’s eyebrows shot to his hairline, pausing as he set the pan down. “We’re not fucking. Wha?” His dark brows furrowed closer and closer together and Avery really wanted to melt into the ground. He felt himself flush all over.
Collin nodded as he went on, “He says it’s the nightmares you’re stuck with but man, if I had a girl calling for me like that? I’d have her calling me way worse by the end of the night.”
“Dude,” Avery said, absolutely exhausted with his insistence, “What the fuck does that even mean?” Collin shrugged.
“It’s just nightmares,” Derek agreed, sitting down with his own plate and digging in immediately. “Plus I wouldn’t be the one screaming like that if it was something else.”
“Derek!” Avery exclaimed, mouth dropping open. “What! You? Dude!” He managed through short, aborted words. Thoughts would not come easily. He would. No. Stop. Jesus Christ.
Derek just smiled slyly as he ate, Collin’s teasing turning into complaints of please god do not actually bone when I’m home. I’m serious dude. Your cooking cannot be that good. Are you even listening to me? Oh my god. I can think of multiple words starting with the letter “f” that I’d like to call you two.
Yeah. Okay. Derek was an asshole. A gorgeous, wonderful asshole that took pleasure in tormenting Avery.
“Food good?” Derek prompted, gold eyes half lidded as he watched Avery eat. Avery nodded, running a hand through his hair and moving to adjust his glasses slowly steaming up as he ate.
“You already know it’s good,” Avery said, rolling his eyes. “Why do you ask every time?”
Derek just shrugged, taking another bite. “I just wanna ask. It’s nice to pretend sometimes.”
Oh. Avery dropped the mild irritation and reached across the table to grab Derek’s free hand, tangling their fingers.
Recovery was slow. Today wasn’t a bad day. They were together and alive and eating food Derek had cooked because scrolling mindlessly through recipes helped his head. The glasses helped. Avery helped.
“It’s good, Der. Everything you cook is good,” he rubbed his thumb against Derek’s warm, brown skin. He’d look good with jewelry, Avery considered. Silver. “Are you good?” He looked up into Derek’s warm, wonderful yellow eyes.
“Yeah,” Derek nodded with a smile, tightening his hold on Avery’s freckled hand. “I’m good.”