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Thomas was very much not looking forward to chemistry. It was his least favorite class and with Flux now in AP classes he didn’t have someone to copy off of. Well, technically he wasn’t supposed to copy off of Flux either the other had put a stop to it during freshman year. At least officially Thomas had just started sneaking looks at Flux’s paper. When they had classes together they always sat next to each other. Thomas had gotten quite good at seeing Flux’s paper without getting caught by either teachers or Flux. It was an art he was very proud of mastering.
When he got to class minutes before the bell like usual. He knew that it wouldn’t be like usual. For one the teacher looked exhausted and more than a little irritated. Mr.X was usually a pretty chill guy. He had let them pick who they partnered with at the beginning of the year. It would have been nice if any of Thomas’ friends were in that class with it but somehow he didn’t have any of his friends in that class despite the usual track record of being in classes together. Oh well Flux would have said something about their luck finally running out.
Thomas’ own partner was a girl named Reina. She was nice enough. Patient at the very least despite the fact she mostly carried their grade herself. Muttering something about doing it with another friend. Thomas hadn’t asked and she didn’t elaborate.
Once the bell rang and Mr.X waited to make sure there was nobody who would show up late he stood up, “alright I really didn’t want to do this guys. However, there is suspicion of a group of students going against school policy.” He gives a pointed look to a certain group of students. Thomas thinks he hears one of them mutter something about no proof and then a little yelp. He had assumed somebody had stepped on the one kid's foot for saying what he had.
Mr.X told them all to stand at the front of the room. Their seats and partners had already been chosen and he went down the list. Until finally, “Thomas and Micro.”
Thomas had gone over to his new desk and waited for his partner to sit down. He had to do a double take when his new partner sat down next to him. Oh, oh hello. The minute Thomas had seen the other boy his mind had short circuited. The boy was possibly the handsomest person he had ever met. Thomas really meant it this time!
White hair, a twinkle in his eye and smirk on his lips. Thomas was immediately smitten, “looks like it’s me and you together yeah, Thomas?”
His voice. Dear God, his voice. Thomas could listen to him for ages, “uh yeah.”
Why had those words left his mouth?! Who said that to a handsome boy? Apparently Thomas was the answer. Sera was right Thomas really was a disaster. Thomas was so cooked.
He hurried to meet his friends in the student parking lot. Thomas was surprisingly the last to arrive. Newkids was usually the late one. Flux had been the first one to look at and when he saw the look on Thomas’ face he groaned and said, “here we go again.”
Thomas ignores him. Flux didn’t know what he was talking about, “I have a new chemistry partner.”
“This late in the year?” Seraphim had asked, a bit surprised.
Thomas had shrugged, “there’s apparently a rumor that some kids are breaking school policy but like nothing concrete.”
“Of course there is,” Snowbird had said, a bit exasperated. He says something about his brother and his friends.
“Guys, please this is serious. You don’t know how good looking he is. I have no clue how I’m going to make it through chemistry this year.”
“You didn’t think you would make it through chemistry at all this year,” Flux had bluntly pointed out.
“I’m going to be looking at him all class and get nothing done.”
“Thomas it can’t be that bad.” Seraphim had been the one to tell him and she rolled her eyes. Flux nodded his head along with her words.
“I swear Thomas sees a good looking person and all sense immediately leaves his mind.” Gotoga had grumbled and Newkids had smirked.
“You could ask him out. I mean if your together you could have study dates.”
“Newkids don’t encourage this.”
“No. No! He has a point.”
“You're going to freak this kid out.”
Thomas ends up not actually asking Micro out. It turns out he didn’t need to worry about it though. Micro was scary good at chemistry. Therefore, Thomas had to also be good at chemistry. It was just the logical conclusion. So he locks in and spends the majority of his time going over chemistry. To be completely honest it’s the dryest thing Thomas has ever read. Actually, no, that's a lie. Flux’s government books were the dryest thing Thomas had read (don’t tell Flux he said that).
His sister had shaken her head as she watched him study, “you know that’s not actually going to get him to pay attention to you right?”
“You say that now but who is going to have a boyfriend at the end of the day?”
“Not you?” He had halfheartedly thrown a shoe at her for that comment. She had dodged and he just ended up hitting the wall. At least it hadn’t put a hole in the wall. Their mom had still been pissed that he had thrown a shoe at his sister however. The grounding was worth it though.
Before Thomas knew it he was no longer failing chemistry. Don’t get him wrong he was still barely passing but it was still a pass AND Micro talked to him a lot more. Thomas counted it as a win.
Thomas never saw Micro at lunch unfortunately so his friends couldn’t meet the boy he was absolutely smitten about. They however did hear him ramble. Sera called it yearning and Rotation called it thirsting. He was going on about something Micro did in chemistry class the other day when Gotoga had groaned and put his head against the table with a thunk.
“Thomas I am genuinely begging you to stop going on about this boy. Newkids, I blame you for this.”
“How was I supposed to know Thomas would be simping this hard?!”
“Because he’s Thomas? Gotago is right, Newkids, this is your fault.” Sera had added on.
“Knock it off both of you.” Flux had reminded both of them.
“Thank you!” Newkids had cried.
“Oh no I am indeed with them about blaming you but we are attracting attention.”
Sure enough teachers and other students were looking their way with weird looks. Thomas quickly looked down, hiding his blush. After that he had toned it down a bit. I still talked about Micro but it wasn’t like he used to.
Then Snowbird had invited them to his house and Micro was there. He remembered choking on air and once again making a fool of himself. Ugh why was it so hard to be nonchalant around his crushes?! Snowbird had talked to his brother (who was Micro). Micro had said something about going up to his room to play video games and Snowbird asked why he wasn’t going to a friend's place. Something about the friend being grounded? Thomas had been too busy staring at Micro to really catch what was being said. Then Micro started to head upstairs and Thomas had wanted to cry and tell Micro to stay and hang out with them. Surely Snowbird wouldn’t mind with Micro being his brother and the rest of their friends would just have to deal with it.
They had taken out Mario Kart and had started to play. Snowbird being the first one to play due to the facts that a) there were only two controllers and b) it was his house and they had a system where the first person who played was for whoever’s place and the rest of them would draw sticks. Sera had ended up drawing the shortest stick and would play first. The winner would play the next person whose stick was the shortest. It meant Thomas would play Sera next. With Sera being the first person to play none of them had any allusions that they would against Seraphim. They never did.
When Sera had indeed won the round against Snowbird. The controller had been handed over but Snowbird was a little weird about it. Thomas didn’t think too hard about it. The game started and even with the fact Sera would have wiped the floor with him if he had tried he didn’t even bother trying. He was too distracted by the thought and their match had been the quickest one. Sera had complained because ‘at least give me a challenge Thomas!’
The controller was then handed over to Newkids who was quite eager to try and beat Sera. Everybody knew he didn’t stand a chance but hey they admired the optimism at the very least. Thomas had made a beeline toward Flux because the other would listen to him. They were childhood friends after all. Flux always listened and never said anything even at the times Thomas knew Flux wanted to tell him to be quiet. Like right now.
When it’s Flux’s turn to play. Thomas was left to hang out with Snowbird. Maybe he could ask Snowbird for Micro’s number?
Snowbird had shut that idea down. Thomas decides to do a different approach when Snowbird said it wasn’t his number to give out. Surely if Thomas was the one to ask Micro for his number it wouldn’t be an issue? Snowbird had told him fine but not to push the issue if Micro said no. Which Thomas could definitely respect. He was so excited to potentially get Micro’s number that he almost left everybody else in the living room.
Snowbird had panically stopped him. Reminding him that Micro was playing Overwatch and he really didn’t like it when people interrupted him. Which Thomas understood completely.
They finished Mario Kart and they argued about pizza toppings. While they argued about it, Micro had came back down and had fed Snowbird and Micro’s other brother's cat. Snowbird and Micro had both watched the cat in exasperation. After the cat had been giving food and the pizza was over and walked over to Micro.
Keep it cool Thomas! Keep it cool!
Micro had looked at him curiously so Thomas did what he thought would work. He started telling jokes. After all, didn't everybody like jokes? The ones that had his friends and sister cringing as he told them.
“What do you call two birds in love? Tweethearts!” Micro doesn’t laugh and Thomas is about to backpedal because really? Tweethearts?
Then Micro does laugh, “good one. But have you heard about what the two oceans say when they meet?”
Thomas knows this one, “they both waved.” Then they both laugh. Most of Micro’s jokes Thomas had already heard but there’s a few that honestly surprise and he files them away to tell his sister at a later date (she would be mortified. It would be glorious).
In the end Thomas doesn’t even have to ask for Micro’s number. Micro gives it to Thomas himself! He’s so excited and then even after the pizza arrives Micro stays downstairs with them. Thomas had made the suggestion of having a game where they had to work in pairs in hopes to team up with Micro. It works and he gets on a team with Micro. Sera and Jophiel are also there but the two girls also talk. They actually make a pretty good team all together if Thomas does say so himself. He hoped Snowbird would invite them over to his place more often.