Work Text:
The city streets were about as busy as he’d expected from a Monday morning, and Grian dodged and weaved through crowds of people to get to work. He lived off campus, but still close enough to justify walking and pretending that was enough exercise for one day. The semester didn’t start for another week, but all the staff members had to show up for a mandatory meeting to organise things. It was mostly pretty boring, but he went anyway.
Grian pushed into the room where the meetings were held, and found the room mostly full of his colleagues. He spend a few nice minutes greeting everyone and saying hello to people he hadn’t spoken to for a month or two, catching up as everyone slowly filtered into their seats.
He dropped into his chair without much dramatics, and cast his eyes around the room. It was a familiar sight, and he smiled a bit to see the professors bickering like usual, filling the room with a casual banter that reminded him of the staff room. It got him into the headspace of being at work, and he smiled a bit.
He glanced around at the people filling the room, all the familiar faces and maybe one or two new ones. All the different professors from across the departments, from the blond Martyn of the drama department signing to someone with annoyance on his face, to the part time Cleo of a department he couldn’t quite remember right now—but he smiled at them and they nodded back—and everyone in between.
His eyes landed on a new face, which he realised after a moment wasn’t new. He blinked in surprise as he recognised a tanned, scarred, handsome face, with golden earrings and bright green eyes looking around the room, as the man he had met at a bar a few weeks before and decided he was probably some kind of scam artist or at least someone terribly weird.
Grian’s eyes widened. He blinked in surprise, and then his brows furrowed as he took a closer look at him. The man was in a wheelchair, which was surprising, because when he’d seen him a few weeks ago he hadn’t even required the use of a cane. Not that Grian was making assumptions about anything, but it was at least unusual.
He went over to stand up to go over to him and say something—what the hell are you doing here—but then the meeting started, and everyone shuffled to their seats. Grian sat back down, and frowned at the familiar new face.
The meeting took far too long and breezed by simultaneously, and Grian didn’t really pay attention to the familiar routine apart from when the new staff members were introduced, including a certain “Scar Goodtimes, he’ll be with the architecture department.”
Grian’s eyes widened even further at that. He was an architecture professor, too? …He told me he was a lawyer. It confirmed his trickery in Grian’s eyes.
It took a while for the meeting to be over, with all the needed information given out. Once everyone was dismissed, Grian jumped from his chair and sped over to the man—Scar.
“Hi. Can I talk to you for a minute?” Grian asked, looking over him again and confirming it was the same man he’d seen a fortnight ago.
Scar seemed surprised, but he nodded cheerily after a moment and wheeled himself after Grian as the shorter man led then to a more private corner of the room where nobody else loitered to catch up from the holidays.
Once they were semi out of earshot of the rest of the room, Grian turned to Scar and hissed, “What are you doing here?”
Scar blinked. “I’m sorry?” he asked, tilting his head.
“You heard me. What are you doing here?” Grian asked.
Scar blinked slowly, those green eyes wide and shining with apparent confusion. “I… work here?” he answered hesitantly. “I’m sorry, I’m a little confused here.”
“So am I,” Grian said. “I thought you were a lawyer.”
“What?” Scar asked. “A lawyer?”
“Don’t ask me, you’re the one who said it,” Grian replied.
“But I… didn’t?”
“Oh, sure, and you never went to the bar two weeks ago, either,” Grian replied with a roll of his eyes. He was getting impatient of this clueless act. Why was the weird guy he’d met a few weeks ago, who had claimed to be a lawyer, suddenly at his workplace and apparently going to work with him?
Scar frowned in confusion. He opened his mouth to say something, but then he paused, and his eyes widened a little like he realised something.
“Oh,” he said. “I think you’re confusing me with someone else. We’ve never met.”
That sent Grian’s train of thought off the rails. He blinked as he tried to recover from losing all his steam at once, and asked, “Wait, what?”
Scar nodded, looking a bit more relaxed once he understood what was happening. “Yeah. Sorry for confusing you, but I don’t know you. It’s nice to meet you, though. I’m sure we’ll work well together.”
“But…” Grian trailed off as he examined Scar. The man looked eerily similar to the one he’d met those couple of weeks ago, from the shine of his green eyes to the glint of his gold earrings in his pointed ears to the scars that marred his face, his arms, everywhere Grian could see. He looked the exact same.
But, then again… he seemed like an entirely different person. The wheelchair was a big thing, but he also seemed much nicer and more mild-mannered than the wild, chaotic, brimming-with-energy man he’d met at the bar. The man from the bar was loud, bright, fierce, much too enthusiastic, and overpowering. Scar, on the other hand, was calmer. He was cheerful but not overwhelming, nice but not fake-seeming, charming but not trying to be persuasive. He was bright like soft sunshine, rather than the fierce glow of a light much too powerful.
Maybe it was a stretch considering he’d only known Scar for no more than five minutes, but then again, he hadn’t spoken to the man from the bar for more than a single conversation, had he?
Grian shook his head. He decided to believe Scar was telling the truth in that they’d never met, even if he looked so similar it was uncanny. Something was definitely strange about the whole situation, but he couldn't put his finger on it, so he decided to hesitantly believe Scar.
“Okay,” he answered as he made up his mind, then flushed a little as he realised the way he’d practically cornered the other man and demanded answers from a stranger was not a great first impression. He was already not the most social person, and immediately ruining the first (?) interaction he had with someone who he would probably be working closely with did not bode well.
His blush deepened, and he rubbed the back of his neck as he apologised, “Ah—sorry about that. For like, basically snapping at you and stuff. I thought you were somebody else. My mistake. I’m sorry.”
“No, no, it’s fine, please,” Scar said, and waved off his apologies. “It’s perfectly alright, you were just confused, is all. I don’t mind. I won’t hold a grudge, I promise.”
Grian nodded, but still felt awkward. He hesitated for a moment, before he stuck a hand out and said, “How about we start over?”
Scar looked at his hand, and for a moment Grian was scared he was going to be rejected.
Then Scar took his hand and shook it, a bright white smile lighting up his face. His hand was a bit bigger than his, and calloused with a few scars on it, too. One difference he had with the man from the bar was that Scar wore two shiny silver bangles on each wrist. There was something engraved on them, though Grian couldn’t read it properly.
His hand was was warm, though, and Grian smiled a little back as Scar’s face lit up and looked even prettier with his smile.
Grian shoved aside the thoughts, considering this was his new coworker—he was attractive, but it was fine, he was professional enough not to make it weird—and just enjoyed this moment. It felt soft and tentative, like the start of something new. Sunlight hesitantly peeking through storm clouds, a branch growing a new leaf after winter, something new and gentle and precious.
“Grian Moon,” he introduced.
“Scar Goodtimes,” the other replied, expression warm and delightfully sweet. “It’s nice to meet you, Grian. I hope we become good friends.”
Grian surprised himself when he didn’t detect a hint of lies as he replied, “Me too.”