Work Text:
Kevin had arrived twenty-six minutes early, which felt like the only safe choice on the first day of law school.
The room in Wasserstein smelled of old wood and floor polish, and was filled with the rustling of bags and quiet conversation between the other students who had also arrived early. He chose a seat in the second row, not wanting to look too eager by sitting in the front, but also not choosing the very back, and opened a fresh notebook to the first clean page.
Students drifted in. A few nodded to each other. Kevin didn't know anyone else in the year, yet - as nobody else from his undergrad had gotten in - so instead he kept his eyes on the blank page and tried to look like someone who already belonged here. As the minutes passed, the rows filled. Conversations rose and fell. Someone laughed too sharply near the back. He wrote the date in the upper corner of the page just to have something to do with his hands.
The door opened again six minutes before the hour. A tall guy walked in like the room had been waiting specifically for him. Broad shoulders filled out a dark suit that looked expensive even from across the room. Dark hair, neat but not fussy. The kind of posture that made everyone else's suddenly look a little slumped. Kevin glanced down at his own jeans and plain black T-shirt and felt a sudden, hot wave of self-consciousness. Of course someone had shown up in a suit on the first day. Dress for the job you want, and all that.
The new arrival scanned the seats as he moved down the aisle, spotted the empty one next to Kevin, and dropped into it without asking.
Kevin felt the shift immediately. The guy's presence took up more space than one body should.
"Buddy," the guy said, already half-turned to grin at Kevin, offering a hand. "Buddy Crane."
Kevin took it, and the Buddy's grip was warm and confident. Kevin's own palm felt damp with nervous sweat, which was gross and embarrassing. "Oh- uhm. Kevin Avery."
Great first impression, he thought bitterly.
Buddy's mouth tilted, the grin sharpening into something almost amused. "You alright, Avery?"
"Well, you know..." Kevin dragged a hand over the back of his neck, felt the heat there. "Law school has a rep, right?" He laughed weakly, and Buddy offered him a sympathetic smile.
"Hey. This is Harvard." Buddy leaned back, stretching one arm along the back of Kevin's chair like it had always belonged there. The fabric of his sleeve brushed Kevin's shoulder. "You got in, didn't you? I bet you're pretty smart under all that nervousness."
Kevin's ears went hot.
He managed a short nod and turned toward the front of the room as the professor began speaking. He tried - he really tried - to focus on the syllabus, on the dense paragraphs about civil procedure and the expected workload that made his stomach twist. But every few minutes his attention slid sideways without permission.
Buddy answered the first cold-call with a calm, almost lazy confidence that made half the room sit up straighter. His voice carried easily. Kevin wrote the answer down word for word even though he'd already known it, the pen moving a little too fast. He could feel Buddy's presence like a low current beside him - the occasional shift of fabric, the quiet tap of a pen against the desk, the way Buddy's knee nearly brushed his own under the shared table.
When the session had ended, Buddy didn't stand right away. Instead, he turned fully toward Kevin, one eyebrow raised.
"So, what do you think so far? You were taking a lot of notes for the first day."
Kevin closed the notebook a little too carefully, aligning the edges with the desk so he could have a reason to look away from Buddy's intense gaze. "I just... want to keep up. Everyone says this is the hardest course of the year, you know."
Buddy studied him for a second longer, and something in his expression softened, almost curious. "Hey, do you like coffee?" he asked, suddenly chancing topics. "The Harkbox is close, and you look like you need it. No offense."
Kevin said yes before he could talk himself out of it. The word came out too quick, too eager. He felt the flush climb higher in his face.
They walked side by side through the halls. Buddy talked easily - talking about his undergrad (somewhere sunny and competitive, which made Kevin's undergrad pale in comparison), about a summer associate position he'd already lined up at ACME of all places, about how most of the people in their Civil Procedure 1 section would flame out by November if they weren't careful. Kevin mostly listened. He asked a question here and there, but mostly he watched the way Buddy's hands moved when he talked, the easy confidence in every gesture. Every time Buddy glanced over, Kevin felt the weight of the look land somewhere under his ribs and stay there.
At the coffee bar, Buddy ordered for both of them without asking what Kevin wanted, then claimed a small table by the window. He pushed one of the cups toward Kevin.
"You looked like you were about to vibrate out of your seat in there," Buddy said. "You've really got those first-day nerves, huh?"
Kevin wrapped both hands around the cup, letting the heat soak into his palms. "A little."
"You'll be fine." Buddy's voice dropped quieter, almost private in the middle of the busy room. "You've got that hungry look. I can tell you'll be cutthroat when it counts."
Kevin's throat tightened, and he forced an awkward smile. He stared at the coffee Buddy had bought for him. "Hah. Right. I just... I've wanted this for a long time. Don't want to mess anything up, you know?"
Buddy watched him for a long moment. The usual cocky tilt of his mouth eased.
"Yeah," he said. "I can tell."
They stayed longer than either of them needed to. Buddy asked where Kevin had gone to undergrad, what he'd read over the summer, whether he already had a study group lined up. Kevin answered too honestly, too quickly - talking about the courses he'd taken in undergrad, the cases he'd obsessed over, the quiet terror of wanting something this badly. Every time he looked up, Buddy was still watching him. There was something unreadable behind the easy confidence plastered across his features, something that made Kevin's pulse skip.
People walked past the table more than once, throwing casual greetings at Buddy as they went. He answered each one with a short nod or a quick smile, already known, already claimed by the social gravity of the place. Kevin felt smaller somehow, sitting across from him, but Buddy never looked away for long. He kept coming back to Kevin like the interruptions were just background noise.
When they finally stood, Buddy walked with Kevin partway toward the dorms even though it was the wrong direction from where he said he'd lived. At the corner Buddy stopped, turning to face him fully.
"Well, nice meeting you, Kev," he said. The nickname, Kev, landed warm and unexpectedly. "I'll save you the same seat tomorrow. Don't be late."
Kevin nodded, already knowing he would be early again. Early and probably still nervous.
Buddy's hand landed briefly on his shoulder - warm and solid, gone too soon. Then he turned and walked away, already sliding back into that larger-than-life stride, raising a hand to wave at someone else he clearly knew as they approached from the opposite way.
Kevin stood on the sidewalk for a full minute after Buddy disappeared, the place where the hand had rested still faintly warm. He pressed his own fingers there without thinking.
Kevin had known Buddy Crane for less than a day.
He already wanted more.