Chapter Text
“Ugghhh, remind me to never take an 8am class ever again.”
“Maybe if Grace not want to be so tired, Grace should sleep more.”
“You’re one to talk, my Harmony.”
“Gasp! My Melody betrays me!”
Rocky grabbed at his chest in mock heartache as his spouse called him out, his bag dropping to the floor beside his chair as he collapsed into it.
“No, your Melody is honest,” Adrian teased, kissing his cheek and setting their bag on the table in front of them.
Grace couldn’t help but snicker as he sat on the opposite side of Rocky, setting his bag on the table so he could pull out his class materials.
“I hear you laughing over there, dear Rhythm. Don’t think I’m on your side,” Adrian said, leaning around Rocky to give Grace a pointed look.
Grace groaned and pouted. “But-”
Adrian’s honey-brown eyes flicked up, looking behind Grace as someone walked up to the end of their table.
“Pardon me, is this seat taken?”
The speaker was a tall, slender man with blonde hair and steely blue eyes, wearing a white jacket and blue jeans. He spoke with a slight drawl- like he’d grown up in the South but hadn’t been there in a while.
“Oh, no, it’s not taken,” Grace said with a polite smile, gesturing as if to say feel free.
“Thank you,” the man said, nodding his head politely before sliding into the seat beside Grace.
“My name’s Ryland Grace, by the way, but most people just call me Grace.”
Grace offered his hand to the other, who reached out with a red leather-gloved hand to shake it.
“Driver. Nice to meet you, Grace,” replied the stranger, who gave him a slow and easy smile.
“Nice to meet you too, Driver,” Grace said, returning his smile with a lopsided grin of his own. “Oh! And these are my friends Rocky and Adrian.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Driver,” Adrian replied politely, waving over at him. “I’m Adrian.”
Adrian was probably an inch or two taller than Driver, dark-skinned with patches of vitiligo on their face, neck, and arms. They had long dreads, streaked with teal dye and coiled into a neat bun on their head. Their arm was covered in elaborate, geometric tattoos- some of which matched up with similar geometric tattoos on the arms of the man beside her- like if they put their arms together it would create one image.
Rocky was nearly a foot shorter than his spouse, with brown skin and salt-and-pepper hair that stuck out in every direction- at least, what wasn’t pulled back into a haphazard semi-ponytail that was clearly just meant to keep his hair out of his face.
“Greetings, Driver!” Rocky said excitedly, waving his hand at Driver.
“Pleasure to meet you all,” Driver replied to them, nodding his head once.
“What are you studying for? I’m going into microbiology, Rocky and Adrian are studying material science.”
“And meteorology,” Adrian interjected with a slight smile. “Material science is my minor.”
“Ah, I’m majoring in automotive tech,” Driver answered, looking down the table at them.
“Are you hoping to be a mechanic?”
“Mechanic is the fallback plan. F1 driver is the goal,” he said, leaning back in his seat.
“Is why they call you Driver?” Rocky asked, his head tilted curiously, a slight smile on his lips.
“Sure is,” he replied, nodding and smiling over at him.
A large, burly Russian man strode to the front of the lecture hall, setting a few books and papers down on the teacher’s desk. He turned and clapped his hands once to get the attention of the class.
“Good morning, students! I am Professor Dimitri Komorov, I look forward to teaching you all this year,” he called out to them in a thick Russian accent.
The students greeted him back- too out of sync with each other to call it “unison” in any way.
Driver glanced over and gave the group a polite nod- a silent acknowledgement of their conversation before he turned his attention fully to the professor in front of them.
˖ ݁♬⋆.˚𝄞
There was a scurry of movement as soon as they were dismissed from class.
Driver grabbed his bag from the floor to start putting his things away, while the trio he’d just met had a hushed conversation.
“By the way, Driver, are you free right now? We were about to go to a nearby coffee shop to grab something to eat before our next classes,” Grace asked, stuffing his things unceremoniously into his bag.
Driver looked over at them- all three with polite, earnest smiles. He was surprised they were asking him- he was never one to easily make friends, or even be approached by anyone. He didn’t even consider it a possibility that he’d make friends here, let alone be the one reached out to.
“Ah.. I’d love to, unfortunately I do have another class…” Driver replied regretfully.
“Oh! It’s no worries. Maybe next time,” Grace said, smiling over at him.
Driver nodded and smiled at Grace, his steel-blue eyes soft.
“Yeah. Next time.”
⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆
“He seemed nice.”
“Who seemed nice?”
Colt threw his arm around Grace’s neck, waving at Rocky and Adrian on the other side of him.
“A classmate of ours. He sat next to me in the lecture hall,” Grace answered, throwing his younger twin’s arm off his neck.
“What’s his name?” Colt asked, crossing his arms behind his head.
“He said it’s Driver,” Grace replied, looking over at him.
“Oh, him? I think he’s in one of my classes,” Colt said, looking up as he tried to remember which one. “I think my film studies class?”
“The one you take with Jody?”
“Nah, the other film studies class,” Colt replied to his brother, rolling his eyes.
“Shut up, how am I supposed to know?” Grace replied, elbowing his brother in the side.
“Well, whatever. Film studies and automotive tech seem pretty far apart from each other, I wonder why he decided to take it?” Colt mused, tapping his chin with his knuckle.
“Why not just ask him?” Grace suggested, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Maybe I will,” Colt replied, sticking his tongue out at his brother. “I think I have class with him this afternoon.”
“Speaking of class, don’t you have one right now?” Adrian asked him, looking down the line at Colt.
“Oh, shit. Thanks Adri! See you guys later!”
“See ya, Colt. Don’t forget dinner tonight!” Grace called out to him.
“I won’t! See you later!”
Colt waved and took off for his next class.
“He’s absolutely going to forget.”
“Oh, definitely.”
“100%.”
⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆
Driver headed out the door of the lecture hall with his hands slid into the pockets of his jacket.
A slow smile appeared on his lips as he stuck a toothpick in his mouth.
So, Ryland Grace, huh?