You nudge Rowan's shoe with your boot under the table to get his attention. His eyes wrench itself from the board to you where you level a look at the notebook pushed between the two of you. The teacher drones on, unaware or simply uncaring of the students playing footsies in the back.
Club? He reads the hastily written letter by the side of the actual notes. Definitions of words they haven't gotten into yet so early in the term scrawled in aged ink.
Rowan writes back in pencil. Fencing.
You look it over with a scrunch in your brows. "When did you get into fencing?" you forgo sneaking around to ask him outright.
He looks back to the front in an effort to not make it too apparent he's not listening, unlike you whose chair is brazenly tilted to his direction. "Xavier's in that club and the others didn't really," he takes a breath. "Appeal to me."
"Yeah, didn't think you were the singing type anyway." you refer to his asthma.
"That and bee keeping? I mean, what else is there to do?" he complains in that whiny tone all students in every schools come to develop at one point. "You never told me which one you're joining."
"Nah, I don't wanna this year. The boxing club disbanded and I haven't really moved on from that yet." you rest your chin on your hand with a sour look on your face.
"We have a boxing club?" it shouldn't be such a surprise, this academy has a lot of arguably dangerous extracurricular activities. They literally hand out swords and bows to a bunch of hormonal teenagers. Why wouldn't there be a boxing club?
"Used to." at his slightly concerned, mostly confused expression, you explain. "Some people got too into the fighting spirit, spilled some blood. It got way out of hand. So it's gone now." you sigh mournfully.
"When was that?"
"2 years ago." you ignore the face he makes at you, adamant on moping about it to this day.
"Feel free to take over the discussion if you want, whatever you're talking about should be more important than education. That your parents paid you to listen to." the teacher splits the chalk in half with how much force he puts into adding the period onto the board.
"Sorry, sir." Rowan demurely responds.
"Mh."
You pass a note over to Rowan saying: they need to stop hiring people who hate kids. It's getting weird. He doesn't entertain your antics this time even though he thinks it's funny.
The last period is the extracurricular activities scheduled at the end of every week. Your friend moves on to his next appointment while you do fuck all. Wandering aimlessly all over the halls, pausing to make conversation with people that both do and don't know you, listen to the choir try to outdo each other, get bored and assist with cleaning up the arrows on the field, then eventually find yourself in the gym where fencing is held.
The sound of metal scraping is a tune you're already tired of before 5 seconds even come to pass. They clang in your ears, echoing amongst a cacophony of exhausted grunts. It reminds you of how much you love fencing. Which is zero, nada.
Rowan huffs and groans and makes every sound in existence that makes you wanna dangle him up above your mouth like a piece of savory meat then chew until there's nothing of him left to swallow. What a morbid thought. You sit down in the corner of the gym, curling into a ball as you try to identify all the masked people on the mats. Rowan, Xavier, Bianca... you silently mouth the names.
Rowan performs a technique he's obviously never done before, apparent in the unsteady execution, but it takes Xavier by surprise which is all Rowan needs to force him onto his ass. The practice sword crashes onto the ground. They breathe hard, chests rising as they reel from the loss/win. Rowan pulls his sword away where it was previously pointed at his opponent's throat to offer a hand.
"You're getting better." Xavier pants. He holds onto Rowan's hand to pull himself up. Rowan takes an automatic step back to clear some space while they both take their head gears off, red in the face from exertion. Xavier acts like what a senior might to their favorite junior despite joining at around roughly the same time. He expresses no bitterness at the possibility of Rowan becoming better than him, just pure unbridled pride at his friend's achievement. It's heartwarming. Cute.
Rowan sees you then, the silent observer, and heads to your direction with a tight smile barely contained to burst. The students pay either of you no mind, too focused on their own strenuous activities or watching the matches take place from the sideline during break. He gratefully takes the inhaler you offer him, surprised you even had one and knew he needed it at the right moment.
"Stopped by the clinic earlier. Nurse told me to pass it to you." he's glad he was already flushed to begin with. The insinuation that comes with that whole interaction is something he can't deal with right now, not with you looking up at him like that.
He needs to change the subject. "The coach doesn't like outsiders."
"I can tell. I don't have to look to know he's giving me the dirty eye." you rest your chin on the arms crossed on top of your knees. Rowan shifts from foot to foot, uncomfortable to be in the way of his coach's venomous line of sight.
"How do you even get out of doing this?" he's pretty sure it's required for a complete grade.
"By being very annoying." you and the principal are at a stalemate. She refuses to give into your demand of bringing back your beloved club, completely ignoring your strike while your grades suffer for it. But you digress, it's for a good cause. Yoko says so anyway, even though she never once joined in the protest. You figure she just likes to charge you up and watch you wreck havoc, but whatever. It's one supporter against the entirety of your friends telling you it's a stupid idea. You'll take what you can get.
"You can't do that forever." he thumbs his collar, trying to pull the fabric away from sticking to his skin.
"Yes, I can." you stubbornly hold your ground.
"Cool. I'm gonna go change. This thing is starting to make me feel claustrophobic." god, you're so dumb it's endearing.
"Okay, have fun. But not too much fun." you giggle like a pervert.
---
AN: theyre always together even the nurse is starting to catch on aw<33 did anyone notice how xavier jus straight up disappeared once row row noticed y/n?? Cuz i didnt write that in for comedic purposes its funny to ME
so when am i actually gonna get into the plot? u may be wondering, the answer is: no comment
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𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑊𝑖𝑡𝑐𝘩 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝘩𝑖𝑠 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝐶𝑎𝑡 | rowan laslow
FanficVampires usually stick to their own clique. It's convenient to have friends that don't become prunes after just a few decades. Unfortunately, you're not the usual vampire.
