the feathers in our veins (scarian superhero au)

001. the weight of another soul

"Good morning, Grian?" Scar's sudden voice jolted Grian awake as he had been previously dozing off at the break room table. Initially startled, Grian relaxed upon realizing it was just his co-worker, Scar, who greeted him with a smile.

"Yeah, sorry," Grian cleared his throat, nonetheless still feeling embarrassed. "Good morning," he replied, rubbing his eyes and adjusting his posture. Scar raised an eyebrow before wheeling himself into the room, holding two empty coffee cups, one likely for himself and the other for someone else.

Grian hadn't seen Scar in a couple of days due to their busy schedules, especially with the new semester starting, making the past week particularly hectic for everyone on campus.

While yawning, the blonde realized he still had half an unfinished egg biscuit to eat and a quarter cup of coffee to drink. He gave a frustrated shrug.

"Rough night last night?" Scar asked, noticing Grian's tired demeanor. Grian quickly fabricated an excuse as Scar headed for the coffee table to fill the cups.

"Just grading. Stayed up later than I should have," he lied, though Scar nodded in understanding as he poured coffee from the pot and found lids for the cups.

Over the past 8 months, Grian had been teaching architecture as a college professor, while Scar, his co-worker had been teaching for nearly 2 years. Scar taught various classes based around technology programming and engineering.

Much to his surprise, Grian had genuinely learned a lot from Scar, things he would have never been able to comprehend without the knowledge. Grian had also noticed that, despite Scars' disability, the man's cheerful personality never wavered, regardless of the situation.

Scar always tried to see the good in things, or as some say the 'brighter side.'

"Well, make sure to drink water and not just caffeine," Scar advised, nodding his head toward the coffee cup beside Grian before wheeling up to the table. Grian smiled at his concern before Scar continued.

"And don't overwork yourself either. "I do not want another Mumbo passing out situation with you," Scar said, referring to a previous incident that had left them both concerned.

Mumbo was also a co-worker friend of theirs who taught science engineering. He had been hired shortly after Scar had. The trios classrooms were conveniently close to one another, which is why the three knew each other as well as they did.

"Oh no, I don't plan on letting myself get that bad." Grian replied. Awkwardly laughing as he recalled how scary that situation had been in the moment.

"Yeah, that was something else," Scar added.

"Thank you for your concern, but I should be fine," Grian assured again. Scar nodded before checking his watch.

"Speaking of Mumbo, this is his coffee I need to take to him. I have class in 10 minutes so i'm gonna get going. Try to have a decent day." Scar said, waving a small goodbye as he wheeled out with the coffee cups.

Grian waved back, sighing as he recollected the events of the previous night. He still had twenty minutes until his next class, but he decided to go ahead to his classroom instead of dwelling in the break room. He quickly threw away his remains of breakfast and headed out.

On the way down the active hallways filled with students waiting for their classes, Grian pulled his phone from his pocket noticing he had multiple unread messages from his brother, Jimmy.

The first message Grian received was a link to a news article, followed by a barrage of messages questioning his actions. "Was this you? What the hell Grian? Are you crazy? Do you realize how much risk you put yourself in? What would you have done if they caught you? I leave for two days on a business trip and you already are doing ridiculous things! Answer me."