Word Count; 1516 in total
Warning; There's some language
--------------------------------------------------------
Arin tore pieces off of the supposed to be classwork as the clock moved it's hands at an at agonizingly slow speed, each second lasting longer then the last. The teacher droned on about...whatever he was explaining. It was probably math. Arin lost interest 20 minutes ago and didn't feel like bothering to follow him now. He was more intent on staring at the poofy and untameable hair of Dan Avidan who sat directly in front of him.
He tore away more paper as he daydreamed about what it would be like to cut all of Dan's luxurious hair off and make him watch as each strand disappeared. The sick sense of joy was appealing to him, and yet, he believed Dan could still look fucking hot without the hair. He could go mid-life crisis balding and probably still make a tiny bit of Arin scream.
Class continued to move by at a snail like speed, and Arin continued to ignore his classwork and daydream about Avidan being pushed off of his high, lovely horse. He flicked little bits of the shredded work into Dan's hair, where they stuck like little particles of snow in the humid room.
Either Dan didn't notice or mind, but by the time the period ended his head looked like a library book went through a shredder and somehow got glued to a beautiful wig. Arin shoved the meaningless remains of the sad paper in his bag, along with the homework the teacher had given with a resentful force. He slung the back breaking weight of the backpack over his shoulder and watched as Dan got up.
Paper fluttered from his hair as he turned a little too fast. He looked down, confused as to why a math sheet was suddenly pouring from his hair. " My bad, Avidan. Mistook your muppet head as an art project." Arin said sarcastically as Dan began removing the mess from his head. He actually snorted at the remark and smiled at Arin with bits of paper sticking to his hands and eyelashes.
" It's cool. People dig the 'I fell head first into a snowbank' look. " he replied. He tossed some of the makeshift confetti Arin's way, but he stepped to the side and let it pathetically drop onto the floor. Arin stared at it with a dead look, before giving the same to Dan.
" Maybe next time. " he remarked with an unnecessary bitter tone. He noticed Dan's wince, the look making him feel both happiness and that odd feeling you get that isn't quite shame, but rather close. Too close for Arin's liking in fact.
Arin pushed past him and joined the stream of students that flooded out the door, leaving Dan still standing there awkwardly in a mess of white.
Arin thought he heard Dan try to say something, but it was drowned out by the orchestra of highschool angst. Even if it was something important, he didn't really care. It would have probably been something grossly sappy or adorable. He didn't notice him quickly follow him out of the classroom, practically at his heels. If Arin had decided to stop in the middle of the crowd, Dan could have very well bashed his nose against the back of his skull.
Arin was lost in spiteful thoughts as he looked for the domestic economy room, taking turn after turn and trying to peer over everyone's head. The class offered something actually important in his point of view, which calculus only dreamed of having the same allure.
He spotted the small red plaque above the door and hurried into the room and out of the way of the other students to prevent a road block. He happily sat himself in the middle of the desk ocean. It was harder to get called out on using your phone if you were surrounded by a million other kids.
Everyone eventually trickled in, slowly but surely. Something about school sapped the life out of kids and made them abnormally sluggish. After everyone carefully selected their desks, friend sitting with friend, the class settled into a steady hum of angsty chatting. Arin didn't converse with his neighbors, and ended up looking at memes as he waited for the teacher to start class.
Turns out, the teacher waited until five minutes after the final bell to start class. Five extra minutes devoted to meaningless memes and space aesthetics. To get the ocean of students attention, the teacher blew a cliché coach whistle that sounded like an angry tire squeak. It worked pretty well though.
The teacher neatly sat in they're chair an addressed the entire class after giving everyone a heart attack. " We have a special project for the next month. You will each be assigned a partner, and given a packet of information that is unique to each set of students. If you lose or damage the project, there will be no extra copies," They said firmly.
" Each week will be a different task for each group. Your total grade for the project rests on the sum of all the weekly projects put together. When I call your name, come get your packet and find the partner that you were assigned. "
They finished and began to spout of names of students and their more or less lucky partners.
Kevin got paired with Vernon.
Matt got paired with Ryan.
Ross got paired with Brian and so on and so forth.
" Arin Hanson, come get your packet." the teacher said, their voice as fucking flat as ever. Arin moved between the narrow isles of desks, received the info from the teacher and looked to see who the unfortunate soul he got paired with was.
. . .
His heart skipped a beat; in a bad way. Right next to his name was none other than Dan's, sitting there proudly. He didn't know he took this class, which gave him a slight chill. Arin noticed a hopeful pair of eyes staring right into his soul, three desks down from his.
Dan looked at him like a small animal who expected some kind of reward for being good.
It was absolutely disgusting.
He held his breath as noticed an empty desk was ever so fucking conveniently placed beside Dan's, like God shining his heavenly light on an electric chair. He reluctantly retrieved his bag and sat in the desk next to Dan's with an internal sigh.
Arin looked over at Dan, who had both stars and the entire sun shining through his brown eyes. " I wonder if this is what you look like every time Brian agrees to fuck you," Arin frowned at him, making the suns dim. " First off, Brian and I are just friends. Second, can't I be excited to see your grumpy face? It not every day you get the honor of working with the lovely Arin Hanson." Dan put a cliché fancy accent announcing Arin's name.
They had literally seen each other last period and Dan acted as if he had been waiting for weeks to say this. He could have been, Arin knowing how chipper and wonderful Dan could be.
" I would rather get throat fucked by King Kong's monkey shaft than work with you." Arin said bluntly as he scanned through the packet. He swore he saw Dan frown out of the corner of his eye, but if he did, it disappeared as he handed him the assignment. " One of us is musician who works in an orchestra, the other is a swim coach. We have a son and a dog," Arin recited, picking dirt from underneath his finger nails. If he had received a...better partner, Arin would have at least tried to make an effort to be a decent person. Dan was a splendid joy to be around, and Arin loathed the way his being was drawn to that positivity.
Absolutely revolting.
" For the first week, we have to figure out how to manage rent, grocery shopping and driving our son to school. The dog is an extra expense that we could remove, but it's worth extra credit." Arin finished, flicking the fingernail debris elsewhere. He could care less about what Dan's smooth and enchanting voice had to say.
" Well, I can be the musician. You can be the swim coach. We just have to manage our money before payday. Easy. " Dan said as he let the stapled paper fall flat. Arin grumbled something under his breath, but it was not at all audible. " We could, perhaps, work on it at lunch? If you want to, I mean. " Dan proposed. Something about his eagerness made Arin cave for a split second, and with his human autopilot more on, he spoke before thinking.
" Sure. Whatever works man." Arin sighed, crossing his arms. Dan grinned, his miniature triumph brightening his face once more.
" Geez don't get a chub dude. It's just a project. "
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh boi this took a while to finish, buts it's here?
Happy Holidays!
Finished: 12•22•17
Published: 12•25•17
Edited Last: 5•6•18
