Academy One-shots and Drabbles

Marc's Week

A/N: The context for this was done for the Flash Fiction Friday for Marc's Week in the TAFF group on facebook.

Marc was troubled. Holding the mug of coffee in one hand and his phone in the other, he stared hard at the screen in concentration. His eyes roamed over the replies on his "Favorite Canon scenes/moments" post and his heart thumped rapidly as he anticipated the comments the birds posted.

But his face fell and his heart dropped in his chest when he noticed only a few birds commented. Was he not likable? He shut his phone down and pushed it to the side, deciding to forget about it for the time being.

Bringing the mug of coffee to his lips, he took a sip but promptly spit it out at the bland taste that flooded his senses. "This coffee tastes weird." He admitted, staring at the depths of his mug with a frown.

From across the room, Brandon snorted, his eyes glued to his phone as he took a sip from his own cup. "That's probably because it's not coffee, it's tea. Unsweetened tea."

Marc made a face and gagged, wondering who in the world would drink such death! Blasphemy! "Ugh! Who the heck in this cabin drinks this shit?!" He asked, his face screwing up in distaste as the lingering taste of the tea stayed on his tongue.

Brandon laughed, setting his phone down as he moved over to the French press and made Marc an actual mug of coffee. "Owen drinks it every morning, because regular coffee stains his teeth or some shit like that."

"That's....disgusting. If it's not sweet tea, it's not a tea I wanna drink."

Marc took the coffee gratefully, allowing the smell of it to waft in the air before he finally - blessedly, took a sip. Now this was coffee.

"At least I have my coffee," he said sullenly, remembering his week in the group was coming to an end.

"Hey, the birds love you in there. I'm sure it's just because everyone's busy or preoccupied that they couldn't participate as much." Brandon said, squeezing Marc's shoulder comfortingly.

Marc sighed, feeling ridiculous for being so down about it when he knew what Brandon said was true. There were so many people in the group, maybe he just had to make sure to interact more and make the birds feel welcomed.

Brandon stood a little straighter as an idea came to mind. "Hey, let's go prank that little shit, Luke. He stuck a raccoon doll into my sleep bag last night as a 'ha ha' and keeps putting those things everywhere I go!" Even now, he was wary of his surroundings and was careful about opening cupboards and drawers, sure one of those trash pandas would actually be real.

Marc stifled a laugh but thought maybe a prank would be a good way to get his mind off things. Plus, he was dying for a chance to get back at the Blackbourne team for winning yesterday's basketball match. Maybe sharing a cabin with them wasn't such a bad thing.