Eirik was paying close attention to the lecturer as she walked back and forth in front of the projector screen, pointing at the diagrams and explaining the formulas for each motion that depicted.
He tapped his pen against the paper as the lecturer changed screens, casting a quick glance to his right. Eirik paused as his eyes met his classmate's – the guy smiling brightly in return and giving him little wave as a greeting.
Eirik blinked a few times in surprise and turned back to his own papers.
Their lecturer switches slides and continued explaining motion dynamics.
However; as Eirik jotted down what she said, he could see from the corner of his eye his classmate looking at him – or more accurately: his papers.
Eirik turned to him, took a look at the paper and then raised his gaze to glare at his classmate.
"Don't copy my stuff," he hissed and moved his papers a little further away – placing his pencil case between them for added effect.
His classmate looked dejected and he might have tried to apologise – but Eirik ignored him.
He hadn't studied hard for someone to come and copy all his notes without permission.
When dismissed from class he quickly gathered his belongings and stood up, fully planning to get a cup of coffee before next lecture started.
There wasn't much choice in coffee – cheap instant coffee from a machine would have to do.
Eirik frowned as he waited for the flimsy little cup to fill up.
He almost dropped the cup when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"You..." he said coolly as he turned around to find his note-copying classmate. "What do you want?" he asked with a frown.
"Sorry," the guy said, voice hoarse and the word barely above a whisper. "I can't hear her," he added.
Eirik stared.
His classmate's words were unsteady and he stressed the wrong syllables. He had to concentrate to understand him – the guy's accent far from any other he'd ever heard before.
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that..." Eirik replied and looked at him worriedly.
The guy sighed, looking very tired as he pulled out a small notepad and pen.
Eirik watched with uncertainty as the guy quickly wrote something down before preserving the little notepad to Eirik.
'I'm deaf' – it read and Eirik's eyes went wide.
"Oh..." he uttered, feeling very awful for being so rude earlier.
"I'm sorry," he said as he handed the notepad back.
'It's ok. I should have asked to copy your notes before'
Eirik read the words presented to him, pausing a little and trying to remember if anyone had ever mention their classmate was hard of hearing.
'I'm Eirik. What's your name?' he wrote back and handed the notebook back.
'Preben'
'Nice to meet you' Eirik wrote, watching as Preben smiled brightly as he read his words.
Preben made some gestures with his hands that meant nothing to Eirik, but he smiled ever so slightly back regardless.
"We better get back," he said and gestured to the lecture hall.
"Yes," Preben replied out loud, his confident smile at odds with his whispered and raspy speech.
This time Eirik didn't make it impossible for Preben to copy his notes.
Instead he ensured Preben could copy them with ease, handing them over each time he'd filled a page.
Preben beamed at him with joy each time their eyes met and Eirik wondered how on earth he could have not noticed Preben before today.
'Thanks' Preben wrote in the margin of Eirik's notes, and he didn't mind the slightest.
'Welcome' Eirik wrote underneath it again, adding a little drawing of a rabbit.
Preben smiled and signed something at him.
Judging by how he pointed to the teacher, Eirik decided he should probably stop looking at Preben and actually focus on the lecture instead.
Twenty minutes later they were dismissed and Eirik quickly turned to Preben to ensure he'd gotten a copy of all the notes.
"Can you read my handwriting?" he asked out loud, a little of put by how closely Preben studied his lips when he talked.
Preben nodded.
"It's pretty," he muttered in return, hands signing what Eirik assumed was probably the same words.
"Oh good..." Eirik let out a sigh of relief, feeling a little less awful now than before.
"Can I copy tomorrow?" Preben asked shakily and Eirik nodded.
'Of course you can' Eirik scribbled quickly on a piece of paper and Preben beamed at him.
"Thank you," he said and smiled even if it had sounded far from happy.
His plans to go home and study tomorrows lecture went out the window the second Preben waved him farewell.
A quick trip to the library and five books on sign language later – Eirik sat himself down at his desk with his laptop.
Six cups of coffee later and with eyes so red it looked like he'd been crying – Eirik had mastered how to say a few things in sign language.
Well, he hoped he'd mastered it.
As his bedside table clock read 4 in the morning, Eirik collapsed into bed.
Only 3 and a half hours till he had to get ready for the next lecture.
3 hours of sleep?
No problem.
He stumbled into the lecture hall ten minutes before it started, large travel mug of coffee in his hand but with a determination unlike ever before.
Eirik spotted Preben waving at him, and he climbed the stairs up to 'their' row as quickly as he could.
"Hello," Preben greeted him with his raspy voice.
'Good morning,' Eirik signed in return, smiling ever so slightly as Preben's jaw dropped.
'Sorry', he signed. 'Learning' he added and pointed to himself.
Preben appeared to be utterly frozen, so Eirik carefully took a seat and unpacked his things.
He felt Preben tug at his shirt, and Eirik turned to face him, an amused smile gracing his lips – although it faded quickly.
"Are you crying?" he whispered – he didn't know how to sign that much yet.
Preben nodded and tried to wipe the tears away.
Eirik looked around, hoping no one saw them. He didn't want people to think he'd made the deaf guy cry.
'Thank you' Preben signed.
Eirik recognised those hand gestures – he'd studied them over and over last night.
And now Preben was singing them over and over again. Mouthing the words 'thank you' for each time as tears rolled down his cheeks.
'You're welcome' Eirik signed back, offering a somewhat friendly smile.
Preben sniffled and hugged him tightly – making Eirik freeze.
"It's okay," he whispered and patted Preben's back before realising Preben couldn't hear or see his lips like this. Fuck it, he thought and sighed; letting Preben hug him for a moment longer.
People were starting to notice their odd behaviour, but Eirik just shot them a cold glare and let Preben cry from joy a little while longer.
'Sorry,' Preben signed, looking very apologetic about the tear stains on Eirik's blue shirt.
"Eh," Eirik shrugged. "It will dry," he chuckled softly.
Preben still looked worried so Eirik signed 'Fine' at him and smiled – glad when it appeared to make Preben more at ease.
It wasn't easy to take notes for two.
Eirik was used to short-handing things so he understood it – but he didn't actually know if Preben's mind worked like his.
Then again, he argued to himself as he copied down what the teacher was saying – Preben had probably been copying him for a good few weeks now without him really noticing, so clearly he had to be doing something right.
'Thank you' Preben signed with a wide smile at the end of the day. He began to sign something else, but Eirik interrupted by holding up his hand.
"Hang on..." Eirik said, fishing out one of the sign language books he'd gotten from the library.
"Still learning," he added and felt his cheeks go a slight darker shade of pink as he flipped through the pages.
Preben laughed and took the book from his hands, flipping through the pages himself until he found what he was looking for and presented the book back to Eirik.
Eirik looked at the page and then back up to Preben who was now signing the same gestures.
'Can I buy you lunch?' Preben asked and smiled softly.
"Yes," Eirik replied a little to quickly for his own liking before he remembered who he was talking to and signed the word once more.
Preben smiled from ear to ear, looking like the happiest man in the world as he excitedly signed something else at Eirik.
'Slow down please,' Eirik signed, feeling horrible for not being able to keep up with Preben. However; he couldn't blame anyone buy himself. Preben had to cope with about 99% of the university not knowing anything about sign language – the least Eirik could do was to try to learn and follow.
"You're good," Preben said out loud and Eirik blushed.
'Thank you,' he signed in reply, glad to at least have that sentence down, probably...
He couldn't follow a full conversation, but Preben was patient with him.
Pointing out pages in the book and showing Eirik how to do the signs in real life.
They practiced over lunch and on the way back to the student flats, both laughing when Eirik signed something wrong and Preben had to explain what he had actually just said.
"I meant English!" Eirik said out loud, face red as he hid his face in his hands.
"Lesbian!" Preben said out loud, unable to stand up straight as he laughed so hard he lost his breath.
Eirik groaned. He had just wanted to explain that his flatmate was English, but if he didn't place his fingers in the right position on his face – the word changed to 'lesbian'.
The phrase: 'Arthur is English' had become 'Arthur is lesbian' – and this was far too amusing for Preben to let slide.
'See you tomorrow,' Preben signed, slowly and carefully so Eirik wouldn't get confused, and Eirik smiled and signed a steady and confident 'Yes, tomorrow' in return.
He had to chuckle to himself as Preben waved excitedly as they parted ways, the book on sign language warm and heavy in Eirik's hand.
Homework could wait he decided.
Tomorrow he wanted to surprise Preben even more.
Next week he might be able to hold a short conversation...
He smiled at the thought.
It wasn't the goal he had though he'd set himself at university, but right now it felt like the most important one.
If learning sign language could make Preben smile brightly at him again, well – then Eirik could cope with not getting an 'A' in every subject.
Based on this artwork
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