Chapter 1 – Coffee

A/N Okee-dokee, lovelies! This was my summer NaNo fic from Camp NaNoWriMo in July! I decided that I had enough of it edited and whatnot to start posting it. I hope you guys like it!

Jason should have known it wouldn't work out as well as he hoped. In fact, he should have learned by now not to hope at all. No hope equals no disappointment, after all, and it's better to be pleasantly surprised than to have your hopes dashed to the ground like a ceramic pot on a cement floor.

He couldn't believe his luck, either the good or the bad. Actually, that's not true. Bad luck was something he was used to. The good luck was the part he couldn't believe.

Here he was, a scholarship student who honestly shouldn't even have been accepted into the university at all. He could have listed a million reasons why the dean of admissions should have kicked his sorry ass to the curb without even reading his application. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever for him to give Jason a full-ride scholarship, and a job at the campus library to boot. Jason still couldn't figure out how it happened. He hadn't expected it, couldn't explain it, and refused to question or scrutinize it too closely. All he would do, all he could do, was anything and everything it took to make sure his good luck lasted as long as humanly possible.

Of course, as soon as Jason made that decision everything went to hell. But, he reminded himself, he should be used to shitty things happening to him. Bad luck wasn't even his middle name, more like his first.

In his defense though, what happened wasn't entirely his fault. It wasn't even mostly his fault. Jason had just been walking to class with a plan to get there early to make a good first impression on his professor. He'd managed to test out of a lot of the core curriculum for a BA, so he got to start out with a pretty good class on his roster for the semester. Journalism was an important subject for someone trying to get a BA in English. Best to start out on the right foot, right? He had never been accused of being a teacher's pet, mostly because he hadn't actually gone to school for very long, but he wouldn't exactly get offended if it happened.

Not that much offended Jason anyway.

So he was walking to his first class, actually feeling pretty good for once, when some kid just runs into him. Literally, runs into him. The two of them fell to the ground before Jason even knew what was happening, but he figured it out the moment his ass met the concrete. He jerked up to a sitting position, ready to chew out the idiot who ran into him. Jason almost felt bad for the kid; he wasn't exactly known for having good anger management. He opened his mouth, scathing words on his tongue and daggers in his eyes, when he felt it all at once.

The burning, searing pain of a spilt coffee from Starbucks raged across his abdomen and seeped down to his groin. It took him a moment to be able to breathe, and when he could his anger only grew. "What the actual fuck?" he yelled, barely contained rage, and pain, evident in his tone.

Of course, that was when he noticed that the kid who ran in to him was actually a really hot, albeit short, guy close to Jason's age. A really hot guy who had actually landed on his lap as they hit the ground. A really hot guy who looked startled, embarrassed, and maybe a little bit afraid.

A really hot guy who had spilt boiling hot coffee on Jason's favorite Tee, which he was now going to have to change because he could not go to his first class with an important professor with a coffee stain on his shirt. Jason hated coffee, and he now noticed that it wasn't even black coffee. No, this guy (this really hot guy with the most attractive glasses ever) had the nerve to spill a latte on him. A fucking latte! Jason hated lattes with a burning passion that would never die.

The guy on Jason's lap blinked a couple times before swallowing. He took in a deep breath of air and immediately began rambling. "Shit, man, I am so sorry. I can't believe I did this again. I should have been watching where I was going. Are you okay? Oh god, your shirt! I might have some napkins or tissues in my backpack-"

"Kid!" Jason had to stop him right there because it was one thing when he was a really hot guy who spilled coffee on him and knocked him over and landed in his lap. It was quite another thing entirely when said hot guy had a really smooth voice, and it was way deeper than you could possibly expect from somebody so small. It just wasn't fair, honestly, especially when Hot Guy's really nice fingers pushed his glasses up more firmly on his nose out of nervous embarrassment. For fuck's sake.

Jason was so busy staring at Hot Guy's fingers, which were now tapping a rhythm onto the kid's thigh, that he forgot he had interrupted him. He drew a blank on all the scathing words he was going to say about manners and watching where he was going. All he could think to say was, "You're still sitting on my lap."

Hot Guy looked down, observing the fact that he was indeed sitting on Jason's lap. He made a small choking sound and scrambled to his feet. After a second's hesitation, he reached out a hand to help Jason stand. Any other time, Jason would have ignored it like the asshole he was and made his own way to his feet, but this was Hot Guy, who had really, really nice hands, and Jason just couldn't pass up on an opportunity to touch one of them.

Once Jason was on his feet, he looked down to survey the damage. It was so bad. A big brown stain marred the front of his white graphic Tee from the bottom of his ribcage to the hem. "Shit," he said. Jason really couldn't go to class like this. He checked his watch real quick to see how much time he had, and he cursed again when he saw that he might barely make it on time if he left right that second. He sighed in irritation and had a hand running through his hair when Hot Guy decided to speak again.

"Um," Jason looked up at him out of the corner of his eye. "I really am so sorry about your shirt. I can pay you for it though. I mean, I know those band shirts can be kind of pricey, and I really don't think that stain is going to come out very easy so-"

"I don't want your money, kid." That came out a little harsher than Jason had intended, but the level of hotness in an individual didn't really do much to impact Jason's short temper. Hot Guy paused in the middle of his sentence, his mouth still partially open. "It's not a big deal, really. I'll just have to go back and change real quick."

"Were you in a hurry to get somewhere?"

Jason sighed. Apparently he wasn't getting out of this conversation as quickly as he'd hoped. "Yeah, my first class with a professor I was hoping to impress. It doesn't matter anymore. I'll lick my wounds and show up late."

Hot Guy shifted his weight. "Can I ask which professor it is? I might could tell you how they'll react. I know pretty much all the faculty."

Jason raised an eyebrow, but indulged the kid. "Professor Kent. Journalism."

Hot Guy's face lit up. "Oh, Clark?" The kid laughed at Jason's obvious confusion. "Just tell him Tim spilled his coffee all over you. He'll get a laugh out of it and you'll get the best first impression ever. Clark loves me."

Jason wasn't so sure, but he figured he'd give it a shot. "Thanks, maybe I'll try that."

"You should," Hot Guy said, nodding his enthusiasm. "Are you a journalism major?"

He shook his head. "English, but I have an emphasis on Professional Writing and I'm minoring in Journalism, so I figured I'd end up with Professor Kent a lot."

Hot Guy nodded. "You will. And you'll probably love it. Everybody likes Clark. I mean, Professor Kent."

Jason tilted his head to the side. "First name basis with the Journalism professor. Does that mean you're a journalism major?"

The kid snorted. "No way. The written word is definitely not my jam." His emphasis of the word 'not' was almost comical. "I'm dual majoring in computer science and forensics. Clark is just an old family friend. His son is one of my best friends."

Computer Science and forensics, huh? Jason always knew a nerd when he saw one. "Cool. Well, uh, nice meeting you, I guess. You said Tim, right?"

Tim nodded. "Yeah. It was nice meeting you." The kid winced as he took in the coffee stain again. "I really am so sorry about your shirt. And that's such a cool band, too." He really did sound so sad about the ruined shirt. Jason couldn't help a small smile.

"There's more where this one came from. Don't worry about it." He looked down to survey his shirt again and caught the time on his watch in the process. "Oh, shit. I'm going to miss most of the class at this point." He looked up at Tim and gave him a grin. "See you around, Tim. Hopefully next time we run into each other it won't involve actual running. Or coffee."

Tim laughed, even as his ears turned a bit red. "I'll do my best not to be a walking hazard. Nice meeting you- Hey, I didn't catch your name."

Jason was already walking away, but he looked back at Tim over his shoulder. "Jason."

And with that he ran back to his dorm.