"No, look." Monty jabbed his finger at the paper again. "You need to balance the equation, not solve it."
"I'm not trying to solve it, I'm trying to... I don't know" Jasper sighed. The equations made no sense. Half this stuff wasn't even on the Ark. They were learning about elements that they'd never seen, heard of, or even had access to. Probably elements that didn't exist anymore.
"This is stupid." Jasper complained and stuck out his bottom lip. "Can't we do something else?" Monty was tempted. There was plenty of things he'd rather be doing with Jasper. Sadly, without Jasper feeling the same way about him, they were really possibilities.
"No. This is what we're doing. God, how did I not realize how terrible you were as a student before?" Monty laughed but Jasper didn't.
"Go float yourself Monty." He went to get up and leave but Monty blocked him.
"Hey, Jasper I was kidding!" Monty hated to think he'd upset so blocked his path out his bedroom. He couldn't leave being mad at Monty.
"I'm not as stupid as you say I am Monty." Monty realized how Jasper must have interpreted what he'd said.
"No! No, I meant you don't listen. And its frustrating because I know how smart you are." Monty told him "I mean, look at what you did this year. You helped save everyone." Jasper softened a little when he heard this.
"Of course you did. We couldn't have done it without you."
"Thank you Monty." He moved forward slightly and gave him a tight hug. Monty appreciated the physical contact, but was very aware of where he put his hands, how tightly he held Jasper, and he even held his breath the entire time. Monty was far too calculating with the moment to like it.
"Now.." Jasper moved away to try to slide past him. "Maybe that's enough for today."
"Oh no you don't." And without considering it, Monty used the fact his arms were still around Jaspers waist to tackle him onto the bed to keep him in the room. They both collapsed in a fit of giggles together, Monty still half on top of his friend. He could feel Jaspers ribcage under him, moving like crazy and he laughed.
Monty calmed down a little and Jasper remained smiling like the big dork he was.
"Well that's one way of keeping me here." Jasper joked and they started laughing again. Monty was both excited and terrified of the fact he was still on top of him, but dared himself to stay there.
"Next time I'll ask." Monty said, joking around but not really was too nervous. Jasper stopped smiling and moved himself a little closer to Monty.
"I think I prefer this way." He admitted quietly. Monty tried to figure out what that meant, cursing himself that he didn't seem to have a long enough time to think about it because a familiar voice came calling from the main living area.
"Monty?! Jasper?! You guys here?!" Octavia yelled and Monty quickly scrambled off Jasper and to the other side of the room. Jasper sat up just as quickly. She burst into the room without knocking.
"Hey guys!" She says quite loudly. Month figured having to be almost silent her entire life, hiding, meant she was excited to be able to be loud and move around.
"Hi Octavia." Jasper said, glancing very quickly at Monty who was avoiding looking at him at all costs.
"Um, hi. You guys take Earth Skills 3b right?" She asked, noticing their strange behavior.
"Yeah. Why?" Jasper said, standing up realizing it might look odd sitting on Montys bed. Not that they were doing anything. Kind of.
"They need to enroll me in classes. So that's one of them. Thought I'd check to see I was with you guys. Right, Bellamy promised to show me around a bit more of the Ark today. I'm hoping he'll show me part of the left wing today. See you guys around." She waved a little and practically skipped off. Jasper smiled, trying to ease up the tension a little.
"Octavia's cool." Jasper commented offhandedly.
"Yeah. If you like her you should ask her out you know." Monty pointed out, his voice bitter.
"Really?" Jasper narrowed his eyes. "You think I should ask Octavia out?" He was more hurt than he expected.
Monty swallowed slightly and tried to remain calm. "Do what you want. If you want to ask her out, go for it man." He took a deep breath. "We should study. I want to know how to make that cake of yours."
"Right...yeah. Better get to it." Jasper said. Monty wanted to believe he sounded disappointed, but he was too busy trying to concentrate on helping Jasper do his work. He wanted his friend to pass this class. They both sat down and Monty explained what to do again. Jasper really tried to get it, and he figured he would once he thought about it, but he was too busy thinking about Monty.
He'd really wanted to kiss him. Seriously wanted to kiss him, and yet now Monty seemed to want him to ask out Octavia. Sure she seemed great, but Jasper didn't want to date her. He barely knew her.
What he did know was Monty. He knew what he liked to drink and eat. He knew he chewed on his pencil when he worked because it helped him concentrate. Jasper knew he ran his fingers through his hair when he was stressed then would immediately pat it down again which Jasper thought was very cute. Monty was predictable in his own kind of way, but just as fun and exciting as the day they met.
And he liked Monty. He liked how he was around Monty. Monty was so good, it made him want to be better. If it hadn't been for Monty, he would have never had the courage to help with the oxygen problem. He would have wanted to, but it was Monty that gave him the push. He'd risked being floated, and it had paid off. All of that was Monty. All his life, Monty was always there.
He didn't want Octavia. He wanted Monty.
And he had to tell him.
Hey, thanks to everybody who's read this so far, new chapter will be up soon :)