Title: A Sorta Fairytale (2/3 or maybe some higher number)
Series: FE9/10
Character/Pairing: Ike/Soren, Ranulf/Kyza/Lyre, ensemble
Rating: PG-13
Summary: College AU. On the first party of the semester, Ike is kissed by an anti-social Science major. The rest, as you would say, is history. Ike/Soren.
Author's note: something I started randomly over last Nano. Well, technically it's a mix of 09's nano snippets as well. I had scrapped the whole college verse I had going, but kept two scenes I liked a lot in this one.
Happy winter holidays, TheOnlyPrincess One of em, anyways.
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"Could you give me any reason, outside of your mistranslated book of sayings of the goddess―which was taken from someone who was executed by the court, might I add," Soren said.
"But, it's dangerous, there's no way to prevent-"
Soren cut him off. "I see you apparently live in a hellish alternate reality where birth control does not exist," Soren said. "How you got into the portal of our world, I've no clue, but here, there's condoms at nearly every bathroom, and your argument is meaningless towards large parts of the population. Furthermore, what of those who cannot procreate?"
It started out poorly for the group already. They were citing divine plans and promise rings and misquoting a goddess who had turned everyone to stone. Certain members of the school had made many 'stoned' jokes about this over the years. Thankfully, the goddess was asleep, and not there to put them under divine retribution.
Soren looked offended on the behalf of science, and maybe sex, but probably science. They all wore sweater vests and looked vaguely like clones from some sci-fi movie, though Soren stood out with his deep red eyes filled with cold fury. It was like watching a predator slaughter prey in a nature documentary; Ike just couldn't look away from the carnage.
However, it wasn't like basketball or football where there was actual scores with cheerleaders doing handstands and stuff with each point. If it was, it would've been all the more embarrassing for the celibacy club.
Soren slammed his hands down on the debating table like he was a parody of the Japanese law system.
"Are you trying to make a mockery of this establishment, and of science? Because if you are, then you're succeeding."
He said it in this low, cold voice which made Ike get distracted from his other arguments and just focus on him. The fire and fury and steel of him. Soren was in fact, downright vicious when it came to debating. He had an air of condescension that implied that all those opposing him had about the I.Q. of mayonnaise. Though with this group it wasn't hard, mostly because Ranulf could've probably out debated them armed with nothing but 'your argument is invalid' cat macros.
"Soren totally intimidates them," Ranulf said, leaning over to whisper. "The beefy guys think he's going to be a pushover because he's so tiny, and the some of the girls and guys are jealous for obvious reasons."
"People know about that?" Ike said.
"Gossip travels fast," Ranulf said.
"Because you spread it," Ike said.
"Hey, I bet this will help get Aimee off your case. I saw her making out with that asshole gun guy your dad was tight with. You know, the one redhead who's always smashed? She's moving on fast."
Ranulf always managed to find the bright side of things. Ike turned his attention back to the debate, which was less discussion and more Soren beating them senseless with his words alone.
He was striking when he was angry. Pretty, even. Handsome? Beautiful? These were odd thoughts for Ike. Beautiful or handsome weren't terms he exactly used, let alone on a regular basis. It was usually 'pretty nice' that escaped his lips, as in that's a pretty nice car or that was a pretty nice meal. He'd never had a moment where he looked at someone and thought them breathtaking. At least, not until now.
Ike caught Soren's gaze as he was leaving the stage. His face was unreadable. He was struck by how familiar it all seemed. But no, that wasn't right. It was just a strange, inexplicable feeling. Even as he tried to push away the sense of deja vu which shouldn't exist, it still remained deep within him.
One big change was that Ike no longer had a ton of girls asking him out at every opportunity. In that, Soren had done him a real favor. Now Ike could walk to practice without finding fifteen numbers had been shoved into his jacket somehow. The only one who hadn't gotten the message was Aimee. The drunken kisses Ranulf had spied weren't enough to keep the letters from coming, and it certainly didn't stop her from giving tell-all interviews to the National Dish, which despite its name wasn't about delicious food, but ridiculous, made up things like The secret princess of the Crimean royal family and is Empress Sanaki's secret Heron sister going to dethrone her? and Strange vulgar-mouthed child found, thought to be secret goddess.
The Uni library was pretty compact, all bookshelves and computers and a few tables for studying and stuff with really ugly green carpet. Ranulf and Kyza refused to even go in the place just because of the ugly carpet. In their more drunk moments, they talked about sneaking into the library at night and doing something about that 80s reject carpet.
He caught site of Soren, though he still hadn't quite figured out what he was going to say to him. Hey, I remember that time you kissed me and it kind of made things weird, but not the bad sort of weird, well, maybe sort of the bad kind of weird- didn't exactly seem like a great icebreaker.
Ranulf had tried to do the wingman or wingbro thing, whatever it was called, but Ike couldn't remember most of the bro code. Except the part about knowing your target's interests and sticking there in hopes of an accidental meeting, which sort of sounded like stalking to Ike, but apparently it was a thing. He pushed things like pick up lines and stupid games out of his mind.
Which is why he was in the library. Trying to act like he actually spent time in here. Doing library things. He tried to pick up a book and look like he belonged, but the words sort of blurred. Then when they didn't blur, he realized that he'd accidentally picked up Everybody Poops and now looked like someone who really failed anatomy, or reading. He cleared his throat and put the book back on the shelf and decided to just pick up a newspaper or something.
Except that's when he noticed he hadn't been alone at all. Soren turned that fierce gaze on him, the same way he'd looked when he'd destroyed the celibacy club. It had disbanded out of shame right after the debate.
"You've been standing there a while...What do you want?" Soren said.
He hadn't seen him come in. And from the looks of it, Soren had been there awhile, hidden in some corner with a book.
Ike sucked at being subtle. He always stumbled in, crashing and breaking things when it came to friendships. People who were personally offended by this just had to deal, because he was not up with pleasantries.
"The truth is, I want to get to know you," he said.
Soren flicked his gaze to him. He looked wary, and dismissive all at once.
"To reiterate: what do you want?"
"Uh, what?" Ike said.
"Everyone wants something. There's no such thing as true charity. The closest this human race can get to giving is to assuage their own selfish desires and pat themselves on the back for being virtuous," Soren said.
Generally Ike was the king of putting his foot in his mouth, but for once he had an inkling that it might be bad to say that he only understood about half of that. Maybe even less. But Ike didn't beat around the bush or play social games like Ranulf. So he did what he did best, and just laid it all out.
"Okay then. I want to get to know you better because I want to," Ike said.
"Ah...humiliation, then," Soren said.
"Not really into that sort of thing," Ike said.
Soren rolled his eyes. "You want to use and humiliate me, like every other person out there. To take my notes and then publicly tell me how weak I am," Soren said. His gaze was intense now, burning with anger.
"I don't know how you got that out of what I said, but it isn't remotely what I meant. For someone so smart, you sure are being dense."
Everything had been much better in the kitchen, but Soren had suddenly drawn back into himself. Lashing out at anyone who came close.
"You don't have to be afraid, Soren," Ike said.
The fury and fire collapsed in on itself. Soren drew back, and clutched his bag. "You always could see right through me," Soren said. His voice was so soft, Ike almost thought he imagined it.
When he looked at Soren there was just the faint fuzziness, like white noise static in his head, but it was gone before he could quite grasp what he was remembering.
"You're wasting your time; I'm no good with people. I have to get to class," he said. He picked up his books and brushed past Ike.
"Well, that went well," Ike said to no one in particular.
There was one thing Ike did know about Soren, that being the local lore of his notes. Soren took the most detailed notes anyone had ever seen. Soren's notes were prized like magic items through school, it was said that whoever possessed the fabled notes would pass the class for sure with the highest score possible.
The very fact that Soren refused under any circumstances to share only made the legends about those notes potency all the stronger. Some said that those who passed the quest to obtain Soren's notes might even find the meaning of life hidden in-between Advanced Calculus and Molecular Biology.
Ike wasn't taking Advanced Calculus or Molecular Biology. He'd in fact, heard that Soren had taken extra math classes for fun, a concept which Ike couldn't begin to understand.
Ranulf thought him bizarre, with his usual aversion for parties and beer pong. Apparently Soren usually spent his weekends reading. He probably even read big, boring textbooks for fun.
So it was a week after the meeting in the library that he saw Soren again. It wasn't so much that he was trying to see Soren, though if he came across him, he'd try and say hi or something. Mostly, he was trying not to fail the quarter, and staying in his dorm would inevitably end up with Ranulf and him playing video games, or Ranulf and him consuming lots of beer and then playing video games.
Ike had started to try and study in the library. The graphs and numbers and alleles didn't make much more sense, but at least it was more quiet than at home. Ranulf and Kyza and Lyre always flirted while studying, and listened to loud music. He turned a page, and couldn't help but think this would probably be easy for Soren.
Ike heard papers slap down on the table in the library. He didn't even flinch. Soren wasn't looking at him as he put the papers down.
"Uh," Ike said, bringing one of the papers into view. Soren's handwriting was small and neat.
"I saw your GPA today," Soren said. "I feel personally offended on behalf of your teachers."
"I only got two Fs," Ike protested. "Well, that and a couple D-'s. But, I passed those."
"A couple D-'s?" Soren's lips curled in disgust. "A single one would make your GPA plummet. And the less said about the F's, the better."
"It's just stats and numbers. It's the same as when they tried to crown me toga lord. In a couple years nobody is going to care that I failed chemistry. It won't affect me as a person. Any company which would hold it against me, isn't worth joining."
Soren clutched his books tighter to his chest. "Then you're wise. Wiser than I."
"Was that an apology?" Ike said.
Soren's shoulders slumped. "You could say that."
"You could stay," Ike said.
Soren seemed to consider him.
"Not just because of the grades."
"I didn't mean to talk to you. I was just being foolish. You should forget that ever happened, and forget me." It almost sounded like Soren said again in a whisper right after. Ike couldn't quite tell.
"But I'm not going to," Ike said.
"You wouldn't," Soren said. He bent under the weight of his books, and started to leave.
"You could stay," Ike said again.
Soren shook his head. Ike was left with only Soren's neat handwriting, and the vague sense he missed something.
"I cannot believe he gave you his notes," Ranulf said. He shook his head, and brought out a magnifying glass―the same one he used to verify when someone's ring was real or not.
"This is unbelievable. In fact, this is a Rosetta Stone which could get us the grades we never even dreamed of."
Kyza had brought in some green chip dip. Ranulf would just live off of nothing but junk food, but Kyza always brought something new he'd found the recipe of. Lyre, not to be outdone, would bring her own.
Half the time, their flat looked like a buffet with the way Ranulf's datefriends kept trying to outdo and out woo each other.
"It's still sinking in," Ike said.
"We could be millionaires selling it on the black market," Ranulf said.
"Not a chance," Ike said.
Ranulf sighed. "I knew you'd say that. Always the straight and narrow with you."
Kyza cleared his throat.
"Okay, the straight only applies to morals, but you've got way more of those than I do," Ranulf said.
"But still," Ike said between bites. Kyza really was a spectacular cook. "He gives me his notes and then he keeps avoiding me. I don't get it."
"What I don't get, Ike, is why you are focusing on one cranky sci major when there are tons of people just begging you to sleep with them. I mean, if gender is an issue, we could hit the gay bars. I know lots about gay guys; I make out with one all the time," Ranulf said.
"I just can't help but think I'm missing something here," Ike said, like Ranulf hadn't even gone on a tangent. This happened a lot, largely because what Ranulf said made no sense half the time, and that wasn't even counting the times he was drunk.
Ranulf rolled his eyes. "Since you can't get over this guy, I'll make it all better. Just come to the party. I'll make sure he's there."
Ike looked a bit surprised. "You're so powerful that you can even get Soren to a party again?"
"Like you have to ask? I have connections," Ranulf said. "You'll owe me one."
Not for the first time, Ike was glad that Ranulf was on his side.
"Mia, my man!" Ranulf and her did some sort of complicated handshake to fistpump. Soren stood behind her, looking as if he hated everyone and everything. Ike smiled at him, but Soren just looked away.
"I see you brought the famous Soren Nevassa with you," Ranulf said. He was grinning like the cat who ate the canary.
"Yeah, he was locked up and brooding over his textbooks as usual. I had to practically pry them out of his hands and threaten to use them as sword practice to get him out of there," Mia said. She threw her arm over his shoulder and Soren looked like he hated life a little more.
"I was wondering how you did it," Ranulf said. "But violence, that's a classic method."
"That's my mantra!" Mia said. "There's nothing that can't be solved with violence."
"I could've tied him up and thrown him over my shoulder, but I told him Ike would be there and he came willingly, but not without grumbles."
"Does he do anything without grumbling?" Ranulf said.
"Homework, andddd...that's about it. He even looks at his food like it's evil or something."
"His food?" Ilyana looked incredulous, but only for a moment as she settled back into looking famished. "Food?" she said again more quietly this time.
"Truly, that is a mantra to live by," Ranulf said. "Though, don't forget the beer."
"Drunken violence! Even better!" Mia said.
"You ever met the king of drunken violence himself?" Ranulf said.
"Skrimir?" Mia's green eyes lit up. "You'd introduce me to Skrimir? His claws are sharp enough to destroy a library!"
Soren flinched, and started to move away from her.
"Of course, he's my friend," Ranulf said. He patted her on the shoulder. "I bet he'd show you his roar if you asked."
"Think he'd like to see my stance?" Mia said. She lifted up her arm, and started to lift up her hand, as if she was holding an invisible stance.
"He'd love it," Ranulf said.
She went in, and thrust her invisible sword just above Soren's head. He ducked away into the kitchen, with a grimace.
"I thought you wanted to be 'bros on the town,'" Ike said dryly.
"It's too perfect, Ike. I gotta make this match," Ranulf said.
"You'll be quite the Emma," Kyza said softly. He smiled at Ranulf, full of fondness.
"He should match up me and him," Lyre said. She leaned up to kiss Ranulf's cheek.
"Only if he includes me," Kyza said. He kissed Ranulf's other cheek.
Ranulf put his arms about both of them, though he had to reach up to reach Kyza's broader shoulders.
"The point of Emma was that matchmaking was wrong, the next thing, you'll be saying you want a relationship like Romeo and Juliet," Soren muttered. He had an unopened can of beer in his hands that he held as far away from himself as possible.
"Soren, you don't have to do a dissertation of vintage Taylor Swift lyrics. Sometimes you just have to dance."
His t-shirt actually managed to have a color other than black. My favorite workout is heavy reading was printed over a gray t-shirt.
"Kyza, your nerd crown is being taken away. You better work on that," Ranulf said.
Kyza gave him a salute. "I'll get even higher marks, just to make up for it."
After getting settled, Ike pulled out a proper keg and got them arranged in a circle. As usual, Ranulf had enough alcohol to make even Skrimir, kegger champ and kegstand king of the university, fall over. A blond in a tank top with I 3 girls in rainbow print across the front stepped out from the back with a red cup in hand. Just in case anyone missed the message, she wore a long necklace with two female signs entwined, and had a rainbow tattoo on her bicep. The only other person he recognized was Makalov, who had come for the free beer but he'd apparently already gotten into someone else's cooler and was passed out on the couch.
Ranulf had started a trend of taking photos wherever Makalov had passed out, and had even passed his art final with a collage of Makalov asleep on benches, other people's couches, other people's bathrooms, other people's beds, and once, in the middle of the cafeteria.
Mia currently was trying to make the phrase "Makaloving" and "to Makalov" a trend. She'd actually had some success, as Ike had overheard someone in his class say Damn, I sure Makaloved that test.
Soren was being as uncommunicative as possible. Ike supposed it was something that he'd come at all, but at this point, he was just looking like the poster child for teenage angst.
"So, you came," Ike said.
Soren didn't look away from the window. "Yes, Ike."
Ranulf gave a quick explanation of the game, and filled every single cup. Somehow, Ilyana's ended up not full of wine, but full of chicken drumsticks. She hardly complained, but her cup was empty long before the game started.
"Heather, I'll let you start with the honors," Ranulf said.
She considered the red cup put before her. "Never have I ever kissed a guy," she said. "Thank God."
"Ooh, good one," Ranulf said. He happily drank down his red cup. One by one, the group downed their drinks. Soren glared at them. Ike downed his without trouble.
"Are you sure that you shouldn't be taking a drink?" Ranulf said, with a wide grin. "I got prime info that says you locked lips with a certain quarterback on the eve of the last party."
Soren made an irritated sound in the back of his throat.
"Seriously?" Mia said. "You didn't tell me!"
"For a reason," Soren muttered. He glowered down at his drink and downed it, entirely too fast. He began to cough, and Ike patted him on the back.
"Easy, there," Ike said.
Soren made another strangled noise and broke out coughing again.. He muttered something, and looked up sharply to Ranulf's stupid grin.
Ranulf cupped his hand at his ear. "What'd you say? I didn't quite hear you."
"He says he hates this, and it's a waste of time. I think he said something about someone being a waste of space, too," Ike said.
Soren looked to Ike, looking more than a little surprised. The group had grown quiet, far from the lively atmosphere of a few moments ago, but Ranulf remained nonplussed.
"Didn't realize you guys had such a hivemind going. Will you finish each other's sentences next?"
Ike shrugged. "I was just guessing, but I got it right."
He smiled at Soren, and Soren looked a mite bit less homicidal, so it was something.
But then, Ranulf went a step further. "Never have I had a thing for Ike."
Heather and Ranulf both took a drink. Soren stubbornly glared at his, and pushed it aside. Ranulf looked around, and muttered a seriously?. Even Skrimir hadn't touched his drink. Kyza shrugged.
"He has really nice shoulders, okay," Kyza said.
"And abs," Lyre cut in.
"Hey, no fair. You guys are my fan club," Ranulf said.
"Well, we expanded a bit," Lyre and Kyza said, looking to each other and for once, agreeing on something.
"Mia? You too?"
"What? I didn't hear; I was refilling Ilyana's cup," she said.
"I guess Soren has a lot of company," Ranulf said.
"This is going a bit far, Ranulf. Cut it out," Ike said.
"It's just a joke between friends, Ike," Ranulf said.
"You're no friend of mine," Soren said. His face was flushed with a mix of embarrassment and hurt and rage. He pushed himself up and out of the circle and made his way to the door.
"Soren, wait-"
But Soren had already made his way for the door. Ike followed after him, leaving the party behind. He covered the distance in just a few strides and caught up.
"Soren, wait a second," Ike said. But Soren just kept walking. Ike reached out and just touched him, held onto his shoulder, and they stood there in the hallway, catching their breath.
"I didn't know he was going to do it," Ike said. "He just...does stuff. He doesn't mean anything by it. If I would've known that he'd put you on the spot, I would've canceled the whole thing."
Soren didn't look at him, but he didn't shrug off Ike's hand, or tell him off either. If anything beyond the shame and humiliation, he seemed sort of...sad.
"Of course you would defend him. In the end, people are all the same. Cold beings with no thought of their fellow humans. Nothing more than animals living on instinct. It's nothing but blind idealism to think anything less."
"I just wanted to spend more time with you, I didn't know that he'd turn it into some sort of truth game to tease it out of you."
"Why?" Soren said. His voice sounded very quiet and small, even hoarse. "Why would you want to know me?"
"I just do," Ike said.
Soren let out a long shaky breath. "If I'd not been so foolish and drunk that night...would you have even noticed I existed?"
"I..."
But Ike couldn't answer that one. Would he have? Grabbing someone and randomly making out with them under a bacon magnet was a pretty memorable meeting.
"I don't know. I'd like to think so," Ike said finally.
"We don't run in the same crowds, or take the same classes, we don't even like the same things," Soren said. "Even this conversation is illogical...and hopeless."
And he remembered once standing out in a hallway, looking for someone who had already gone. He didn't want to it to happen again.
"But, that doesn't really matter. I just want to see you again," Ike said. "So...can I? Probably without Ranulf this time."
Soren finally turned around to look at him. Not for the first time, Ike just had to boggle at how tiny he was. His hair had started to come out of his ponytail, and he was looking suspicious and yet...hopeful.
"Maybe," Soren said.
"All right," Ike said.
He leaned against the wall and watched as Soren walked on down the hall towards his own dorm. He could live with maybe.