Puking on someone at a party is definitely one way to make a lasting impression.
Pairings Beyond Grimmons:
~Tuckington
~Robonut
Other Notes for This Story:
~College AU
~Transgender Character
Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Red vs. Blue or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.
First Impressions
Dexter Grif wasn't really sure what he was doing at yet another college party, especially considering that he had managed to successfully keep his little sister away from this particular one.
Normally, he didn't mind socializing for a bit. Provided that he got to eat and drink a ton, and was able to veg out and recharge for a good long while following. But, right now? He didn't know how to describe his current mindset really, but the truth of the matter is that he was just not feeling this party anymore.
It probably had something to do with the fact that all of his friends from high school were now attending college and he wasn't. You know, if he really wanted to dwell on the whys more closely. Which he really didn't like doing, so it kind of sucked that the thought was sticking in the back of his brain now just to fucking mock him.
These parties were full of people that he didn't really know, all talking about courses and subjects he didn't really give a shit about. None of them were really that interested in talking much to him once they found out that Grif was still stuck in a dead-end retail job and wasn't just a fellow student they hadn't seen around campus yet. That situation suited him just fine, by the way.
He knew that Tucker and Donut had just wanted to be nice to him since they had all been together growing up and throughout high school. Grif knew that the reason behind the invites from both of his childhood friends this time around had to do with them wanting him to meet the new people in their lives.
Tucker had introduced Grif to a shy junior named David something-or-other after he'd just practically walked through the door. So, it had to be a rather serious thing going on between them if Tucker was introducing his current significant other to his friends.
Donut had been blabbing on excitedly all the time about a foreign exchange student named Lopez who had muttered something awkwardly in Spanish just a few moments ago, before the two moved away to discuss something with the recently spotted Church and his older sister Carolina.
Grif didn't really want to be a third wheel to Tucker and David's night out following that, especially since David had given him a blank look when he betted that he could eat the entire snack table in under five minutes. Said look only intensified in disbelief to an almost hilarious level when Tucker scoffed at the declaration and said how much of a sucker's bet that would be for anyone who knew the fat-ass for longer than five seconds.
The orange shirt wearing Grif did another cursory look around out of force of habit just to make sure that his sneaky, definitely underage for this sort of thing, sister hadn't come in to do something to embarrass the family. Or that would result in him having to pick her up from jail later.
Grif may act like he didn't give a shit most of the time, but he was always concerned about his family. Which pretty much equated to just the two Grif siblings now, and had been that way for a really long time.
He couldn't help but look for his little sister at places like this. Kai had always been a master at party detection, after all. It was her super-power, or so she had loudly declared the first time he had caught her at one at thirteen. Not seeing any sign of her, he then started making his way back to the door and the outside world.
That was until someone from the crowd on his left, in what was probably the living room when not filled to the point of breaking with a throng of loud, drunk college students so that any furniture was invisible, came barreling straight into him. Their red hair was an almost exact match for the red sprawling from their entire face all the way down to what was visible of their neck above their ridiculous-for-the-occasion knit sweater.
"Ow!"
Grif winced where the impact of the skinnier man had actually managed to bruise his shoulder. The guy had been running fast, and his bonier shoulder had hit at just the right spot of flesh to really hurt, so Grif couldn't help himself: "Watch where the fuck you're going!"
"S—sorry!" There was a flash of green when the high-pitched, squeaking person looked up from extremely nervous-looking eyes, complimenting a myriad assortment of freckles adorning a pale, reddened face.
Grif's brain barely had the chance to register that the stranger who had plowed right into him was actually rather cute and somehow oddly familiar-looking to him, when suddenly the red in the other's cheeks took on a decidedly sickly greenish hue.
The next thing he knew, the young man was running again with a hand over his mouth, spewing a million hurried apologies his way as he left Grif standing there covered in reeking vomit.
"So, I guess the walk home wasn't too pleasant-smelling, huh?" Tucker asked as he leaned against the counter, trying not to snicker too much at his friend's misfortune but failing miserably to contain his mirth.
"Oh, fuck you." Grif flipped him off, rearranging the used games nearby the register for the third time that day. Shit, he was still so agitated that he was actually doing work voluntarily, "You know how it played out."
"Yeah," Tucker nodded in acknowledgement, grinning, "My favorite part was that Kai made you stand outside because you smelled so bad. Then she turned the hose on you!"
"It's the asshole's fault for not letting me go!" The teenager in question griped, looking rather miffed at the exclusion still as she crossed her arms over her chest and fixed her brother with a pointed look.
He rolled his eyes, "Are either of you here to, you know, actually buy something, or just to mock me?"
The two glanced at one another before almost simultaneously saying, "Why the fuck can't we do both?"
Grif groaned and wished his lunch break wasn't still two hours away.
"Anyways, Simmons is really sorry that happened." Tucker moved on quickly, perhaps taking just a small amount of pity on his friend, "He even sought me and Donut out to ask if we could tell you that."
The named didn't ring any bells to Grif, so he frowned in response, "Simmons?"
"Uh, the dude who puked all over you at the party?" Tucker raised an eyebrow incredulously as to how Grif hadn't somehow managed to catch on to that given the conversation they had been having, "He even offered to pay to get your clothes cleaned if it was needed."
"Already taken care of!" Kai smirked triumphantly, giving herself two thumbs up before looking opportunistically hopeful, "But, if the guy still feels bad and wants to pay for a future booze fund—!"
"No, Kai!" Grif sighed exasperatedly.
"You suck!" She stuck her tongue out at him.
Tucker shook his head at the sibling antics on display, before looking rather thoughtful.
"Seriously, though! Simmons even approaching us is kind of a big deal." He admitted, "He's pretty shy. I'm talking bigtime. Even more than David." His voice lowered slightly to a whisper after he noticed there were a few customers loitering in the store farther away from them, "And he always pukes when he gets nervous too. Everyone at school found out about it when there was this big test in Advanced Calculus."
Well, Grif supposed that explained what had happened at the party. Though why the redhead would have been there at all given that condition was a bit of a mystery, not that he really cared too much either way.
"You can just tell him it's fine. It's over and done with." Grif told Tucker, before another rather curious thought filled his mind and he vocalized it, "How do you guys know him, anyways?"
Tucker scoffed as though the answer to that should have also been pretty obvious, "The dude goes to our school, man. He's even in a few of our classes." He shrugged, "Not to mention, his dorm room is across the hall from Donut and Sarge's."
Right. Sarge was the crazy guy who was attending college in his later years. He'd become roommates with Donut in their dorm hall earlier that year and, surprisingly, the two had hit it off despite being opposites on the personality spectrum. Their level was called the "Red Level" due to the door coloring, while Tucker and a few other old high school friends were situated in the level below called the 'Blue Level" because of the door colors there. There was supposed to be some sort of rivalry between the two dorm floors, though Sarge was the only one who ever took it seriously.
For some reason, Sarge didn't seem to care much for Grif at all whenever the two had been forced to interact. It had something to do with his worries about how Grif's seemingly lazy attitude could be a bad influence on Donut, who Sarge seemed to view in a protective and surrogate father sort of way, or any other Red's attitude if he hung around them too long. Evidently, he considered "orange," Grif's favorite color, tantamount to blue as a result.
Tucker glanced at the contemplative look still on Grif's face and raised a black eyebrow in response, "Why so interested if you're not still mad he got sick all over you?"
"I just thought he sort of looked familiar for some reason." Grif stated absent-mindedly, thinking back once again to the young man who had vomited on him.
It definitely felt like he had seen him before. Maybe out of the corner of his eye somewhere, so he couldn't quite place how.
Tucker again looked at him as though he was the biggest moron he had ever met, "Dude, he lives in our dorm, remember?" He reminded him of what he had just said moments ago, "You've probably just seen him around in the halls or something when you visit."
Well, that was true.
Kai, who hadn't seemed to be that interested in the conversation a moment ago, suddenly looked up from the counter display she had been glancing at with a thoughtful frown on her face, "Is this that gray guy with the freckles?" She tapped her chin before continuing without even giving either man a chance to respond, "I've seen him in here a few times before when I've come to hang out."
That got both males' attention, with Grif's head snapping quickly in her direction, "What?"
"You mean you didn't notice?" She huffed in mild annoyance, "He's always browsing in here a ton whenever it's your shift. Always seems to debate buying something, but leaves instead of doing it."
"Makes sense." Tucker remarked, nodding his head in understanding, "He is a pretty big nerd."
Grif frowned. No wonder the guy had looked so familiar then.
"Speaking of nerds!" Kai pulled an all-too familiar manila envelope from the large satchel she always carried and placed it pointedly on the counter in front of her older brother.
Grif didn't even bother looking at it, instead glaring at her for having reminded him that the damn thing existed still in the first place, "No."
"Oh, come on!" She pouted, "I know you don't want to show off, but you'd be a shoe-in for this fucking scholarship, Dex!"
"No." He repeated, a bit more firmly this time.
There was an odd lurching in his stomach, and for a moment he was almost reminded of the Simmons guy.
"She's right, man." Tucker chimed in, trying to be encouraging like he or any of their other friends usually tried to be when this subject was broached, "You could get financial aid and—"
"For the last fucking time, just drop it!"
Grif's raised voice caused the two actual customers in the store to look their way sharply. The trio remained quiet for a few moments until their curiosity over the outburst seemed to be sated.
Kai sighed, "You need to stop being a stubborn asshole and just admit you're scared, Dex." She stated in a tone that sounded way too mature to be coming from his party-prone little sister, "You never know what will happen until you try."
Grif said nothing, still refusing to even so much as look at the envelope and the application it contained. He knew that well enough without her saying so. It was why he'd never bothered applying for the damn thing in the first place.
This party was even louder than the last one. Grif frowned, juggling his two plates laden with food expertly with both hands.
He was going to get a migraine for sure, and he'd yet to find either Donut or Tucker anywhere at all. He had seen Church, but it looked like he was getting pretty annoyed due to his tag-along "best friend" Caboose. So, Grif had decided it was best to not say hello at the moment since an angrier-than-usual Church wasn't exactly a pleasure to be around.
Somehow, he'd managed to get up the stairs to the second level of the house and was thankful that it was at least a little quieter there. He almost felt a bit awful for whoever's out-of-state parents were probably going to be coming home later on this week from vacation after all of this went down, though not too much since it wasn't really any skin of his back.
He moved past the drunken couples making out in the hallway, determined not to trip and lose any of his precious cargo as a result. One of the doors was still slightly ajar, and if it was empty he could at least eat his bounty in peace.
Grif kicked it open, dove in, and promptly shoved the door close behind him, sinking down to rest against it for added barricade measure. The tile floor beneath him indicated that he'd stumbled into one of the bathrooms.
He realized he wasn't as alone as he had first thought when a retching sound followed by an all-too familiar and wholly unpleasant stench invaded his nostrils.
"We have got to stop meeting like this." He commented before he was even able to process how that probably sounded to the relative stranger nearby.
Simmons looked up from the toilet bowl for only a few seconds at the sound of his voice, his pale face still as red as his hair and a sickly sheen of sweat covering his brow before he went back to retching up whatever miniscule contents he still had left in his stomach from earlier.
Grif sighed, putting one of his food plates on the ground and reaching up lazily with his now free hand to turn on the bathroom vent switch, the noise thankfully helping to further drown out the loudness of the party as well as helping with the smell.
A weak-looking Simmons nodded in his direction gratefully.
"So, you're Simmons, right?" He asked conversationally, as it seemed like Simmons' sickness had started to die down somewhat a few minutes later. He already knew the answer, but figured it was a good starting point to a new dialogue regardless.
"U—um, yeah." The young man's head turned towards him, but he was still poised over the toilet just in case.
"My name's Grif." He greeted him as though this was a perfectly normal way to talk to someone, "I'm pretty sure we've run into each other at the dorm."
"I—I think so?" Simmons frowned, turning to the toilet again, "A—and at the game store." He added weakly.
"Right." He nodded thoughtfully at the admission, "You never buy anything in there though."
"Um…" Simmons' eyes were once more downcast towards the porcelain throne before him, causing Grif to wince slightly.
"It's that bad, huh? Just from interacting with strangers in a store?" He asked, wondering how the other guy ever managed to do anything then.
Simmons' face became even redder in embarrassment and probably frustration, as he was clinging to the toilet bowl for dear life, "Not all the time."
"Oh?" Grif raised an eyebrow, "So, what causes it then?"
Simmons didn't say anything, instead looking pointedly at Grif and then down to the toilet once more. His face had taken on a tomato red hue, mixed sharply with threatening notes of green that were nowhere near as complimentary as the color of his eyes.
Grif tried breaking the ice further in the best way he knew how. Which sort of meant being a teasing jackass just for the hell of it.
"Are you allergic to your own nerdiness then?" He suggested, wondering what kind of reaction a comment as stupid as that would get from the socially anxious male.
The teasing question caused Simmons' head to jerk up instantly, and he looked both equally bewildered and annoyed, "Th—that's not even a thing, dumbass!" He shouted, his voice taking on an indignant high pitch that Grif's oh-so-helpful brain decided to classify as cute.
"Hey, I was just asking." He shrugged nonchalantly.
Simmons sighed, lapsing into silence for a few moments.
Right when Grif was beginning to think that maybe that would be it for the conversation, he heard Simmons mumble softly, "S—sorry about before."
He shrugged again, "It's cool, dude. You already got Tucker to apologize for you and my sister had a big laugh helping me clean up later."
She probably had a little too much fun, actually, but that was neither here nor there.
Simmons bowed his head, still looking ashamed, "S—still!"
"I figure that's gotta suck, so we can consider it even." Grif cut him off, his tone reassuring that he considered the matter over and done with.
There was another silence following that, and Grif took the opportunity to start digging into the plates he'd brought into the bathroom sanctuary with him. Hot dogs, nachos, hamburgers. Whoever had set this shindig up had definitely done right in the food department.
He looked up from practically inhaling one of his hamburgers to see Simmons staring at him incredulously from his spot across from him in the bathroom.
"Want something?" He offered, holding out one of the plates to the redhead, "I didn't really bring anything to share."
Simmons buried his head on the edge of the bowl, pointedly looking away from Grif still devouring his food.
"I don't know what's worse." He muttered, more to himself than to Grif, "That you're going to eat all of that yourself, or that you're going to eat it here."
He grinned in response, "Well, it's not ideal, but I'm not one to let good food go to waste."
Grif didn't even have to see his expression to know that Simmons was making a face, "Gross."
"Says the dude clinging to a toilet for dear life." He scoffed.
"That's why your continued desire to eat is gross, fat-ass!" Simmons shot back.
It was good to see a bit more color in Simmons' face that wasn't due to queasiness. Grif liked the way his eyes sparked up when he was talking without being anxious.
"See, I'd rather call it persistence." He countered, smirking.
Simmons rolled his eyes, "I can't believe this is the best conversation I've ever had at one of these things."
"You don't exactly strike me as a party-goer type." Grif remarked thoughtfully.
Simmons' fingers subtly tightened around the toilet, his eyes going back down to the tiled floor, "I—I'm not." He admitted quietly.
"So, why force yourself to come out to them?" Grif was genuinely curious about the young man sitting across from him now.
Simmons seemed to curl into himself even more then, something Grif wouldn't have thought was even possible with his lanky frame if he hadn't seen it for himself, "I…I'm trying to do more things that scare me."
The answer was practically a whisper.
"Oh."
Suddenly Grif's mind went back to that damn application that Kai kept trying to pester him to fill out. The two individuals in the bathroom lapsed into an awkward silence until Lopez, hand entwined with Donut's, opened the door. The action causing Grif to fall backwards partially into the hallway with a curse and a whole lot of spilled food.
The Spanish-speaking man looked around at the bathroom and the people inside before saying one incomprehensible thing.
"Yo no voy a ser el uno para limpiar esto." {"I am not going to be the one to clean this up."}
It took several knocks on the red-painted door before they were answered, though Grif supposed that was probably the fault of the loud noise of the dorm party going on all around him.
Simmons, dressed already in flannel pajamas (total nerd!), opened the door. He looked both annoyed and surprised by the disturbance all at once. His expression became more of a shocked one when he saw that it was Grif standing there as that familiar twinge of sickly green and bright red began crossing over his freckled features.
"W—what are you doing here?" He stammered, curiosity finally overcoming his surprise as he apparently combated any urge he might have to become sick.
Grif raised an eyebrow at the question, "I was invited to the party. Obviously." He stated plainly before he gestured to the room behind Simmons, "So, are you gonna let me in or what?"
Simmons seemed to debate the question a moment mentally before opening the door a bit wider and allowing Grif inside. Grif entered, not really hiding the curious glances that he swept around the space as he took in the room for the first time.
Simmons' side was surprisingly bare, save a few science fiction movie posters lining the walls, a bookshelf filled with both textbooks and novels for pleasure reading, DVDs, and a few video games.
In the middle of the room between two small desks, sitting on top of both were laptops, was a space set up for a small television set that had a gaming console hooked up to it.
The other side of the room had posters of various sports teams, including both the home team for this school as well as all the rival schools in the immediate area, and a bookshelf containing nothing but medical textbooks.
"Your roommate's out?" Grif asked.
"Doc said he wanted to find somewhere less noisy to do his late-night yoga practice." Simmons explained, shuffling awkwardly.
That made sense, he supposed. Well, beyond the late-night yoga practice part. Even with the door securely closed muffling it quite a bit, it was still pretty obvious there was a rather loud racket going on outside of the dorm room.
Grif nodded, regarding the redhead contemplatively, "So, you decided to skip on the party tonight too then?"
He was not going to mention how he had come to this one specifically just to see Simmons again, and had then had to resort to practically beginning Tucker to tell him where his dorm room was.
Simmons winced slightly before saying shakily in way of explanation, "Test tomorrow."
He did look a little queasy around the edges, now that he mentioned that. Grif had nearly forgotten that Simmons apparently didn't do too well with the pressure that went with taking tests.
Instead of dwelling on that though, Grif thrust out the plastic bag that he had been carrying this entire time, holding it out in front of the surprised student's face, "I brought you that game you've been constantly eyeing in the store."
Simmons blinked, green eyes widening in shock at the declaration as if he hadn't heard it correctly, "B—but—!"
"Well, since your allergy to your own nerdiness kept you from buying the thing," Grif cut him off before his protests became louder, "I figured I'd just go ahead and get it for you." He grinned, "Now you don't have to force yourself to hang out at the store all the time."
Simmons looked rather downtrodden at that last comment, though he quickly seemed to bounce back and adamantly started to shake his head, "Grif, you can't just—!"
"Oh, but you're totally paying me back for it." Grif informed him, motioning towards the gaming console he saw by the television behind Simmons, "I don't own that system and this one looked fun, so I expect free turns whenever I come over."
"W—what?" Simmons blinked again, his mouth hanging open in shock, "You—you mean, you're going…to be coming here? You w—want to?"
Grif ignored the questions since he figured the answer to that should be pretty obvious, instead nodding his head thoughtfully, "I expect snacks too, dude. Lots and lots of snacks."
It took Simmons a few moments to fully process what Grif was saying. His face went even redder, but he managed to grin, "I…I think I can manage that." He told him, reaching out and taking the bag from Grif a second later, "Thanks, fat-ass."
Grif returned the grin, "So, wanna get your ass kicked now or later, nerd?"
It was on the fourteenth night of their new weekend "tradition" of Grif inviting himself over and Simmons more or less tolerating it when the redhead finally ended up asking Grif the big question he'd sort of been avoiding.
Simmons paused the game, looking unsure of how to approach the subject but far too curious at this point not to try, "You don't go to school here."
It wasn't a question, which meant that he had figured it out probably a while ago.
Grif raised a black eyebrow, deciding to use sarcasm to hopefully deflect the subject a bit, "Wow. That took you longer to figure out than I would have thought."
Simmons frowned, "B—but, I've seen you on campus and at the parties!"
"A lot of my friends from high school go here. Since it's a local school and everything." Grif informed him with a sigh, "I don't because I don't do well at school and I get decent pay at the store."
He didn't say it was because his grades hadn't been the best since he'd had to focus on looking after Kai when their mom left. Or that he was terrified of applying himself, of trying and then finding out that he didn't have what it took in the first place.
Better to play the comfortable with status quo guy that he always did instead.
"Oh." Simmons seemed curious still, as if he could definitely tell that there was more to the story than what Grif had actually told him, but he thankfully didn't press the issue.
After that, they went back to playing the game. A new one this time. Grif always brought a new game whenever he came over to the dorm, whichever one he had noticed Simmons had seemed the most interested in whenever he had visited the store last. They continued as if the previous discussion hadn't happened at all, until…
"It…it's not local."
Simmons' voice was barely a whisper when he spoke just then, and Grif turned to look at him, the other man staring at something that seemed far away and definitely not located in the room with them at all.
"I—it's not local. For me."
Well, that explained why Simmons hadn't gone to their high school. At first Grif had assumed that maybe he had gone to a private school or something, but he had thought maybe this college could have been simply further away from wherever his home was too.
"My father…" He swallowed nervously as if desperate for air, looking as though he was going to both vomit and be on the edge of tears all at once, "He wanted me as far away from him as possible."
What he said next wasn't even a whisper. If Grif hadn't been sitting shoulder to shoulder with him, he wouldn't have even heard Simmons at all.
"After…after I worked up the courage to finally tell him I wasn't a girl."
"Oh."
Grif wasn't really sure what else he could say to that, or if his sudden desire to pull Simmons close and hug him until he stopped trembling was the right one in this situation.
So, they both continued playing the game instead, pretending like the last several minutes hadn't happened.
The door to the game store opened as Grif was filling out the form sitting before him on the counter, and he didn't bother looking up to see who had come in. If someone wanted his attention for something, they could bang on the counter surface loud enough for it.
"H—hey." A familiar voice suddenly spoke up, causing Grif's pen to freeze in place hovering over empty air above the paper, "Is the customer service really this shitty here?"
He looked up to see Simmons standing there, nervous-looking but smirking at his jabbing insult all the same.
Grif couldn't help but smirk back, "You can always write a complaint to the manager about it." He informed him sarcastically, "I'll be sure to tell him to stick it up his—"
"Grif!" Simmons hissed in admonishment at the insult to an authority figure, looking around the space for him, horrified that the comment had been overheard.
Grif laughed at his flustered reaction, "Oh, relax, kiss-ass." He told him, "Flowers is never here."
Which was probably a good thing, considering that with Grif's usual work ethic he probably would have been fired a long while ago if his supervisor was the type to care more about that sort of thing.
Simmons relaxed slightly then, though he frowned and Grif knew a Simmons-lecture was bound to follow, "Still, you really shouldn't—!"
"Are you going to lecture me all day or are you going to window browse again?" Grif cut in, tilting his head as he regarded the other young man carefully, "You haven't been around in a while, you know. I've been wondering what to get you."
He wasn't going to say that he'd actually missed the lanky nerd's company a ton, but he supposed maybe that was conveyed in the worried, assessing look Grif gave him, at the near palpable sense of relief at seeing him again that he had no doubt probably bled through his words just then.
"I—I came here to buy something for myself!" Simmons huffed indignantly in response, before adding in a quieter and less sure voice, "And—and you haven't come over in a while either."
He looked hurt just then, and Grif wondered if it was possible that Simmons had missed his company just as much as he had definitely missed the redhead's and he felt a bit guilty, though he still couldn't help teasing him a little, "Oh? Did you miss me?"
"Y…yeah. Insanely enough, I did." Simmons' face was red again, but he managed to keep eye contact throughout the whole statement this time.
The effect caused an odd blip in Grif's heartbeat, and he had to resist the urge to suddenly shout out that he had missed him too.
Grif sighed instead, letting out a genuine, "Sorry."
Simmons looked as though he was going to question him further, and so the chubbier man launched into a further explanation of what he'd been doing recently, "I haven't been trying to avoid you on purpose or anything like that, Simmons." He reassured him, hoping his sincerity in that sentiment was definitely coming through, "I was working up the nerve to finally mail this thing out."
He tapped the pen he was holding down on the piece of paper on the counter to show Simmons.
The other man tilted his head to the side to contemplate the upside-down from his angle form more closely, "What is it?"
"An application for a scholarship." Grif looked oddly sheepish at the admission, "I've been putting off sending it in until now." He shrugged, "Guess I was afraid or some shit."
"Grif." Instead of teasing him or anything of the sort, Simmons actually looked impressed when he searched the tan man's face again, "What made you change your mind?"
"You did, actually." Grif was surprised at how quickly his response came, and he smiled warmly before adding, "Meeting you."
"R—really?" Simmons looked as though he was in both total disbelief at the confession and as though he was liable to faint as a result of it within the next few seconds, "Meeting a guy who puked on you and hadn't even been able to say hi to his crush beforehand changed your mind about something that big?"
Grif couldn't help but grin, "What can I say?" He asked, giving a firm nod of his head in Simmons' direction as he regarded him fondly, "You make one hell of a first impression, Simmons."
He couldn't be exactly sure, but even though it looked for a moment as though Simmons might get sick there in that very store, he swore he heard him mutter a fond "idiot" from underneath the hands covering his mouth.
Grif's smile became even wider, "Wanna hang out here and mail this with me when my shift is over?" he asked.
The happy nod and teary-eyed smile he got in response was enthusiastic beyond belief, "Definitely!"
The two shared their first kiss together on the way back from the post office later that day, and they had several more by the time Grif received the notice that he'd won the scholarship.
Author's Notes: This was for a prompt given to me by my sister. I took the initial idea and it sort of developed a life of its own as I started putting it to paper! :) I experimented a bit with a different type of writing style and narrative flow than I usually write with, so I apologize if parts seemed a little odd given that. Still, I hope that the story ended up being an enjoyable one to read for everyone! :D
