Chapters: 3/9
A/N: Finally they're getting closer ;w; Hope it looks okay bc I was a little tired when worked on it… I may fix some mistakes once I have time ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything mentioned in the story but the story itself!
The worst situation Emil expected, an argument, though, never comes to between him and Eduard. Two weeks later, Lukas finds by chance that they haven't exchanged numbers. He suggests them better to do it now. They have no other choice but to take out their cellphones together. Emil feels nervous when he's editing contacts: why has his brother not mentioned his bad attitude to his partner yet? He thinks, raises his head and catches sight of Eduard, who greets him back with a casual smile as usual. Emil suddenly feels a little embarrassed, "Break time is over. Let's work." He quickly states, puts the phone back into his pocket.
When they're in the archive room, Emil is kind of absent, thinking of all details in the past few days, those conversations he has with Eduard.
Does Eduard just keep the day to himself?
.
After the day Emil messed up their first greeting, he was asked to guide Eduard through their offices, classrooms and so on, and help him get familiar with the procedure in their department. The two boys sat close in front of a computer. Emil didn't even bother to make small talk, just cut to the chase and explained how the processing system worked here. He glimpsed Eduard on occasion merely, to make sure the newcomer paid attention to his course. He has thought he would meet the guy's bored look, however, Eduard concentrated on what he said entirely, which made Emil feel a little surprised. Eduard looked a little more serious then yesterday, took notes fast when he looked up at screen. Those things he wrote down though, totally confused Emil––at least he had confidence in counting 1-10 in Danish. He had no idea what language Eduard used.
Is he also not from Denmark?
Emil's voice became a little unstable. He couldn't help being distracted by Eduard's self-introduction given yesterday. He tried hard to recall the context however, he found it angrily that at the time, he didn't get anything except for his curse thoughts in his mind.
"So my job is to manage these," Eduard turned to him suddenly, "anything else?"
"Uh? No, that's all."
"Ok, I'll handle it." Eduard nodded and closed his notebook. It looked like he had no other things to discuss or chat. Emil just noticed that Eduard did never touch his body, kept avoiding this, though the space they sitting in was narrow enough.
They met at the same classroom two days later, for checking each other's work they were assigned to. Before the end, Eduard mentioned that he had thoughts on their lab's data management. He offered some suggestions such as which part could be excluded while another part could better be revised, so that would be helpful for Emil's work efficiency. He moved his pen upon their computer screen, talked in detail and clearly, sometimes even pulled the keyboard towards him and quickly typed in something. Emil took a glance at their desk. Eduard's notebook was just opened and laid down there.
"Any question?" The pen cap stopped at a question mark.
"No, go on," Emil replied, "…please."
"If you think that's not our business, you could tell me anytime, directly. I'd never mind." Eduard winked at him, "so, take it easy," he turned back to the screen, continuing with their works.
Emil finally realized what did he see in Eduard's eyes.
That was the confidence born from his enthusiasm and familiarity with what he loved.
That was the thing Emil has searched for a long time.
.
All in all, Emil still considers it's hard to figure out what is Eduard's thinking, although the uncertainty he has may simply comes from his fear only. Emil could tell the truth that he has difficulty to get along with the type of person. Eduard looks too… clever, especially when he's smiling. In the beginning, Emil could only feel threatened. He thought Eduard just pretended to be friendly, every time when Emil caught him not focusing on work, he would smirk and his expression would become very unreadable. Emil could almost associate the face with a cunning fox.
"…'Mil? Emil?"
A real fox is definitely cuter than him, especially a snow fox.
"Mr. Bondevik?"
"Here!"
Emil suddenly turns back. Eduard is standing behind him, mouth half opening, looks like a little frightened, too, "well…, just a simple question," he holds a pile of folders in his arms, frowning at it. The folders are almost broken, "keep it or discard?"
"…Let me see," Emil takes one of them, trying to cover up his fast heartbeat. He remembers that he'd never screamed like that in front of Eduard…. Emil wonders, soon he knits his eyebrows tightly, staring at the documents in his hands, "geez, it's totally a mess."
"There are tons of kinda stuff," Eduard shrugs, taking a step back to show Emil the disaster on the tables, "we have to arrange all of them this week…is it? But it seems like they're not important at all…."
Emil scratches his back of neck with impatient look, "Do you mean we've finished the main part?"
"Yeah."
"Well, then get down to it, try our best," he puts his hands down, walking towards Eduard and taking all files from his arms. Emil then smacks on the light switch, turning on the lights of the whole room. He turns back and finds Eduard standing at the same place with a little stunned look, which confuses Emil, but he decides to ignore it, "…hurry up," he urges.
"Yes," Eduard answers, a familiar grinning comes back to his mouth.
How things going, though, are easier than expected, Emil wonders. He could even think about what for dinner tonight or something else when he's arranging the documents. In contrast, Eduard gets into his work completely. He clears a box of them after a while, then he's stopped by the last few folders.
Emil takes a glimpse at him, just fixing with his eyes looks hesitant, "Excuse me, do you speak Danish?" Eduard asks.
"Ja, but only a little," Emil puts aside the stuff he has dealt and moves himself towards. They've sit on the floor for about an hour, it's easier and faster for work than sitting in a chair, fortunately the floor is clean enough. He sits closer to Eduard, "what happened?"
"Nothing, your answer sounds like we should give up," Eduard pushes out the box after he got Emil's answer, soon he notices his partner's displeased gaze and a stretched arm. He has no choice but to hand in some files, "well, I guess they are collected papers many years ago. I can't understand what they're written about."
"…You're right, we should give up," and also himself. He shouldn't be tough. Emil presses his lips. He stands up and tries to clean his pants, asking Eduard to place the documents back to the shelves together. "I'd ask Mathias later, but I'm not sure whether he knows how to deal with them."
"Why?"
"He got his bachelor's degree at another school, so he might not be familiar with the operation here."
"Oh, I thought he got the degree here…," Eduard walks to the bookshelves, helping Emil put a heavy book to a higher place, "by the way, do you know them well? I mean, Mr. Køhler and another Mr. Bondevik, are they your family? You look exactly like Mr. Bondevik. Sometimes your behavior is even…."
"Do you want to pry again?" Emil glares back to him. Eduard stops immediately, plus throwing hands up again.
"Random question. You could refuse to answer."
"…Sorry, I didn't mean that. I just…," Emil rubs his hair, walking back to take another pile of papers, "well, yeah, Lukas is my brother. As for Mathias, you should ask them in person."
"Got it. I guess I can figure out, but I won't ask then."
Emil can't help but look back to Eduard again. Eduard says nothing though, only gives back a grinning to him politely, like he always did.
A conversation comes to Emil's mind, happened in the day Eduard taught him all the stuffs about computer.
"Eduard, I have something to tell you," Emil hears himself saying, "I'm sorry… for the other day."
"What? I mean… when?"
"The first time you attended the meeting."
"Oh, but I think that was me who had to apologize." Eduard takes away some folders from Emil's holding, over half of them, exactly lightens Emil's load, "I tried to talk to you because we had to work together for several months. I'd like to know my partner better but I didn't notice my questions offended you so much." He opens another shelf door, "So, never mind, nonetheless, that was me who had to apologize."
"But I was rude to you," Emil lowers his head. He nearly forgets what kind of questions Eduard asked him that day, only remembers the frozen atmosphere between them after he expressed his anger. "I could tell you I'm taking a semester off, but that was not the reason I refused to answer your question."
"You just tend to protect yourself, is it?"
Click. A slim sound from magnetic door catch. Eduard closes the shelf door, leaning against on it. Emil feels like he can even hear the sound of pulling glasses. "If you don't mind it, I could tell a little about me to help you let down your guard." He chuckles.
"You've already done it in the meeting."
"I bet you never focused on what I said."
"…Fine, you bet."
Emil looks at the waste paper in his hands, feeling struggled to slam it onto his partner until the slight laughter is finally muted. Eduard waves his left hand, telling that he would stop it right now. He takes off his glasses and wipes his eyes, "I'm from Estonia and I come here as an exchange student."
"Exchange?" it sounds like he has to back home this year. Emil can't help but raise an eyebrow, "Until when?"
"This July."
As expected, "Isn't it too late to participate in the project?"
"That's enough for an internship. It's precious to me to study abroad. I'd like to grab every chance to do something valuable," Eduard puts his glasses back on faced, stretching himself lazily. He takes the rest of the folders in his arms, slowly walks to the racks, "but these days I've changed my mind."
Emil finds that Eduard's smile has disappeared.
" I'll do whatever to stay here."
A/N2: Finally updated to the chapter! Then I'd take a break for about 2 or 3 weeks, to deal with sth important in life, it is freaking hard ;(
Btw I'm not sure whether it's essential but below are characters' ages in my college/human AU, just in case.
Emil Bondevik / Eduard von Bock (20);
Lukas Bondevik / Mathias Køhler / Berwald Oxenstierna (26);
Tino Väinämöinen (25).
Feel free to leave a comment :D I'd like to know your thoughts about Emil and Eduard!
