Jellal sighed and watched as the clock above the white board slowly ticked away. It was his second day of school and he really just wanted to get through it so he could go home and lock himself in his room. He didn't want to be totally anti-social though, so he would at least talk to his only friend Ultear, who had moved away last year.

Science was interesting to Jellal. He had always been fascinated with the stars, solar systems, and how everything beyond earth worked. However, chemistry was not astronomy. He really should have been paying attention, since they were doing a lab activity that has to do with dangerous chemicals, but Jellal was thinking about how to not be seen by Erza Scarlet. Jellal was probably already royally screwed anyway, because he hadn't been paying attention and his lab partner sure as hell wasn't paying attention.

Laxus Dreyar wasn't happy that he had to give up the free seat net to him at his desk. No one wants to give up the free seat and their space if they don't have to, especially to the socially awkward blue-haired kid with a strange symmetrical birthmark on his face. And at the moment, Laxus wasn't paying attention to what the teacher was saying but was rather trying to pass notes to his friend Freed on the other side of the room.

"Into the lab!" the teacher announced, bringing both Laxus and Jellal back to reality.

"Uh," Laxus turned to Jellal, probably having forgotten Jellal's name. "You listen to what he was saying?"

"No," Jellal admitted.

"We're screwed," Laxus stated. He got up, and joined the stream flowing into the lab. Jellal grabbed his notebook and followed as well, easily being able to spot the tall blond through the crowd of students.

"Everyone, get ready!" the teacher continued. Laxus and Jellal were faced with a Bunsen burner, but not like the ones that Jellal had to use back at Tower of Heaven.

"Do you know how to use one?" Laxus asked Jellal, being entirely useless.

"No, I had different ones back at my school," Jellal admitted.

"Darn it," Laxus sighed. He then tried to get the attention of Freed, "Psst. Psst. Psst. Freed. Hey. Freed. Look here. Freed. Psst!"

"What do you want?" Freed whispered back, trying to light the Bunsen Burner.

"How do you turn it on?" Laxus asked.

"Don't you know?" Freed asked.

"No," Laxus replied. "And this kid doesn't know either."

"That kid's name is Jellal," Jellal reminded Laxus.

"And Jellal doesn't know either," Laxus corrected himself. "Help."

"I can't, I have to do my own lab experiment," Freed replied. "Remember the last time I tried to help you? I got in trouble."

"Freed," Laxus looked at Freed like this was very odd behavior for him.

"I'm really, really sorry," Freed said as though he was betraying his country. "Good luck."

"Darn it," Laxus sighed. He poked at the Bunsen Bruner with his finger, "Can you like, at least try Jellal? I don't wanna fail this class. And I don't wanna set my clothes on fire. Don't set your clothes on fire either, just so you know."

"I'll try," Jellal sighed. He got onto eye level with the Bunsen Burner and began to apply what he learned with the old Bunsen Burners he used with this Bunsen Burner. It took seven minutes, but Jellal finally turned the burner on. A flame sparked and continued to burn.

"Hallelujah!" Laxus exclaimed.

"Alright, let's try to actually do something," Jellal reached for him pencil while looking at the white board and what the teacher was writing on it. It was the steps that he went over in the class, thankfully.

"Fire!" someone yelled as Jellal noticed that he knocked the Bunsen burner over while reaching for hi pencil. Now, his notebook was on fire.

"Holy shit!" Laxus exclaimed as someone threw the fire blanket over the notebook. The teacher just glared at Jellal and Laxus before sending them back into the classroom for discipline.

"Sorry," Jellal apologized. The classroom was eerie with just him and Laxus in the room. "It's my fault."

"It's okay," Laxus sighed. "It's not the first time it's happened. I've done that before."

"Yeah but you did say that you were failing and if anything I fucked you up further and-" Jellal began to ramble before Laxus stopped him.

"It's fine," Laxus argued. "I'm actually doing pretty okay in this class, but I didn't know how to do it. I don't want to harm my grade because I'm on the football team. If anything, I should be saying sorry. We probably should have just asked the teacher anyway."

"Oh, right," Jellal realized.

"I'll take the blame," Laxus replied. "Totally not your fault, alright?"

"Okay," Jellal agreed, looking down at the table.

There was an awkward silence before Laxus asked, "Where did you eat lunch yesterday?"

"Why are you asking that?" Jellal questioned Laxus.

"Just wondering," Laxus admitted.

"Bathroom," Jellal mumbled. He didn't want to be accidentally seen by Erza, and it was the middle of the school year so he didn't want to embark on anyone's lunchroom territory.

"Really?" Laxus asked.

"Uh, yeah," Jellal admitted.

"Sounds gross," Laxus commented.

"It was gross," Jellal agreed.
"Say," Laxus began. "You don't have to eat in the bathroom again. You can sit with me and my friends."

"What?" Jellal was shocked. "I'm sorry but I don't want to be a burden on you and your friends so I'll just-"

"Dude," Laxus stopped Jellal. "It's fine. We have room. And anyway, you're cool bro."

"I'm not cool," Jellal argued.

"You set a notebook on fire," Laxus argued. "That's cool."

"That's closer to arsonist than to coolkid," Jellal replied.

Laxus laughed, "Well, I think the joke you made was cool."

"I said the first thing that popped into my head," Jellal admitted.

"Just sit with us," Laxus told Jellal. "Everything will be alright. You don't have to sit in the bathroom and eat with the gross bathroom germs."

"Uh, now that I think about it, I'll sit at your table."