:Prologue:

A fated encounter ('cause it can't get anymore cheesy than that)

A handsome brunet pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and re-positioned his rucksack, stretching his shoulders against the tearing straps. He was carrying an arsenal of books, and the weight of them all was quite overbearing. He hurried along the city sidewalk, glancing around at the tall buildings that gleamed in the glaring afternoon sunlight. The city was always so loud and busy, with a stifling amount of people pushing their way along the sidewalk and cars clogging the narrow streets. Jake had never been this way before, and he glanced down at the directions his fellow classmate gave him. They were supposed to meet up at a library to discuss research topics for a class paper, and he needed all the help he could get. Jake really wasn't one for studying.

He slouched a bit, discouraged by the thought of having to do work, but when you transfer to different country for school it usually meant you were supposed to be top notch and studious. He, on the other hand, had only transferred to live with family. Earlier that year, his step-grandfather moved back to the States after the death of his wife, Jake's grandmother. At his request, Jake moved with him. The whole ordeal had been awful - leaving his home country and his companions to move into a dorm in some college in Texas, the most American state there is. Jake huffed and shuffled his jacket further around himself. Winter was warmer here, but the chill still bothered him. Stopping at a crosswalk as the street light turned green, he stuck his gloved hands into his pockets, fidgeting with the pocket knife he carried around with him, and patiently waiting to cross. Damn he hated the cold, but he knew summers here were going to be even worse.

Grimacing, he re-positioned his rucksack once again and stuck his hands back into his pockets, fidgeting with the pocket knife even more. Damn, when was this light going to turn? He angrily mashed the button on the street post. The signal shifted to green and he sighed in relief, moving forward onto the tarmac. Checking his watch, he grunted angrily. He was probably going to be late. Turning his head, he mindlessly drifted his eyes over to the windows of the shops and restaurants he passed. As he did so, something caught his eye. Well, rather, someone caught his eye.

A tall and muscular blond adorned in a karate uniform stood in front of another man younger than himself. Jake stopped and watched as the two bowed and got into a fighting stance. The blond seemed like he was explaining something to the others gathered to the side watching them. Just as he finished, he glanced back at the student in front of him. As he did, Jake could have sworn their eyes met. Oh, maybe they did. Just as the student was about to charge, the blond tilted his head back to the window to stare directly at Jake in what looked like a baffled expression. Taking the advantage, the younger guy caught the blond's foot with his and flipped him onto his back. The rest of the class laughed, and Jake chuckled to himself. Well, he was glad he saw that. Smiling, he caught the eye of the blond again as he shuffled to his feet looking flustered. Jake smiled at him and continued walking. He was feeling a little bad for distracting the guy, but it was hilarious to see the muscular man getting flipped onto his back by a teenager. Jake smirked to himself and continued up the street, chuckling to himself as he replayed the incident in his head.

Dirk straightened the fastened black belt around his waist as he stood in front of his young students. Most of them were teenagers, and they were all gathered around the floormats awaiting his instruction. He was going to demonstrate some basic methods to avoid being flipped by an attacker to begin this afternoon's teaching. Pointing at a random student, he gestured for him to stand opposite of him. Explaining the simple details of how to perform this technique, he positioned himself to begin, his student doing the same. Turning back to his student, a figure in the window caught his eye. What the? He flicked his head back to the window to see the brunet man watching him. His face was adorned with square rimmed glasses and his hair was swept up and to the side of his face. He could see the white wisps of breath escaping his lips in the cold.

Holy shit.

Dirk stared baffled at the gorgeous man outside his dojo's window. Unfortunately, Dirk wasn't paying too much attention to his student, and before he knew it, he was thrown onto the mat by the young teen. The class roared in laughter. Their sensei was never caught off guard, and he rarely showed much emotion. The look on his face was priceless. He looked like a deer caught in headlights. Dirk lay there for a moment before shuffling back onto his feet, his face a furious red. Barking at his kids to behave, he braved another glance out the window to catch the hot guy's eye again. The man grinned at him and walked past. "Hehe, so that's what caught you off guard, sensei. Well, I've got to say, he is pretty fine to ogle, isn't he?" chuckled one of the female students as she poked him in the ribs. She had a tendency to be a bit of a loud mouth. Grumbling, he told her to go sit back down with the rest of the class. "We all know you wanna run out to him. Go on lover boy. Dave can take over, can't he?"

Dirk glared at her as the rest of the students chuckled and nodded. Sighing, he smirked then searched the room for his younger brother. "Dave! C'mere for a sec!" The sound of feet running downstairs could be heard coming from the back stairwell that led up to Dirk's apartment above the karate dojo. Dave burst through the door, pushing up his dark aviators. "What is it, bro?" he asked, jogging up to his older brother. "Take over this class for today, I gotta go somewhere." Dirk replied, jogging out the door before Dave had the chance to question him. The students chuckled, and Dave raised a questioning eyebrow. "He's chasing after a hottie he saw outside." the same girl chided, answering Dave's questioning stare. She smirked and walked back towards the floormats. Dave chuckled and turned back towards Dirk's abandoned class.

Meanwhile, Dirk jogged through a crowd of people returning from work. It was around 5 now, and the traffic was getting a bit hectic. People stared after him, as he was still dressed in his gi and running barefooted on the sidewalk in the cold winter air. That was usually considered unusual. Dirk raked his eyes across the crowd of faces until he found the brunet up further into the crowd. Smiling, Dirk ran through the crowded sidewalk, receiving glares and unhappy scoffs from passers-by being pushed out of the way until he reached the brunet. Huffing a little from the cold air, he grabbed the man's coat jacket and spun him around. Clearly caught off guard, the guy let out a startled yelp. "Oh you're the bloke from the karate place who got his arse flipped by that teen." The guy grinned. Blushing, Dirk nodded. Really, he had no idea what he wanted to say to the guy. "Um, well I just… Came out here… Well I was wondering…" Was that a British accent? God dammit Strider, play it cool. Coughing, he squared his shoulders, trying to regain his words . "Do want to get coffee or something?" He blurted. The brunet stared with wide green eyes and Dirk squirmed a little inside. Well, there goes his cool composure, but it was already gone when his student flipped him on his back while the guy was watching. Damn, he probably wouldn't be able to recover much from that. Rubbing his arms from the cold that he had just realized, Dirk shuffled his feet, waiting for some sort of response.

"Well, I… Haha I suppose we could do coffee sometime! Sounds great actually!" He smiled, and Dirk melted a little inside. Wow, just wow. The guy pulled out a scrap piece of paper from his bag and a pen and turned Dirk around to use him as a make shift board to write on . He scribbled something on the paper, then handed it to Dirk with a smile. "The name's Jake, by the way," he said. Dirk took the paper and smirked. "Dirk. Dirk Strider." He held out his hand, and Jake shook it, chuckling softly. "Well, it's been a pleasure. Call me and we'll get coffee sometime." He waved, then continued on his way. Dirk stared after him. He couldn't wait to call him. Shivering, he turned and jogged back to the dojo. Fuck it was cold

AN: thanks for reading! ^u^ this is a dirk/jake a friend and i are writing! we'll post new chapters soon you can also find this story on AO3 and i'll post a link if requested~ so yeah