A/n: Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing the previous chapter! Even with the cases rising so greatly in my city, somehow life and office has returned to normalcy which is why I've not been able to update as frequently as I would like to. But, I have sworn to myself that I'll at least get this to 10 chapters by the end of the year so that's something to look forward to.
A little background for this one is required for I wasn't able to include everything in the story. Once again, the setting is such that it would work great as a longfic too, so maybe I'll write a few more chapters with this AU in the future. Now onto the explanation:
Tyson, Hilary and Max are 2nd years at Uni, Kai and Tala are one year senior to them, Mariam is two years senior.
While Hilary's major is vaguely mentioned, Tyson is studying Sports Science (helps you become a coach/sports physician etc), Kai is studying Architecture and this headcanon is a story in itself which I will leave for some other fic and time. For Max or Tala, I haven't picked a course for them so you can come up with whatever you like!
Tyson and Kai are roommates and don't like referring to the other as a friend, even though they technically are. Tyson and Max are childhood best friends (sorry Chief).
Hilary's name isn't mentioned often, but there is a reason for it which I'll explain at the end.
This isn't exactly romantic, but mostly Tyson developing and dealing with a crush on first sight.
The italics scene in the 2nd half is a flashback.
Tale 07
Tyler.
Tyson's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he read the name on the coffee cup which had been handed to him in a rush. He was sure that he had spelled out his name while placing the order and the barista had also nodded understandingly while writing it down. Maybe they mixed up his order, he thought, and checked the contents of the cup to be sure, only to be met with the look and smell of his favourite black coffee. He even decided to survey the store, and found that there weren't that many male customers around, finally reaching the conclusion that it was an honest mistake. Tyson shrugged off his annoyance and as he took a sip of the piping hot beverage the silly error slipped right out of his mind.
X
Tyrone.
This time his best friend had placed the order, and even though Max claimed that he had spelled both of their names to the barista taking their order, he also continued to snicker at the error which made Tyson doubt his honesty but once again, he decided to let the incorrect name slide.
X
Tamson.
This time he was absolutely fuming when he went back to the counter to complain. Most of the time Tyson hated making complaints against servers and there had been times when he had quietly accepted wrong orders in order to avoid kicking up a fuss in public, but getting his name spelt incorrectly countless times was where he drew the line.
"Excuse me, I think you made a mistake," He tried to maintain the volume of his voice as he spoke, "My name is Tyson not Tamson."
"I know."
When the barista turned around to face him, Tyson was stunned into silence and his jaw dropped as he took in the image of the girl standing in front of him. He was absolutely sure he didn't know her, because he wasn't capable of forgetting a face like this, possibly the most beautiful one he'd ever seen. Unruly chestnut curls fell down until her waist, stark in contrast to her porcelain skin. The white polo t-shirt and the mustard coloured apron that was the uniform wasn't particularly striking but on her it looked like something right out of a fashion magazine. But what drew Tyson's attention the most was the look of determination in her eyes and the air of confidence she gave off. He racked his brain, trying to remember the faces of all his peers from every class he was taking this semester because clearly her words and actions implied that she seemed to know him, however he was sure that he didn't. And after a few minutes of doing so, Tyson confidently reassured himself that he hadn't crossed paths with this brunette whose eyes were the most striking combination of red and brown, something that would be hard to forget.
"I'm sorry…?" Tyson replied finally, he wasn't really sure about what would be a fitting response in a situation like this.
"I know your name is Tyson, I've been spelling it incorrectly all this time to see how long it would take for you to notice. Not the fastest bulb in the room, are you?"
His grip around his coffee cup tightened and it didn't take long for the frown to turn into a scowl, it took him all of his willpower to keep his fists from tightening and crushing the styrofoam cup in his hands. On the other hand, the girl had fixed an equally disapproving stare at him as if he was still somehow in the wrong.
"Oh so does your manager know you treat all your paying customers with such disrespect, or should I do the honours?" He shot back through gritted teeth. Tyson had never played the manager card before, he'd always thought it to be the kind of stunts their parents' were supposed to pull, but then again strangers had never insulted him like this before either, so there really was a first time for everything.
"I've been working here since forever so if I asked the manager to have all the staff spit in your drinks regularly he'd happily oblige, Mr. I-don't-think-the-men-and-women's-teams-should-have-a-joint-training-camp."
This time his mouth dropped open widely and he struggled to find a fitting retort after her words finally registered in his head. Meanwhile the lunch rush hour began and the shop was suddenly bombarded with customers, Tyson was easily pushed to the side and away from the counter by the increasing student mob and the barista went back to work, not sparing him another glance or even bothering to wait for a response from him. The blue haired boy had no choice but to make his exit, and as soon as he was out the door of the shop he finally took a sip from the now slightly lukewarm coffee in his hand and for the first time in his life he found the bitter taste absolutely repulsive.
He emptied the cup in a nearby trash can, the scowl still intact on his face as he couldn't get the girl's face or her words out of his head. It wasn't until Tyson reached the campus building for his afternoon class that the realisation hit him, he hadn't asked for her name.
X
It took him a few days but Tyson was finally able to gather all the information he needed to confront the girl from the coffee shop again. After having avoided the coffee shop like the plague for a while, he had started to enjoy his caffeine-less personality, although his best friend Max heavily disagreed with this. With the assumption that he had put all the pieces of the puzzle together, Tyson happily skipped along to the coffee shop, ready to sort out all the misconceptions the rude barista was associating him with.
The task of information gathering hadn't been difficult, the girl had very clearly let on that she was part of the same Track and Field club as he was. The incident in question was the joint meeting between the men and women's division of their club, that had occurred over a month ago. Tyson had been picked as the Captain at the beginning of the new school year, despite of him being a second year student at the university, as his winning record since his high school era was impeccable and hard to match. As the Captain he had been in-charge of chairing the meeting, along with the Captain of the Women's team. The latter, Mariam, was in her final year and had a stronger command over her team than Tyson, so when she had shot down the ridiculous suggestions that were being thrown at them, nobody had questioned her refusal. However, when Tyson had shot down some suggestions, his seniors had cross-questioned his every word, mostly in an attempt to get him to fumble and prove his inadequacy as a Captain. Luckily for Tyson, he had managed to respond to each of their rebuttals, but unluckily for him, some of his statements had been misinterpreted by the barista.
His goal for the day was simple. He would find the barista, explain his actions and hopefully by the end of the conversation, find out her name. Tyson had already approached Mariam with the girl's description but his senior had been as uncooperative as ever and had only laughed in his face. So he entered the store, as optimistic as ever, and when his eyes landed on his target, he broke into a grin as he approached the pick-up counter.
"Hey!" Tyson waved enthusiastically, hoping that starting on a positive and preppy note would help smooth things over. But the brunette did not seem to share his opinion, as soon as her peculiar eyes landed on him, she rolled them upwards and turned her back to him. His grin faltered slightly, but he decided that it was too soon to give up and he went ahead with his plan.
"Hey, I just want to clear some things from before," Tyson stated loudly enough to get her to turn around and face him.
"I'm sorry, I only talk to paying customers." She replied instantly, throwing an icy smile his way and repeating the words he had used the other day in the most venomous way possible.
Tyson smiled back through gritted teeth and reassured himself that he could still do this, even if his patience had already dipped lower than fifty percent and he was getting close to breaking his fast on caffeine, he told himself if he stuck through a few more of her jabs, things would be okay between them and he'd have made a new friend. Solemnly he got himself a decaf, and returned to the end of the counter where she was, her elbows were resting on the counter top with her phone in her hand. A quick look around the shop informed Tyson that it was quiet empty, with only two or three more customers, which explained her relaxed demeanour. At least there won't be an audience if things went downhill between them, he thought to himself. He set his order down in front of her, catching her attention once again. She looked up from her phone, a deadpan look on her face as she stared at him.
"So as I was saying, you misunderstood my intentions. It's not that I don't think the two teams shouldn't have a training camp together because there's a difference in skill or whatever," Tyson started again confidently, her disinterest not bothering him, "I just know how dumb and horny the guys on my team are, and trust me you don't want to spend a week with them in the wilderness."
He grinned at her again as she straightened up and folded her arms across her chest and Tyson hoped that the slight change in expression he saw in her face was one of understanding and that his trial was finally about to get over.
"That is even more dumber than the excuse you made at the meeting," She replied, crushing the hope that had built up in his chest with a single blow.
"What is your problem?" Tyson blurted out angrily, any sign of the grin disappearing from his face.
"No, your problem is that you don't know how to manage your team so the rest of us have to go along with your inadequacy too." She said.
Tyson was glad he'd set the cup down before starting the conversation because now he could clench his fists in anger as tightly as he wanted. He couldn't believe the nerve of the girl standing in front of him, the confidence he'd found alluring after seeing her for the first time, turned out to be arrogance that he now found annoying.
"Care to enlighten me, why you're so interested in having a joint training session?"
"You know what, I will. Our practice time on the fields are separate so it's true that we don't interact that often," She started in a bossy tone and Tyson immediately cringed at her voice, but his reaction didn't seem to affect her as she went on, "But we do have to travel to our meets and competitions together, and it's so uncomfortable for us because of how your lot behaves. I just felt that if we had one training camp together at least we'd all know each other better, and then maybe things might be smoother the next time we're all in a long bus ride together on our way to Kansai or wherever."
Tyson opened his mouth for an instant rebuttal but halfway through forming his sentence, he understood what she meant and realized that she was actually making sense. He shut his mouth and contemplated his next words for a few minutes, while the brunette continued to stare disapprovingly at him.
"Okay, that makes a lot of sense. I guess I just wasn't seeing things from your perspective,"Tyson admitted softly, instinctively raising a hand to scratch the back of his head as he added a bit sheepishly, "I'm sorry about that."
While he wasn't expecting her heart to melt and for them to instantly become best friends, he did believe that his actions were genuine enough to get her to stop being so hostile with him and maybe reach a sort of understanding together. But instead, she scoffed at him and rolled her eyes in annoyance, indicating that her opinion of him hadn't changed a bit.
"So I did one thing wrong and you're going to hold that over my head forever? Do you hold everyone in your life to such high standards?" Tyson hadn't meant to sound brash, but her attitude had now started to tick him off.
"As a matter of fact, I do. Probably the reason why we'd never met before." As always her reply didn't miss a beat and with one final scoff in his direction, she turned on her heels and went off into the kitchen.
Leaving Tyson feeling bitter and agonized over not having asked for her name in time, yet again.
X
"Any particular reason why we're sitting here like a couple of peeping toms?"
Max's voice was laced with humour when he spoke, but today Tyson wasn't in the mood to play along with him and start their usual banter. He had set a very important task for himself and although he had been nervous about carrying it out alone, the reason why Max was next to him, he was determined to finish it today itself. The two best friends were currently sitting in the space between two rows of hedges that surrounded the field that was used by the athletic clubs in the campus. They had a clear view of the running tracks, but it would be difficult for someone on the tracks to spot them, and Tyson was proud of himself for figuring out such an ideal location to carry out his mission. However Max's jab at it being kind of stalker-ish did dampen the blue haired Captain's spirits a little bit.
"We're not peeping, we're observing. There's nothing wrong with observing another team's practice," Tyson muttered, more to reassure himself than in response to the blond's statement.
"Right. In other words, we're here to find the girl you've recently developed a crush on." Max grinned at him.
"I don't have a crush on her!" Tyson immediately retorted, feeling a blush creep up on his cheeks, "She was extremely rude to me, and I just want to see if she's actually skilled enough to take that tone with me." He added a bit more calmly.
Max raised his eyebrows in amusement but did not respond, the grin still in place. Tyson turned his attention back to the field and continued scanning the current occupants of it. Even with the distance, it was easy to spot the captain, Mariam, as her blue hair shined blindingly bright under the sun. He kept his gaze fixed in Mariam's direction, assuming that the brunette would be close to the Captain for all the superior air she had put on. He felt a tap on his arm and he turned to look at Max, who was pointing in the opposite direction of where Tyson had been looking, so he followed the blond's gaze and this time, he really tried to hold himself back but once again, she made his mouth drop wide open.
He'd only seen her in the barista uniform till now, and always behind the counter so he had been a bit fixated on her face, but seeing her in the athletic uniform made Tyson doubt his own statement from earlier. The sports shorts and cropped top she was wearing hugged her frame so consistently that he wasn't sure which part he was supposed to stare at. Her tall, slender legs were toned with muscles in just the right places, indicating that she must spend a lot of time running, just like him. Her hair was completely pulled back into a ponytail, her brown curls just stopping a few inches above her waist. With her hair pulled back Tyson was finally able to see her face clearly, his pulse quickened and he felt his breath get caught in his throat.
Max cleared his throat loudly to get his friend's attention and Tyson quickly looked away from her, blushing slightly as he closed his mouth and his hand reached to scratch the back of his head out of habit. The blond smirked at his friend's reactions, his amusement growing with each passing second.
"So I did some digging, for your sake," Max said, still smirking he continued in his usual chirpy tone, "Her name's Hilary, and she's in the same year as us but in the Arts department. I couldn't confirm her major, but most probably she's studying Sociology."
"Max, what would I do without you?" Tyson passed an affectionate look in his best friend's direction, his voice laced with gratitude. He was always amazed by the blond's ability to gather information. After being turned down by Mariam for a second time, Tyson had gone back to the coffee shop in hopes of getting one of the brunette's co-workers to talk to him instead but unfortunately, the result was same, they laughed and turned him away too. And yet Max had managed to find out her name and year and the department she was in, so no wonder Tyson was blown away.
"Oh come on, Tys. It's the least I could do, after all I'm just happy that you've finally developed a crush on someone!" Max replied cheerfully, patting Tyson on the back like the latter had just made an achievement for the first time.
Tyson hastily shrugged off Max's hands and shot him a disapproving glare, "I don't have a crush on her, I told you I just needed to know if she actually was any goo-"
"Oh please Tyson, do you need me to show you how you were staring at her just a few minutes ago?"
Max taunted him by putting his phone up, which was now displaying blue haired boy's face from when he had been openly gawking at the brunette, which Tyson concluded to himself, was probably the most disgusting he had ever looked in his entire life. He reached out to snatch the phone out of Max's hand, but his best friend having already predicted his move, dodged his attempts very easily.
"It's okay Tys, you don't have to hide anything from me. I can see why you're into her, she's totally your type." Max laughed as his friend gave up trying to get his hands on the phone.
"I'm not into her and I don't have a type and she's not it!"
Tyson hated how he was sounding like a broken record but Max gave him no other choice. He had always had a very one-track mind, which is why running as a sport suited him so well, because all you had to do was stay focused and head straight towards the goal at full speed. Which is how Tyson had always dealt with everything in his life since he was a child, and somehow he hadn't come across a goal that led him to get involved with someone as more than a friend. He'd had lots of friends since his kindergarten days, and many of them being girls but he'd never felt attracted or even the least bit interested in any of them. Tyson had always been focused on his own growth and performance, his wins and losses. Romance and heartbreak had always been Max's forte. He was sure that if he had even developed feelings for anyone over the years, he probably didn't even recognize them as such, which is why Tyson was so adamantly denying all of Max's statement. Tyson had no clue if the curiosity over knowing her name and finding out more about her that had plagued his mind over the past few weeks was what having a crush felt like. Because this was the first time he'd ever experienced these feelings, he was confused and agitated and his best friend's taunting behaviour was only adding more to his agony.
"She is your type, I've seen your browser history." Max snickered at him, refusing to drop the subject.
"I am never lending you my laptop again, buy your own already!" Tyson snarled back at him, his face now a deep shade of red, from his cheeks to his ears, making Max laugh louder in response.
Tyson continued to glare at him despite of the embarrassment on his face as he got up and picked up his bag and got ready to leave, ignoring Max's calls to sit back down and watch the practice until the very end, he'd already begun to walk away from their well-hidden spot. He heard Max pack up his things and catch up to him, a cheeky grin still covering the blond's face as he started to hum an annoyingly cheery tune. Tyson rolled his eyes at his actions, and suddenly a voice at the back of his head told him to turn around and take one last look at her, before she'd be out of sight. And instinctively, his head and eyes followed this thought.
When his eyes landed on her, the strangest thing happened, despite of the distance between them, her head turned towards him and their eyes locked onto each other.
And just like before, his pulse quickened and he was sure that anyone within a foot's distance could hear the loud thumping of his heart.
And then he realized, that despite all his efforts, she'd still caught him staring.
X
The library was crowded, as was expected as finals week was just around the corner, and one peek inside made Tyson want to turn away and run back to the field instead. However, he had been summoned so he had no choice but to make his way through the throng of students, who just like him were desperate to stuff their brains with as much of the syllabus as possible just before the tests began. While being the Captain of a major sports club had it's benefits, the University did require Tyson to maintain a certain average grade, and although his average wasn't particularly bad, he'd always been the type who needed someone to stand behind his back and make sure he was studying instead of procrastinating until a few hours before the test began.
Max wasn't much help when it came to studying, mostly because the blond was extremely gullible to Tyson's suggestions and if they ever planned a study session together, chances of them driving across town for karaoke and burgers were more higher than them actually sitting in silence and going through their textbooks. Which is why Tyson had to approach the only person capable of keeping him in check and always completely impassive towards Tyson's creative imagination. The crowd thinned as he made his way towards the back, and when Tyson finally reached his destination, he felt his heart drop all the way into his stomach.
"You're late."
Kai's voice was as grave as ever, as he looked up from the book sprawled open in front of him and shot Tyson a negligible scowl. Sitting next to him, Tala snickered as he looked up from his own notebook and nodded in greeting at Tyson. In front of the two, various kinds of study materials were spread all over the table, which had only one more occupant sitting at the opposite end.
The reason why Tyson's brain hadn't processed Kai's words yet.
When his eyes found her, the first thought that came to his mind was that she definitely must think that he's stalking her and he couldn't help but groan internally. This wasn't the first time he was seeing her after the whole 'observation' incident with Max. In fact the only reason that Tyson's whole body had frozen at the sight of her was because of their most recent encounter, the thought of which filled his stomach with fluttering butterflies.
The sun had already set leaving behind a hazy, purple sky for him to gaze at as the bus' engine started up, he couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief, with today's meet, all scheduled competitive matches for the term were over and Tyson could finally relax. His performance today had been one of his best, he'd easily won the 200m and 400m categories but the relay race left a bad taste in his mouth. Their Coach had easily succumbed to the demands of his seniors, one of whom was finally selected as the Anchor, the position which should have gone to Tyson considering he was the fastest and yet he was stuck running the first leg and despite of him building a good enough lead for the team, they still didn't win. Tyson knew thinking that his teammates lost intentionally would probably be peak paranoia, but after the race it seemed he like he was the only one bummed about their ranking, the others seemed to already have moved on to making plans for the evening and their days off from practice. He'd really thought that he wouldn't have to face these antics after high school, but it was almost ironic how he was going through the same thing once again. His brother had mentioned to him once, that Tyson just wasn't suited for team sports, and lately he couldn't help but agree.
He rested his head against the window pane, ready to nap throughout the trip and forget about the race, he was sure that Max would have already called everyone over for a party and instead of feeling down about the events of the day Tyson smiled and started to look forward to the party that would be waiting for him back at their dorm. And with this he closed his eyes peacefully, and the very next second someone cleared their throat very loudly, forcing him to open them and turn his attention to the person now standing over him.
This time, Tyson was able to control himself well. His jaw didn't drop and his breath didn't get caught in his throat, and when his eyes met hers, his face didn't turn red. He had been seeing her a bit more often, around the campus, on the field or at the coffee shop and while they still weren't on talking terms, he had gotten a bit more used to her face. She very pointedly looked at his backpack which was kept on the empty aisle seat next to him and Tyson grimaced.
"Is everywhere else full?" He asked her, his voice sounding more tired than he thought he was.
"Of course. You think I'd willingly want to sit next to my stalker?" She replied, despite her words, her tone was a bit softer than usual as she gave him a once over.
"I'm not-, never mind."
Tyson sighed and begrudgingly picked up his backpack and set it down between his feet, folding his arm he shut his eyes once again and rested his head on the window, ready to begin his nap that had been so rudely interrupted. He felt her take the seat next to him, but he didn't turn to look at her. This was the first time that he had been in such close proximity to her and falling asleep was turning out to be more difficult knowing that if he just moved a few inches to the right, their shoulders would touch. And as more thoughts like this intruded into his mind, he opened an eye to sneak a look at what she was doing.
She'd rested one of her elbows on the armrest and with her chin placed in her palm, her eyes were fixed on the book lying in her lap, swiftly moving across the page. So she likes to read, Tyson thought to himself, he wasn't sure why this mattered to him but he felt a bit giddy knowing that he'd found out something new about her.
"Stalk-er." She muttered in a sing-song voice, without looking up from her book.
Tyson immediately closed his eyes again, feeling a blush creep up his cheeks he wondered if she had 360-degree vision or something close to it. As he put more effort into keeping his eyes closed and not get tempted into looking in her direction, the exhaustion from the day eventually took over and before he knew it he was fast asleep. When Tyson woke, he wasn't sure how long he had been sleeping as he still didn't feel rested enough, he stifled a yawn and looked down to find a plastic bag lying on his lap. He rubbed his eyes to get rid of the grogginess and to make sure that the bag was really there.
"Oh. You're awake."
Tyson looked up at the brunette, confused.
"Mariam made the driver stop for a few minutes, you were sleeping so peacefully that I didn't feel like disturbing you. I got you some snacks instead."
Tyson thought that he saw a hint of a smile on her face as she spoke, her voice soft and filled with a kind of warmth that he wasn't familiar with, making his heart beat slightly faster than usual. He quickly turned his attention back to the plastic bag in his lap and rummaged through the contents, of two cans his favourite sports drink and a set of his favourite type of rice balls.
"How did you know to get…?" He asked her, completely baffled.
"I've seen you eating it during practice."She chuckled in reply, turning her face away from him and this time Tyson was sure that she was smiling and definitely avoiding his gaze because of the faint pink that was spreading across her cheeks, giving him all the confidence he needed to finally turn the tables on her.
"Who's the stalker now?"
Tyson smirked, whistling cheerily to himself, slowly picking apart the wrapper around the rice ball and watching from the corner of his eye as she untied her ponytail, letting her hair fall freely enough to hide her face from his view, only making his smirk grow wider. It was a new and weird feeling for him, to feel so satisfied by knowing the fact that she had been watching him just as closely. He couldn't stop smiling, even though they didn't speak much after his comment and he ate through the rice balls in silence, the weird feeling in his chest refused to subside and he had no choice but to keep on smiling. Somewhere in the middle of his giddiness, he drifted off to sleep again and nothing in his life had ever prepared him for what happened when he woke up next.
When he opened his eyes, the first thing that he noticed was the scenery outside the window, a sea of vehicles with their headlights shining bright in contrast to the pitch black sky. They must have gotten stuck in the usual Tokyo evening traffic, Tyson sighed to himself, he moved to stretch his arms as he'd woken up because of a cramped feeling overtaking him, and that's when he felt the weight on his shoulder.
Tyson froze as turned his head sideways and found the brunette's head resting on top of his shoulder, her eyes were closed and the serene look on her face indicated that she was in a deep sleep. He felt every inch of his face get hot as the redness took over and a million sirens went off in his head simultaneously.
Was he dreaming?
Should he wake her up?
Did her hair smell like strawberries?
Her nose looked like a button, very cute.
Tyson stopped himself in time from shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts that were currently overtaking his brain. This situation was too new for him and he had no idea what he was supposed to do, or rather what would be the right thing to do. He assumed that the latter would be waking her up and telling her to move her head as it was uncomfortable for him, but then he realized that it would probably be embarrassing for her. She'd already given him a tough time for not seeing things from her point of view before and he didn't want to get back to square one, especially not after this. He could try to gently move her head without waking her up, but one look at his shaky hands and the sound of his heart beating rapidly told him that he was too nervous to pull off any delicate stunts right now.
There was only one option left.
He'd have to pretend to stay asleep till she woke up and fixed the situation herself.
It was the easiest way out, Tyson concluded. All he had to do was close his eyes and wait for her to wake up, a task accomplishable even with the current status of his nerves. It would be amusing too, to watch her reaction to this stealthily, her face would definitely turn redder than a tomato and this was the golden chance Tyson had to finally see her all flustered and embarrassed and not vice versa. Satisfied with his thoughts and plan, Tyson smirked to himself, settling back comfortably into his seat, closing his eyes and bracing himself for the moment she'd awake. Feeling confident and eager, he seemed to have forgotten that there was nothing slower than Tokyo traffic and nothing faster than his ability to fall asleep in the oddest situations. The last thought that he remembered pondering over before he drifted back to sleep, was how comfortably her head fit on his shoulder, like it was meant to be there.
The next thing he remembered was being awoken by one of his teammates after they reached Campus, and when he hurriedlylooked around the now completely empty bus, he realised that he had slept through his golden chance.
And now two weeks later, here she was, sitting and studying at the same table he was supposed to be at, what kind of tricks was the universe playing on him?
"You're. Late."
Kai's annoyed voice brought Tyson's attention back to the present, he hoped that he hadn't been openly staring at her, at least not in a manner that would make the two boys in front of him suspicious of his actions. A quick final once over in her direction told him that she hadn't yet taken her eyes off the book she was buried in which meant that his presence had gone unnoticed by her. It was a relieving discovery and Tyson felt his whole body relax at the thought of not being accused of stalking yet again, he quickly set down his bag and met his roommate's stoic look with a big grin.
"I stopped for tacos." Tyson replied cheerfully, picking out his textbooks and setting them on the table as he did so. He was no stranger to the death glare that was sent his way from Kai and was thus, completely unfazed by it, keeping his grin intact.
"Sweet. Did you bring any for us?" Tala looked at him expectantly, and when Tyson shook his head in reply, the redhead scowled and went back to skimming through his textbook.
"Tell me what your schedule is like." Kai spoke up again, looking confused over which idiot he was supposed to be directing his glare towards.
"I have three tests next week, and for two courses I need to submit written assignments." Tyson answered.
"And when do you need to submit the assignments?"
Even though he had taken a seat across the table from the other two, and definitely was not within Kai's punching range, Tyson still shifted his chair slightly in Tala's direction as he passed his friend a sheepish smile.
"Day after tomorrow."
"And how many words have you written for either of them?"
"...Ze..ro…"
Tyson let out a nervous chuckle, backing up further in his chair as he spoke, next to the seething Kai, Tala snickered loudly, attracting attention from the tables around them including a few 'shhs' and 'shut ups'. Tyson slumped a bit further in his chair, knowing that she must've noticed him by now thanks to Tala, but he could only hope that she hadn't heard the poor state of his preparation for finals. He didn't want her to think he was dumb or lazy or anything of that sort as he was sure that her opinion of him had only just begun to rise from the lower levels it had been stuck on since their first proper meeting.
"You're not moving from here, till you show me at least one finished paper."Kai stated quietly but firmly, nudging the redhead sitting next to him to shut up as the later scoffed loudly at Tyson nodding his head rigorously in response.
"Yessir." Tyson echoed as quietly yet enthusiastically, as he could, rolling his eyes at Tala's reaction, he decided to fully devote all his attention towards the books now lying in front of him. Knowing the nature of his one-track mind well, Tyson concluded the only way he would be less inclined to sneak glances in her direction was if he focused all his attention on the textbook in front of him. Kai's sinister tone from earlier was another motivator behind his concentration, combined with the fear of either of the two boys catching on to his suspicious staring and never letting him live it down, Tyson actually managed to stay on track for a good ten minutes.
"So what has been up with you lately, Tys?"
Tala's voice broke through his train of concentration and he looked up to scowl at the redhead sitting across from him. Even with Kai having been his roommate since he entered the university, Tyson was still not sure if he fell into the friend category yet, because of all the incidents and pranking and shouting and arguing that happened between the two regularly. They could get along when they wanted to, but life was boring for them and their whole dorm when they did, so the two considered it a favour to society and kept up their frenemy-ship. Tala was usually around because Kai was around, and while Tyson still considered the latter something, he was yet to soften up towards the former. Something he knew would truly be a miracle if it ever happened because the redhead always seemed to get on his nerves. And whether he did that intentionally or not was something Tyson still hadn't figured out.
"Nothing much." Tyson replied monotonously, immediately returning his gaze to his textbooks, knowing well that his eyes could stray any second. He also wanted to avoid bickering with Tala because he was sure that his boisterous side would come out if he did engage, something he didn't want the brunette to get acquainted with just yet. However, even in his short glance Tyson was able to catch the boredom in Tala's eyes which put him slightly on edge, the latter would probably not give up till he got the required reaction from Tyson and he could only hope that whatever was about to go down wouldn't affect his progress with the brunette sitting not so far away from him.
"Heard from lil' Maxie that you finally hit puberty."
Tyson's clutch on his pen tightened so strongly that for a second he thought the pen would break. He felt his ears go pink as he looked up to glare as menacingly as it was possible at the redhead, who no longer looked bored but was smirking satisfactorily. Up until now, Kai had been buried in his own books and had not bothered to pay any heed to Tala's attempts at starting a conversation, but the latest comment from his friend amused Kai enough to glance at Tyson with a lesser deadpan expression than earlier.
It takes two to tango, Tyson thought to himself, if he just kept his mouth shut and didn't grace Tala with a reply, the situation wouldn't get any worse, all he had to do was think about how he was going to punish Max for blabbering around to everyone, while trying to push the dreadful thought of the brunette possibly having heard the redhead far, far away from his mind.
Tyson was certain that it couldn't get any worse than this but Tala never failed to disappoint.
"Oh come on, no need to be so shy about it Tyson. Tell us more about this hot chick from the coffee shop, who just happens to be in the same club as you and a hundred percent your type."
Tyson sunk lower into his chair, as his face heated up like a sauna with embarrassment, he lowered his gaze towards the ground in hopes of a hole opening up and swallowing him ,so he no longer had to exist in this moment. It was impossible for her to have not heard Tala's statement.
It's over, Tyson thought, he's done for. There was no way she would ever take him seriously after witnessing this.
All he could do now was plot Max's and Tala's murder and hope that by the time he's done serving the sentence for homicide, the memory of this embarrassing moment would have faded and he'd be able to return to society as a normal person again.
"Have you asked her out yet?" Unbeknownst to Tyson's dramatic internal monologue, Tala continued to poke the bear, "Take it from the experts," he stopped to gesture towards Kai and himself, his friend cringing slightly at the notion of being included in the same category as the redhead, "Girls like it when you're assertive about these things, you should just go up to her and tell her how you really feel."
"Yeah Tyson, you should just tell me how you really feel."
Tyson's head shot up at her voice and bewildered he turned to look at her, his face still as red as earlier and his heart racing at thousand miles a minute. Across from him, the two boys also turned their heads towards her, Tala's mouth dropping open and Kai's eyes widening in total surprise as the two connected the dots. Tyson heard Tala curse under his breath and he hoped that it was because he realised what he had just done and not because of how she pretty looked.
Her chin was resting on her palms, and a look of happy amusement was covering her face as she gazed at him. When their eyes met, she broke into a huge smile that reached all the way to her garnet eyes, making them shine brilliantly. He couldn't bring himself to tear his eyes away from her, even though the more he stared, the more his heart beat raced, but he'd never had someone look at him with so much warmth and happiness that even if it meant going into cardiac arrest any second now, he didn't want to stop looking at her and he didn't want her to stop smiling at him.
Very abruptly she slid back her chair and got up, slinging her bag over her shoulder, she started to make her way towards him.
Tyson and the other two watched her like hawks, their eyes following her every movement in pin drop silence.
Tyson was sure that he would explode the minute she came to close to him, but somehow his body managed to stay intact as she halted next to him. She silently gestured towards his phone which was lying on the table and Tyson scrambled to pick it up, unlocking it before handing it over to her as fast he could. She giggled at his reaction, taking the phone from him she tapped away at the screen as Tyson looked up at her in awe, still too tongue tied from the reality of it all to have the courage to say anything to her. When she handed it back to him, he saw that she had added herself as a contact.
When he looked up at her again, she grinned and then winked at him.
"Call me."
XX
A/n: Okay so the reason I didn't include Hilary's name in Tyson's narration was because she doesn't actually tell him her name herself till like the very end so I just sort of felt like not having Tyson mention it at all.
Also I always kind of see Tala and Tyson not getting along because they both kind of want Kai to himself, so kind of wanted to capture that but I think I failed. It was difficult for me to write dialogues for characters other Tyson and Hilary so I hope this didn't suck as much as I thought it did.
Anyway Tyson is totally me with a crush hehehe. Next I'm working on a prompt by Cutetyhil, so that should be up sometime by next month!
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it, let me know in a review!
