Work Text:
Charlie Conway was utterly confused.
Sitting in the very back row of Geometry class, his head started to ache. His teacher’s monotone voice droned on and on. He usually didn’t need to listen at all. It was all simple and straightforward. For once, he was good at math.
This time, he understood nothing on the board. Everything coming out of his teacher’s mouth sounded like a foreign language in a twisted accent. His paper was empty and he lacked any energy to ask his teacher for help.
He curiously glanced at his seatmate, Adam, who was scribbling work down swiftly. He was focused, silently calculating in his head.
“Banks. How did you get the answer?”
Adam turned abruptly, smiling at Charlie.
“You’re asking me? I’m shocked.” His voice dripped with playful sarcasm.
Charlie rolled his eyes and scoffed. In a strained low voice, he said, “Please explain it and help me.”
Adam smirked, but nonetheless turned his paper toward Charlie and began showing his work.
“See, here you have to use this theorem from earlier… then solve the equation…”
“Oh, I see.”
Charlie wrote extensively, processing everything Adam said. Charlie lifted his hand and pointed toward something else on the paper, and for a split second, their hands brushed together.
Adam didn’t seem to take much notice, but it made Charlie lose his train of thought. His stomach twisted strangely and his mind scrambled. He looked up and studied Adam’s face, like it had some sort of answer etched into it. It didn’t.
Charlie swallowed his words and pushed his feelings away. He had to stay focused on this so he could understand it for the homework.
“Wait, slow down.”
Adam looked up at him and laughed lightly.
“What, Banks?”
“Nothing. You just have never asked me for help. I’m usually asking you.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow and smiled. He scoffed and shook his head in disbelief.
“Are you gonna help me with this or not?”
Adam snickered quietly but began explaining the problem again. Charlie pointed at the part that confused him, tapping the paper with his eraser.
“You have to make them equal 180 degrees. Duh,” Banks said, feigning smugness.
Charlie glared at him without hostility as he quickly fixed his work.
“Yeah, whatever you say, Banks.”
“Well, you know I’m right.”
“For the first time in your life.”
Adam laughed quietly, though it was quickly cut short by the abrupt sound of the bell ringing.
Charlie smiled to himself silently. He probably had a stupid look on his face, but he didn’t care. Adam Banks had laughed at something he had said.
For a split second after the bell, neither of them moved. Chaos had erupted in the room around them, with kids rushing out the door and chairs scraping across the ground. It was almost like they reacted just a few moments too late.
“I think number 13a on the homework is like that too,” Banks explained casually as he slung on his backpack.
“Oh. Okay, thanks.”
“No problem. Bye, Conway.”
“Bye, Banks.”
Charlie glanced over at Adam as he left, his eyes watching the door close behind him.
He gathered his things and shoved them into his bag, wondering why this feeling he had was still lingering. He didn’t understand it.
Shaking his head, he pushed it away and headed out the door.
—
The locker room at practice that afternoon was loud.
Skates clattered, gear fell, water bottles were thrown. Chatter of conversation and bickering blocked out Charlie’s confusing thoughts.
Orion had them lined up, skating blue line to blue line sprints. Averman was panting, Fulton was drenched in sweat, and Goldberg looked like he was about to pass out.
“Hit the line, Conway! C’mon!”
Charlie gasped for air as he finished skating, wheezing as he looked at Orion with disbelief. He just stared at the ground and shook his head, frustrated.
Again, Orion blew the whistle for another sprint.
Charlie could hear the rest of the JV team panting around him.
Averman arrived back at the blue line and slowly lowered himself down.
“If I die tonight,” he muttered dramatically, “just tell everyone it was murder.”
“Shut it, Averman,” snapped Connie, annoyed. “You’ve said that ten times already.”
“And I’m not joking!”
Again, the whistle blew. Charlie pushed off the blue line and skated hard. His lungs burned and his legs ached as he pushed forward. As much as he hated it, the rhythm was simple. Swift. Calm, even.
It made his thoughts quickly become the quietest they had been all day.
—
The locker room filled with groans and mutters as they filed in. Charlie collapsed on the bench, peeling off his pads. Fulton dropped next to him.
“Are you good, Charlie?”
“I’m fine.”
Fulton leaned forward and glanced sideways at Charlie.
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“You missed the line during sprints.”
Charlie furrowed his eyebrows and scrunched his nose.
“I was tired, Fulton. Give me a break.”
“Sorry.”
Fulton didn’t like to pry. But he knew Charlie best. He tugged at the loose tape on his stick for a moment.
“You can always talk to me, y’know.”
Charlie just stared at the floor.
“Yeah. I know.”
The volume of the chatter suddenly increased in the room and the moment between Charlie and Fulton vanished.
But later, when he was doing his geometry homework, Charlie remembered the conversation.
And he was on question 13a.
Adam was right, it was exactly like the one in class. He quickly repeated the steps that Banks had taught him, finishing the problem quickly.
Wow, he thought to himself. Of course.
He found himself thinking about Adam’s words during each of the problems on the homework. Every time he remembered what Adam had explained, he understood the problem and completed it immediately. He grinned stupidly efore he could stop himself.
What is going on?
It was such a strange feeling that Charlie had become conscious of that day. Banks and him had only sat together because their teacher had assigned them there. That was it.
So why was this lingering feeling not going away?
—
The next day in class, Charlie was sitting in his seat, disassociating, as Adam sat down next to him.
“Did you get 13a on the homework?”
Charlie shook his head as he came back to the present moment. He smirked.
“Sure did. Did you actually do the homework for once?”
Adam scoffed and gestured to his completed paper.
Charlie nodded, smug.
“I’m surprised,” he said with sarcasm dripping from his voice.
“Oh really? And who asked me for help yesterday? Oh, yeah. You.”
Charlie rolled his eyes, smiling.
“Yeah, like I wasn’t going to figure it out myself.”
“Sure, Conway. Whatever you say.”
Charlie grinned at him, raising one eyebrow slightly. The bell rang and the class finally settled down as they began to review their homework.
Tearing his eyes away from the board, Adam leaned over slightly and pointed at Charlie’s paper.
“You did this proof wrong.”
“What? How?”
“Look. How are these sides congruent?”
“I dunno. Because… they just are.”
Charlie went red, flustered and annoyed.
Adam just smiled, giving Charlie an empathetic look.
Adam pointed to Charlie’s work with his eraser.
“Here, just replace it with the angles instead. Because now it’s AAA congruency.”
Charlie nodded and adjusted the markings on his paper.
“Like that?” Charlie gestured to his writing.
“Yeah, exactly.”
Silence settled between them for a moment. It wasn’t awkward or unusual. It was just comfortable.
And as the time in class continued to pass, Charlie’s emotions and thoughts quieted.
They hadn’t been like that for days.