Chapter Text
Elliot-
At 3:00 AM Elliot was sleeping. He was dreaming about the fire again, he never sees it very clearly, it’s not like he ever fully relives it in his dreams, just little bits and pieces, just enough to scare him. He woke up in a panic. He woke up and got scared just enough to the point where he probably could fall back asleep for at least 10-20 minutes. So, he grabbed his liner for his leg from the side of his bed, grabbed his crutches, and put them under his arms. He then walked to then go find his discman. He set it on his bed, then went to find a box in his closet where he keeps all of his CDs. He searched for a bit until he found a song that would help him go back to sleep, Happy Together - The Turtles. As the song was playing he got restless and started to wander around his room, he found a bunch of old arcade coins, gum wrappers, and books. But besides those (and the clothes) his room was fairly clean. He decided to put the books away on his shelf so they didn’t have a chance of being ruined.
After listening to the song a few times on repeat he finally felt a bit better and could go back to sleep. He got in bed and drifted back off to sleep.
Theo-
Theo woke up at 6:00 AM so he could shower before school and flat iron his hair. After his shower he went to his kitchen and got english muffins with cream cheese, strawberry flavored to be specific.
Elliot-
After sleeping a few more good hours he got up at about 8:00 AM, just enough time to eat bread and stuff and get ready before his brother was ready to drive him to school, although, Adrian (his brother) is usually pretty lenient on how late Elliot is and doesn’t mind too much if he is late, as he usually is.
Once it got to the second hour Elliot was already exhausted, and now he had to do math.
Since the teacher was kind enough to let them choose their seats (for now) he sat in the front left corner, near the window, but still close enough to where he could pay attention and listen well.
The teacher introduced “Dividing Polynomials.” She taught how to solve them with long division and the box method. All the students were expected to learn both.
Elliot understood both ways immediately and knocked out the work sheet, he then looked around the room to see who else was understanding it, he then noticed a ginger boy glancing back at him before quickly looking back at his paper. Elliot didn’t pay much attention to this even though he has seen the boy staring multiple times by now.
Theo-
Theo is usually really good at math, and he still is, but for some reason he can’t grasp this new method. He can do the long division part easily but he just can’t figure out the other way. He keeps trying and trying but gives up on doing it right then. As the teacher was sitting at her desk he glanced around the room until his eyes landed on the boy he has been noticing for the past 3 weeks, he still doesn’t even know his name. Everyday he has tried to see if he can overhear it, but he hasn’t yet.
After staring for about 5 seconds the boy looks up at him, once he finally sees his eyes he sees that he has the most gorgeous heterochromia in his eyes, but he quickly realizes the boy sees him staring and quickly looks back at his paper.
“Fuck,” he says under his breath.
Theo-
The next day, back in math again, he has no idea what to expect.
He listens and the teacher starts to share what is happening, “I know you guys have been enjoying working on your own, but i want to make sure you all understand what we are doing without having to test you a bunch. I am going to randomly assign you partners-”
The class sighs.
“-and with your partner you will both prove you know how to use both methods and make your own problems. As well as finishing a worksheet together.”
Theo was nervous as he didn’t like the idea of being paired up with someone random, but it didn’t matter much as he didn’t know anyone in this class anyways.
She started listing the names of partners, “Will Byers and Mike Wheeler (BYLER BYLER BYLER BYLER BYLER), Theo Callahan and Elliot Austen-”
She went on and on for a bit but he stopped listening once his name and Elliot’s were said, trying to figure out who Elliot is.
“If you don’t recognize the name, come up here and I’ll point out who you will be working with.”
Theo slowly wandered up to the desk and before he could even get in line the teacher was talking to the boy with the heterochromia eyes still in his seat and pointing at Theo.
He froze and wiped his eyes before walking over.
“Theodore, this Elliot Austen. Elliot, this is Theodore Callahan. Now get working.” She said as she went to help the other students find their partners.
Theo sits down and prepares to make some nice conversation since he finally has a chance to speak to the boy that has been tormenting his mind.
“Callahan? Great, see, I don’t really feel like doing ice breakers I kinda just want to get this worksheet done”
“Oh, okay yeah. Sorry, is your accent french? Woah.”
“It is, yeah.”
They both individually worked on the long division problems as Theo glanced at Elliot focusing about every 30 seconds.
Once they both get to using the box method Theo quickly gets lost and is tempted to ask Elliot for help.
“Hey, do you get this? I don't get it,” Theo asked Elliot.
“I do, I guess I can help if you need it?”
Theo tries not to look too happy about finally getting to know a little bit about this boy.
He feels an uncomfortable throbbing in his pants and has to adjust himself.
“You good?”
“Yeah, I’m fine sorry, how do I do this equation?”
“Are you sure?” he waits for a nod or any confirmation from Theo.
“Yeah I’m fine I promise.”
“Good okay yeah, anyways, you start with a 2 by uh any number box.”
“What do you mean any number?”
“As the equation goes you add more boxes, so you can start with 2 by 1 or something like 2 by 6 to be safe.”
“That makes sense, like this?”
As he goes to start drawing the boxes the bell rings.
“Oh shit, uh, would you possibly want to come over to my house after school today to finish explaining it?”
He hopes Elliot will say yes, even if he only comes over for a bit.
“Uh, sure I guess?”
Again, Theo tries to not seem overly happy.
“Great okay, wanna meet next to this class after 6th period and walk to my house?”
“yea”