Chapter Text
October. A beginning of a new semester.
Jax isn't exactly happy to come back to college. Don't get him wrong - he likes his field of study, Computer Science is definitely his thing. He just doesn't like to study. Or going to college. If he can, he would be still sitting in his room, life streaming to his small, but growing loving audience. People in real life are never as nice as his fans. And sitting in a room full of quiet strangers for a few hours is the most boring thing ever.
But most of these things he learned so far are either useful or interesting. He kinda wants to try and finish this, write this stupid master's degree and maybe that would give him some opportunities to work in a game industry.
Although he definitely doesn't see himself as an office worker.
His college has this stupid program he was ignoring for a long while now. It is a points system, every student is required to get 300 points called ECTS (he never remembers what the acronym stands for) to pass the entire course. His mandatory lectures and his practice hours don't give enough points on its own. It's fully intentional, of course, to force student to participate in additional lectures.
He's already passed the required language courses and P.E., now he has to sign up to any of broad-academic lectures from the list that college gives them.
He chooses something random. Environmental Ethic. Sounds stupid, but it's online and it's on friday afternoon, so it's the most convenient option he can find.
He comes back from his in-person lessons and settles down on his gaming chair, turning on his PC. The keyboard blinks in different colors, the computer wakes up with a soft rustling. He wishes he could open his Twitch account and start streaming, but no, he has one more lecture to attend.
Environmental Ethic. What a stupid name.
"I hope you'll enjoy the topic as much as I do!" The teacher seems to be very young, maybe a fresh doctor. Her voice and her overly eager, benevolent attitude is already annoying him mercilessly. He will mute her next time, he just needs to listen carefully this one time to know what are the conditions to pass. "You might wonder if there's gonna be some sort of test... I'm myself not a big fan of exams, so I decided to give you a project instead. I'd like you to make it in groups of two, and present on every lesson, staring from 18th October."
Jax rolls his eyes. Great. He has to interact with people. He opens the lecture's group chat, watching as people have already started to pair. The teacher sends a link to a file where everyone can sign their name to a date for the project. There is also a short instruction and a list of topics to choose. None of it looks interesting.
He grimaces, scrolling down to the latest date. There is already someone assigned, someone named Pomni. He may as well add his name there and text her later to talk about project. He really doesn't want to think about it right now. The later he has to do that, the better.
He pushes himself from his desk, making a little spin in his chair. He's free for now, he can prepare for tomorrow's stream. Or maybe pop in someone else's life stream, maybe go downstairs for a hot dog from Żabka...
And then his phone blips. He frowns in surprise and grabs it.
Someone texts him on Messenger. Who the heck is using Messenger nowadays? Why does he even still have this app on his phone? It's not like he has someone to text there.
It's not like he has anyone to text with in general.
He opens the chat. It's the girl from the project.
- Hey! You assigned to the same date for the project on Environmental Ethic.
yeah
- What topic would you like to choose?
whtvr choose what u want
- Are you sure? I'd like to choose "Threats to civilization on a global scale". Are you okay with that?
sure
God, he really doesn't feel like doing this stupid side project. He sighs heavily, checking quickly his bank account.
can u do it by urself if i pay you
- What? Are you serious?
yes
- You still would have to present it with me to pass.
idc
- How much would you even offer?
100zl
- That's not much.
kjsamxoiue 150zl???
- Well, but I also don't feel like doing this side project. It would be easier to do it in two.
200????
- Are you seriously that desperate to not do this project?
y
- ...I don't know. I really don't feel like doing it alone.
wtf how much money do u want???
- I don't want your money, I want to split the work between us. I'm on the last year of Math, I'm writing my master's degree and I don't have time and energy for this.
250?
- You are so weird.
U R WEIRD FOR NOT TAKIN THE MONEI WTF IS WRONG WITH U
- You're mean. I just want to pass this for ECTS. Just like you.
He sighs deeply in frustration, rubbing his face with one hand. He hates group projects so much. And whatever is wrong with his woman, she's not very cooperative.
And texts like fucking millennials.
ok whatev im doing it ig
- Nice!
so what do u want like splitting it in half and put it together in one presentation or idk meet / video call and work on it together or like start it together and finish separately or what
- No. No meetings or video calls.
He frowns at the phone. But then he just rolls his eyes, deciding to just ignore it.
fine with me we can split
- Yes, that would be perfect. Thank you.
so c u in a few months
- No, wait! I'd prefer to do it as soon as possible.
what
- I have too many stuff going on, I'd prefer to do this project in October since I have more time now for stuff like this.
then y did u sign for jan
- That was the only available date left!
fine fine whatever we do this this month but not today
- Of course! We can text about it later!
sure
He throws his phone on his desk, putting his face in his hands, rubbing his eyebrows. Oh god. That's gonna be a torture. Why does he have to find someone so problematic for this stupid side project?
Whatever. Now he is too tired to do a stream. He plops onto his bed, deciding to take a nap on an empty stomach.
He really doesn't want to think about this stupid project anymore.