Tuesday afternoon, 17:20 sharp. That was a lie. Not really sharp, it was 17:23 when Quinn walked into the library, and finding Dev in this huge maze would take another five minutes at least.

Honestly, Oakwell's library was a beautiful place. It was one of those proper old and elegant libraries with bookshelves reaching up to the high ceiling, with ladders attached to them. To Quinn's dismay, students weren't allowed to use these ladders, but it was fine, really, it wasn't like Quinn was daydreaming about swinging around the shelves like a princess or anything.

Its sheer size, however, also meant that Quinn absolutely was absolutely going to get lost here. How was he supposed to find Dev like this too? There were tons of study spots and seating areas all scattered about, hidden in little nooks and crannies that Quinn couldn't have possibly found during his first walkthrough of the library, and for a second walkthrough he hadn't had the time just yet.

"Four minutes late, Quinton."

Quinn flinched when Dev appeared quite literally out of nowhere, really, he'd just poofed into existence without a single warning. Or maybe he'd camped at the entrance waiting for Quinn to arrive, which would be even scarier.

"Cut me some slack, that's not that-"

"If your class starts at 17:20, at what time will you be there?" Dev crossed his arms, his brows furrowed, with that terrifying kind of eye contact that would pull other people into submission like a flame mesmerised a moth. Other people, not Quinn though.

"Uhm- At, uh, 17:20?"

"And what time is it now?"

"17:24?"

Dev hummed, finally broke eye contact to turn around, and Quinn rapidly blinked, then followed him deeper into the library. Between a couple of shelves filled with books about the history of Oakwell and its surroundings, the two sat down at a table, and Dev began pulling out the contents of his bag, a folder, some book, another book...

Quinn leaned back in his chair, letting out a sigh. He could've totally used this time to- well, do other things. But no, here he was, with Dev Ansari, about to learn something he didn't wanna learn anyways.

"I've created the basis of a study plan to go through, but sticking to it exactly isn't required, we may change things if needed." Dev opened the folder, pulled out a piece of paper and shoved it over to Quinn. On it was a list for every single Tuesday and Saturday of the coming year, together with an unreasonably organised curriculum. "For the first weeks, I'd like to address the feedback your teachers have given and just go through basics of what is expected of y-"

"You've really got it all figured out, huh." Quinn squinted at the paper, then grinned at Dev. "I didn't think you'd have it that detailed."

"What, you think I'm doing this for fun?" Dev clenched his jaw, his eyes narrowed.

"I mean, nothing wrong with a bit of fun."

"Mhm. If you wanted fun, you wouldn't be at Oakwell. Now let's go back to-"

"You know, usually these student lead tutoring thingies are a bit more chill, yeah?" Quinn crossed his arms as he leaned even further back, and Dev's narrowed eyes now closed completely. "You don't have to be all serious, it's not like we're being watched. Plus, I don't learn well under pressure."

"Quinton." Dev said his name slowly and exaggeratedly calm. If he didn't hate that name as much, the frustration in Dev's voice would've almost sounded sweet to Quinn. "You better take this seriously. I really don't intend on wasting the little free time I have on you."

"If you don't wanna do this bullshit either, why are we here? Why not drop the whole thing, and we just lie to Osborne that we're meeting up every week?"

"Because, Quinton, I actually value my privilege to attend this school, and would rather abide by rules and requests of my teachers. And, if you actually improve because of our lessons, that's going to look very nice on both of our certificates, which I happen to care about."

"Oh, so I actually need to get better in order for this to be beneficial for you?"

Dev stayed silent now, though his look at Quinn was certainly an answer enough. Something like 'don't fuck around' and 'I dare you' and all the things that amused Quinn to no end.

"I'm just joking," he then said, stretching his arms out to pat Dev's hands at the other side of the table, who instantly flinched away. "Come on now, teach me all about how to be a stuck up little loser."

"I don't feel as though I need to teach you a lot about that. Anyway, we're going to go through Oakwell's basics first. That includes house rules, schedules, as well as basic floor plans, since the report your teachers gave says that you're frequently late due to 'getting lost'."

"Why is it that you have access to feedback that should actually be important to me?"

"Well, we are discussing it right here together, are we not? I'm intended to be a more neutral and relatable messenger between you and your teachers." Dev was neither neutral, nor relatable. "They will submit feedback every couple weeks, and we will be able to work through that together."

How fantastic, really, to list every issue a teacher had with Quinn and slide that right over to Dev out of all people, the least judgy asshole of Oakwell, so he could do his judgy asshole things and then tell Quinn about all those things he was bad at and sucked at and oh, by the way, Mister Whatever told me you're a weird queer little freak!

"Should I read you the list?" Dev skimmed through his folder, pulling out another paper.

"Read to me what my teachers hate about me, sure. Can you like, name three things you think are cute about me after that?"

Dev froze for a second, his lips pressed together into a thin line, the paper crinkling between his fingers, before he exhaled, looking up at Quinn again, eyes dark once more.

"I can name at least five things that piss me off about you, Quinton."

"Not what I asked for, but okay. Just read the goddamn list already."

Dev looked down again, cleared his throat.

"Observations made by various teachers about Quinton Harvey during the first week of school, September second to September sixth. Number one, unreadable handwriting. Multiple staff have reported being unable to decipher homework or submitted assignments."

Quinn's old teachers never had a problem with his handwriting. Usually. Sure, it took a couple of months for some of them to learn it, but if problems were arising, they'd just approach him and ask directly. Had always worked wonderfully. A simple tactic Oakwell staff could try out for themselves.

"Number two, frequent spelling errors, sometimes to the point of being completely unreadable."

Nobody cared about correct spelling these days anyways. Quinn rolled his eyes as though he hadn't heard that complaint thousands of times before. It'd never gotten better in the past, and it wasn't going to get better just because the rich teachers of the rich school were telling him again.

"Number three, seems absent during lessons. Multiple staff have reported having to call out Harvey's name multiple times for a reaction, and he seems distracted, often fidgeting with his hair, fingers, clothes, or objects, as well as staring out the window or at walls." Dev furrowed his brows. "Damn."

"Don't 'damn' me. Maybe if lessons were more interesting I'd have more of an incentive to listen."

Dev sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose.

"Listen, I can't even fault you for that, but- You need to understand how important this is. The fact that you are even allowed to attend this school is a huge privilege. You need to use that. You have to-"

"Oh, don't you dare tell me to 'just pay more attention'. You think nobody has ever told me that before? You think that's ever helped?"

"I- That wasn't what I was going to-" A sigh, or perhaps more of a groan. "I'm sorry. And you're right, I realise that this wouldn't help, but- I just advise you to take all of this seriously."

"I am taking this seriously." Quinn wasn't, not really, but frankly, he was sick of trying. Because he knew that no amount of taking things seriously would help him at this point. He was going to zone out and submit undecipherable homework and spell every word wrong no matter how much he was taking it seriously. So if he didn't try at all, at least he wouldn't disappoint himself- No, come on, that wasn't it. It wasn't that deep. Really.

"I'll just... move on. Number four, bad posture and generally unsuitable appearance. It is noted that, though his hair is rather inappropriate, it does technically fit the dress code and was the only possible solution to get rid of pink hair."

"They're just complaining about everything."

"I certainly wouldn't call your hair inappropriate either," Dev commented, "though maybe just..." He furrowed his brows as he scanned Quinn now. "Stupid. Regarding your posture though, I can absolutely agree. But I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do about your posture aside from calling you out whenever you- hey, sit up straight."

Wow. Homophobia. Though unexplainably, Quinn listened and sat up.

"Number five. Regularly late to class, usually excused by claiming to have gotten lost."

"That's true though, I actually get lost. Like all the time. This place is a fucking maze."

"There's signs everywhere."

"If you're stressed out, do you actually try to look out for signs?"

"I'll look out for signs especially when I'm stressed. You're not a headless chicken, Quinton."

"But I feel like one. Hey, why am I arguing about this with you?" Quinn raised his brows. "You've been here for way longer, you basically live here, of course you know where everything is. You can't tell me you didn't get lost in the beginning."

Dev just rolled his eyes, let out a sigh, more for dramatics though, and continued reading the list, his face now twisting in surprise.

"Number six. Oh. Friendly and social. Some teachers have mentioned Mister Harvey's friendly personality and charisma."

"You're lying."

"I wish I was." Dev shoved the list over to Quinn. "It is the only positive aspect mentioned, though, so don't get excited."

"Too late. Huh. That's actually kinda nice."

"Don't fuck it up. They'll know if you start shit, the walls here can talk." Dev pulled the list back, put it back into his folder. "Which means you better behave around me."

This, if any other person had said it, would've sounded like a flirt. When Dev said it, it sounded like an actual threat. Not that Quinn was one to take threats seriously though.

"We're starting with a basic overview today. Then we'll focus on handwriting for the next couple of weeks and see if we can improve that at all. I'm also willing to go over homework or assignments with you, should the need arise. But for now-"

Dev dropped a thick book on the table in front of Quinn. Its cover was made from dark leather, words and images carved into it and painted over with golden paint. In the middle of it, an oak underneath a single star, surrounded by a banner: 'Per Aspera Ad Astra'

As much as Quinn wanted to pretend to hate this school, he was continuously in awe of its emblem carved into stone and wood and leather all over, its motto displayed in every book, over the main entrance, on the uniform.

Aesthetically, this place was great. If only it wasn't for the academia aspect that ruined the whole dark academia experience.

"The house rules should be familiar to you."

"Technically."

"I assume you didn't listen when they were read to you?" Quinn didn't answer. Dev understood. "Alright. So if I read them out loud now, you're not going to listen, correct?"

"Maybe if you do it with a funny voice?"

One of them wouldn't survive this school year. Quinn wasn't sure which of the two would come out alive though, whether Dev was going to kill himself or Quinn first.

☆-☆-☆-☆

WC: 2067

well, there we have it. the worlds worst duo, quick-to-judge-meany and drowning-in-expectations-loser. who's gonna go insane first, Quinn, Dev, or me?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, things are gonna pick up now i hope! thank you so much for reading, we'll see eachother next week, don't forget to leave a comment or vote if you enjoyed the chapter! Oh, and the song for this chapter is:

Problems by Mother Mother