Clumsy Opposing Cunning
Jayce Talis cascaded down the unfamiliar winding halls of his new university, eyes scanning each door number as he glanced from numbers to paper- numbers to paper- his schedule and class numbers not lining up with the numbers of this hall, apparently.
Both his mind and strides turning and spinning in every which way- wrong turn after wrong turn- as if he were a lost puppy.
The university’s class hallways seemed crowded to the point of trampling- as other students filled in and out of classroom doors, as if in a mechanical rotation. He carried his textbooks in his right hand, sliding the other along the hallway's brick wall as he squeezed past groups of cramped students- his leather letterman bag propped on his broad shoulder, protected by the wall, containing a life's work of inventions and research that he couldn’t risk losing to the madness of the hallway.
Today was his second day at the University of Piltover, his sponsors, the Kiraman’s, having helped financially support him, (and helped write an overly positive recommendation for Jayce) so he could fully accept UOP’s scholarship with no setbacks- having been given to him after attending and graduating from a local small technical college; his expertise and skill level well exceeding his past classes. It would be exaduration, claiming he was a genius, but he was well qualified.
Then, he astonished his professors, stunned his colleagues, and won many- many awards for his discoveries and research skills. Yet, the technical college never fully satisfied his yearning for something- more.
This invention… these ideas - that sat with years of research in his bag, could change history. He just hoped his new professor was keen enough to trust it. He subconsciously ran a tanned calloused hand over the leather bag, calming his nerves just knowing that it was there.
Though now, in the marble lined halls of Piltover University, did he truly feel like he had been accepted into the wrong place. These people seemed so certain, so ordinary and yet keen on their routines, that he truly stuck out like a sore thumb; and not in the positive aspect that he had been accustomed to before.
It was the middle of the first semester, probably the worst possible time he had chosen to join. He had been told they would accept him whenever he found the time to get settled, but after months of making sure his mom was settled and okay on her own, did he finally find the time to get the Kiraman’s help weeks and weeks later. He had been hesitant on leaving his mother, knowing how she faired on her own. But the Kiraman's assured her that he would be okay, their daughter, Caitlyn Kiraman- also attending the same university a year under Jayce. After months spend with the Kiraman's, they had actually made good friends, and only then did his mother's anxieties seize.
Due to the lack of navigation in the same hall's others knew perfectly, Jayce constantly found himself stuck or confused. At times he would call Caitlyn, asking her for directions and for her to track his phone to help find the way to his own dorm building in shame. Though now, it would be pointless- he knew she was practically on the other side of the school. Besides, he always felt terribly guilty after seeking a lower-year's guidance, no matter how many times Cait reassured him it was no problem.
On top of that, another thing about how suck transferring in mid-year is, if the fact learning already studied topics mid-year and studying and picking the last left-over classes was a pain. He constantly had issues truly feeling settled and comfortable in his new setting. It was hell already, and it was only the second day for the golden boy of some technical college from nowhere. He was practically cornered, and it was far too early for such a thing. His nerves were nearly shot with the amount of stress the poor man was under. The work, the textbooks, the classes, finding the classes. It was like a maze of bolts and screws.
Beyond just his normal courses, he had been guaranteed in the universities top engineering/innovative lab group with a small, selected group of students. Heimerdinger had told Mrs. Kiraman about the course, and just from what he had been told, he was just willing to get past today to make it to then.
Embarrassingly, he hadn’t been able to attend yesterday’s class due to complications with his schedule, but he had received an email from the professor, Professor Heimerdinger, reassuring that Tallis's absence indeed had been missed. Kindly stating that it would be easily disregarded, worded with kind reassurances and greetings regardless of his tardiness.
It did ease some of his anxieties and even further lifted his hopes for his special class. The professor was well-known, well announced, and a part of some of the greatest leaders in the city of Piltover. He was a genius, a kook, Einstein's shorter counterpart. Jayce was just daydreaming all of the interesting lessons and teachings his professor could provide him with.
Cassandra Kiraman had done a background check on Talis after seeing his academic discoveries and potential at the college's walk-ins, further promising to help Jayce move forward with his promising career and even guaranteeing him financial and mental support along the way. Kiraman was in the same council as the professor, and that's when Jayce was added to the group of intellectual scientists that Heimerdinger had created, just from recommendation alone. It was the scholarship and transition that was truly the complicated aspect of Jayce’s acceptance.
Speaking of which, would be wasted if he couldn’t find room 360, his current Government and Finance class that was a clear requirement in his next diploma. Finishing all of the mandatory classes was the least of his concerns- he just had to push through, right?
The tall, dark-haired man continued to weave his way through. Halls cleared as the class transition time began to run very thin. Jayce’s feet began to pick up pace the more students began to filter out, doors shutting, signaling the beginning of class. He glanced at a shutting door number- room 310… He was getting warmer!
Jayce couldn’t afford to be late to another lecture- he couldn’t handle the glares and the staring of other classmates as he took his seat in the back. He had to make it this time… even while doors began shutting frequently as he watched with a fast speed now.
Even now, Jayce was practically sprinting at the numbers on doors shut even more- numbers growing bigger the faster his feet moved. His eyes moved from the hall ahead of him to face the numbers on the doors, no longer focusing on the lack of students crowding him in every direction as he ran. I have to make it- I can’t make another bad impression, not again.
Under a minute until the hall time was over, he was so close-
He picked up pace further, running with heavy footing as he began to count up the numbers of passing- closing doors.
323…
331…
342…
35- “AGH-!”
In that small instant of not looking where he was going, Jayce ran headfirst into something in the supposedly empty hall. In that same instant, Jayce fell back, slipping after crashing, and fell nearly headfirst down onto the hard floor. Papers could be heard scattering everywhere, the strap that closed Jayce’s bag having flown unlatched while stumbling, helpless, backwards.
Shit- Now I won’t make it on time. Not a chance. Jayce thought, attempting to shuffle back to his feet after the initial fall, sitting up to absentmindedly file his research back into its dedicated bag- until he heard a small grunt a little way in front of him, stumbling around to face the source of the sound, wondering what made it before turning. Or rather- who had made that sound?
As the broad man shifted his glance to the sound behind him, his eyes opened wide as saucers to see a person.
On just a glance alone Jayce committed the man to memory- lengthy, average height, with dark brown locks that included small tufts that poked out where they ended near his ears. His face was sharp, not smooth and plump but strikingly and intricately unique- the kind of face that could be sculpted and worshipped by only the finest of sculptures.
Jayce snapped out of his trace as said person opened his eyes in blatant shock, then bright- fiery eyes squeezed tight in a slight wince, and with a small grunt- the man reached for something to his left.
A cane, and just then did Jayce lay his eyes on the brace that ran from the top of his ankle, all the way to his upper thigh.
Jayce scrambled to his feet, hurriedly wording apologies and many sorry’s, the other quietly accepting the help and the cane from Jayce’s hands, finding his thin-rimmed glasses that sat to the side the spot where his head had been. The man places them on his crooked nose, adjusting to the sudden view fix.
“OhmygoshImsosorry,Ithoughtthehallswereempt-”
“Excuse me- ah. It’s- no it’s, oh-” To no avail, the pale man waved a nimble hand in disregard to Jayce’s hurried apology, growing increasingly more irritated (more than he already was, atleast) that this tank of a human being wasn’t tentative enough to hear his own forgiveness to his brief mistake.
“ andIwasn’tlookingwhereIwasgoingbut -”
After the man’s unseen forgiven words, his amber eyes shift to the papers on the ground, slightly crouching on his good leg to pick one up and get a better look. Ah, well, curiosity overwhelms a man, and he was indeed curious. Uncaring to whether or not the other would rather the papers be private.
The stranger noticed, in between the messy and nearly illegible scribbles of hurried notes, the name on three of the papers he had picked up.
“ butthat'snoexcuseIshould'velookedand -”
Jayce stopped abruptly as a pale hand was mere inches away from his own face, noticing now that the stranger was not looking at him- nor paying a lick of attention to his aimless rambling. “That-” The man pauses, turning his gaze to the stunned expression of the other, “-will be enough. Ah, it is your first day here- yes?”
“Well actually it’s my se-” Jayce starts, smiling slightly for a moment out of pure embarrassment and bashfulness. He stops however, when he notices the papers scattered all around the floor, his face nearly draining entirely of its color.
Talis scrambles to his knees, again- hurriedly shoving his research and notes away into its compartments. How much worse can today get? He thought to himself, as the other just stood there, leaning on his cane in amusement. How can someone be so rushed, so constantly?
“I see, well- hm.” The other hummed, still visibly irritable- yet it was hard to tell what was emotion and what was just his blatant expression. Jayce snapped his head up at the man that towered over him, cursing to himself for seeming like such a mess around someone who seemed so- well, put together. The man notices the others shame and nerves, standing in pure amusement at the other, eyes so keen and yet so demeaning. “-seems like you need to be getting to class. No?” The other hummed, adjusting the cane that he rested on to help begin his walk to wherever he may be going. Jayce took notice of this, again, mentally shaming himself.
“Ah- yes you are- right, I suppose. I think I missed the bell.” He admits, shifting the last- or what he only hoped- were the last of his papers, into his bag. Not caring at the moment in front of this intimidating human of whether or not he had all of them, not wanting to make a fool of himself for the hundredth time since arriving at this damned campus.
“Yes, well, I wish you the best in your classes. Try to look where you are going from now on.” The student muttered, further dusting himself off as Jayce picked up the last two papers on the floor he noticed- not seeing the stranger tuck three stranded sheets into his vest pocket. “Goodbye.”
“Oh- Thank you! Sorry again for all this, but what is your-” Talis hardly heard the men's final goodbye as he raised his head from its position, struck immediately at the fact the other student was gone. Out of sight, not even down the long hall, that seemingly had no end.
Shit. Now he couldn’t ask for his name, or at least his major- his dorm? How does one connect with colleagues of the same intelligence? How does one forget something like that?? Jayce had just made a fool of himself in front of someone who looked far too qualified to still be here- He sure looked smart, Jayce thought, having taken notice of the others sprawled notebooks with endless equations that had fallen in the collision.
Cursing to himself, Talis sat there looking a disheveled mess and not like the top 10% percent of his class. His black hair going in every direction, his collared shirt pressed and creased, and his old bracelet unlatched by one setting. He quickly fixed that last part. He couldn’t afford to lose it, being so precious to the inventor. Jayce sighed to himself, shifting around to face the direction he had initially been heading, accepting the fact that he just had to walk in late- there was no excuse but ‘Yeah sorry- I had gotten lost and crashed into an extremely attract-intelligent looking man of whom I would have loved to get to know, and made a fool of myself to.’
His calloused fingers grazed over the cold handle of room 360, taking a deep breath of air before entering the quiet classroom, all heads including his professor turning to gaze shamingly onto his. Scolding his tardy with just looking alone. He knew this would happen, it was just his luck- it seemed. Jayce trudged to the professor's desk, setting down a paper that was due for homework, then awaited a scolding that was just waiting for him. This professor had an ugly face- old skin and grumpy attitude- so he waited. Knowing what was coming.
“Mr. Talis, second day and already falling behind I see. Tsk. Sit toward the front, we need you to catch up with what you have missed since you have been missing out enough as it is.” His professor stated, gesturing to a seat next to a younger looking girl with maroon and black hair- seemingly looking bored out of her mind, the table space beside her neat and clean- unlike her own. He had been wondering when it would happen- the lecture- but finally having gotten it over, the tall broad man glided on by. Making it to his row, a group of girls around his age giggled at him- yet he couldn't figure out or understand why. Being late wasn't necessarily a hilarious thing- not to him, at least.
Jayce made it to the seat beside the streetfighter looking girl and sat, nodding a hello as she gestured one in return. A silent pleasantry, he assumed. He noticed that her notebook was filled with crudely drawn doodles, the chicken scratching of handwriting weaving beside each drawing of what looked like to be a girl. The maroon haired girl made eye contact with his snooping- a habit he had poorly constructed- and, embarrassed, put a muscled forearm over her notebook, turning away from him and "focusing" on their droning professor. Something he had assumed to be her first time doing.
He opened his satchel to lay out his own notes to actually take for once but opened the satchel to only see his wrinkled research notes and messy journal. Jayce solemnly pulls the array of sheets out to recount the pages, always being one to be stickler about his perfectly organized studies- rather than his own trashed room. He scoffed at himself for his own arrogance of the moment, ending at the near end of his loose-leaf journal, the ripped flesh of the paper bringing attention to his gaze. That Journal had a bad habit of letting pages fall out, and Jayce pieced together that it must've ripped and flew out when he ran into that kid earlier.
Three. Three papers of critical and precise research lost. Most likely to be ripped to pieces by the time he is out of his lecture by the stampede of rushed students. A headache formed at the rim of his hairline at his own mistake, groaning to himself and cursing under his breath- his own careless mistake. Cursing not only himself, but the intimidating man from earlier, mumbling something about 'distractions'.
How could somebody have been so strikingly constructed that it just caused him to short circuit? Sure, Jayce has had his fair share of showstopping hall-crushes, but this time? It just didn't make any sense- he wasn't even a crush! Just some kid with thin-lensed glasses and a couple of delicately placed moles. Jayce huffed to himself- who was he kidding?? He was like a statue, blueprints with sharp ruler-lines; angles and pencil sketches, he couldn’t take his eyes off. He was an inventor Afterall, it was his job to study complex structures and pieces for his own research, but this was a person. Not some complex Rocketship or some lousy circuit board. His own curiosity was something he rolled his eyes at as he erased his sketched lines in his finance notebook. Scoffing at those sharp angles and pencil lines- annoyed by the memory, at himself and for some reason the stranger that baffled him.
Small snores emitted from the maroon-haired girl beside him. Jayce turned back to his 'notes', his headache still present but somehow ceasing in the slightest as he tuned out his professor's lecture. He still had a couple more classes till lab. He just had to make it, and he could forget all about that boy from earlier- like it never happened. Like they had never met!
He sat for that entire class in focus, but admittedly, he hadn’t been taking any notes on the trivial topic of Topside Finance, not even taking in the rambling of numbers and money schemes but instead doodling the face of a certain sharp silhouette of the stranger from earlier. Struggling to make the eyes perfect, only relying on the embarrassing memory from earlier to base his blueprint on.