Druig started the “Eternally Annoyed” club half as a joke and half as a way to get back at his brother.
The joke being that Druig is indeed eternally annoyed by everything, and that whenever he tells anyone what club he’s president of they always laugh and say “yeah that checks out.” The joke also being that nobody even believes it’s a real club. It is, fully recognized on campus, he’s just the only member.
The other part, the getting back at Ikaris part, is really just the whipped cream and cherry on top of it all. Ikaris, who had tried to push Druig to joining a fraternity, and then a social club, and then an academic club, who would only leave Druig alone if he joined some sort of on-campus event. The look on his face when Druig told him he was making his only club, and then the look on his face when he told him the name, will live on in his memories as “Best Day Ever” for a long time.
(It’s even better that Ikaris’s girlfriend, Sersi, gave him a thumbs up behind his back when it happened. She’s a keeper, for once.)
Three months in and his club is going great. Once a week he gets to sit in one of the library study rooms and nobody can come in because it officially says “club meeting, members only” on the little screen. And even when people glare at him through the glass they still can’t come in because they can’t violate the university rules about club’s rights. So really it’s the best of both worlds. It’s quiet, he gets to study, and there’s nobody else around to bug him for almost two hours a week.
Until she shows up.
To be fair to her he does not actually check the university assigned email for his club. So he missed the notice that his club was featured in one of the weekly newsletters. He also missed her email, asking if she could join. And then her second follow-up email asking if he received her email. And then her third email letting him know she was just going to show up at the next scheduled meeting.
So when two girls show up in his weekly scheduled meeting, invading his private study space, he’s more than a little unprepared. When one of the girls starts rapidly signing to the other, saying “He has no idea we were coming, does he?” and the other responds with “Obviously not.” He is very confused.
“Can I help you?” He says and signs, and then promptly flushes when they both stare at him a little wide eyed. Both of them are beautiful, and he can’t remember the last time he actually interacted with a girl other than Sersi or Kingo’s little sister Sprite. He is not really prepared for the way they just stare at him and so he goes with, “what?”
Very eloquent.
“Did you get my emails? I sent three to the club’s email address.” The first girl signs, raising an eyebrow and his flush grows deeper.
“I don’t actually check the email.” He hesitantly says, and relaxes slightly as a faintly amused expression crosses her face.
“If you can both sign I think I’m gonna head out,” the taller girl says and signs, “I’m not actually interested in your weird club.”
“Okay, I’ll see you at home, Thena.” The first girl says and then turns away to put her backpack down on a chair. Druig watches the tall girl go and then turns to the other one.
“I’m Druig.” He signs, warily watching as she sits down.
“Makkari.” She signs back, then leans down to pull a laptop out of her bag. He can’t help repeating it out loud, grateful that she’s not looking at him to see him sounding out her name.
He slowly sits down across from her and watches as she opens her laptop and then turns it towards him. It’s open to an email and he quickly reads it, flushing when he realizes it was addressed to him asking about what the club does. And then another email after that, and another.
“Sorry.” He sheepishly signs, grimacing slightly.
“It’s fine.” She shrugs then pulls her laptop back towards her. “I am curious though, if you’re the only member what exactly is this club for?”
“Uh-“ He stops himself before spewing some bullshit and cocks his head to look at the girl. She looks nice enough and he honestly hates lying so he decides to just tell the truth. “I use it as an excuse to reserve this room to study, so that nobody else can come in.”
She laughs, a mostly silent thing that throws her head back a little, and he’s hit with such a sudden sense of vertigo that he wonders if maybe he’s getting sick. He feels off balance as he watches her and thinks to himself, I would do anything to make you laugh like that again.
“That’s genius.” She eventually signs, smiling widely. He involuntarily smiles back, a tiny thing, but genuine enough of one that internally he’s a little surprised by it. Makkari’s smile drops and she looks at him thoughtfully for a moment, chin angled just slightly up as she watches him.
“I’d like to join your club.” She eventually signs, tilting her chin up just an inch more until it looks a bit like a motion of defiance. He can’t help tilting his in response and smirking at her.
“Oh? And why should I let you?” He signs, smirking wider when she roll this eyes at him.
“Well I’m a great study partner, super quiet,” She says with a wink that startles a chuckle out of him. She grins back, obviously pleased by his reaction. “I also give your club validity.”
“How so?”
“Well a club with just one person can easily be disbanded by the school,” she says, which is a fair point, “but a club with two people is at least a bit closer to an actual club.”
“That is a good point.” He says, smirking again when she grins widely.
“So it’s settled then?” She says with her own matching smirk and he lets out a short chuckle, barely an exhale of breath.
“I suppose so, welcome to Eternally Annoyed.” He says and sticks out a hand for her to shake. She laughs but shakes it anyways, smiling.
They don’t talk much after that, just the basics about what kind of classes they’re taking and studying for. They have none in common so they go back to silently focusing on their work. It’s nice, Druig thinks, and he knows he wouldn’t mind if she really did stick around.
He’s both surprised and pleased when she does, when they grow comfortable enough with each other that they begin to develop their own habits. Just little things of course, a joke here and there, common interests, memorizing each other’s coffee orders. Simple things, but enough of them that Druig started to look forward to their weekly meetings more than anything else. Enough so that he begins to think maybe Makkari is feeling the same way about him as he is about her.
About two months later, the week before finals begin, he changes his mind and realizes that it was actually a massive mistake allowing Makkari into his life. He’s walking towards the library, quickly to try and avoid the rainclouds that are starting to come in, when he spots her and another guy standing just outside the doors, sharing an umbrella.
There’s nothing specific about the interaction that should upset Druig. They’re just sharing an umbrella, but for some reason the image makes him slow, his feet ceasing their quick pace until they’re practically dragging. He watches as Makkari’s hand squeezes guy’s bicep, and then she’s reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
Druig stops. He can’t get his feet to keep walking that way, and without conscious thought he turns on his heel and begins quickly walking away, back towards his dorm. His brain feels like static, white noise that makes no sense beyond the slight feeling of heartbreak.
He makes it back to his dorm without even realizing it, a ten minute walk passing in seconds. He crawls into his bed, ignores Kingo’s questions, and closes his eyes tightly. He’s grateful when sleep takes over a few minutes later, dragging him into darkness.
He wakes in the middle of the night to a snoring Kingo across the room and a phone with multiple missed calls and messages. He feels guilty, leaving Makkari without explanation, but he doesn’t know what to say. It’s not as if she’s done anything wrong, he never asked if she was dating someone, they’ve never talked about that stuff before.
He sends her a quick message, tells her he wasn’t feeling well and he forgot to text her before he fell asleep. She responds immediately, which makes him feel so much worse for lying. But all she says is “feel better” so at least he doesn’t need to respond with anything other than “thanks.”
Everything still hurts though, and he finds himself crawling back under his covers, lying down and just closing his eyes to drown out his thoughts.
He doesn’t try to book the library for another study session. The next morning he tells her he couldn’t find a time that works for both their schedules. And then he does the worst thing, he wishes her luck on her finals and tells her “see you after the break.”
She doesn’t respond. That hurts too.
He studies in his room, using his headphones to block out Kingo as he practices lines for his theatre final. He doesn’t get nearly as much done as he wants to, but by the time he’s finishing his last psychology final he’s too tired to care. He leaves the classroom in a daze, exiting the building and hardly even noticing the light drizzle of rain. He just sighs and begins the walk towards his dorm on autopilot, falling into line with the stream of other students.
He doesn’t even realize it’s Makkari walking next to him until she pulls on his sleeve, roughly dragging him out of the crowd of students towards the side of a building. As soon as she pulls him under the tiny overhang he realizes how wet he is, hair plastered to his forehead and his sweatshirt dripping. It shakes him out of his daze, and he looks down at her in surprise.
“Are you upset with me?” She asks, and he can’t help noticing the amount of sadness and vulnerability in her eyes. Guilt fills him instantly and he shakes his head rapidly.
“Not at all.” He says honestly, but before he can continue she’s rapidly signing.
“Because I went to your dorm when you didn’t show up and your roommate said you just came home and wouldn’t talk and then you didn’t even text me or tell me anything and I know you lied about there not being rooms at the library to study in so I just can’t help thinking that you’re mad at me-“
He reached out and stopped her rapid hands as they began to devolve into nonsense. She took a deep breath and then another and then softly pulled her hands away.
“I’m sorry.” He signed, trying to put on an expression of sincerity so she would know he was completely serious. “I am not mad at you, I have never been mad at you. I promise you’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Then why have you been avoiding me?” That expression of sadness was backend Druig felt his chest twist at the sight of it, sending him into a spiral of his own.
“I just- I saw you with your boyfriend and I was just jealous and didn’t know how to handle it and then I felt bad for being jealous and I didn’t know what to do so I was just avoiding you an-“
“Boyfriend? I don’t have a boyfriend?” She said, interrupting him by putting her hands in front of his, knocking them out of the way. He blinked at her stupidly for a moment, her words sinking in.
“But, I saw you outside the library, you were sharing an umbrella. You kissed him?” Understanding dawned on Makkari’s face, and then inexplicably laughter, doubling her over until she was gasping into the air. He stared at her with a slightly dropped jaw, confusion racing through him until she looked up with a wide smile and stood up again.
“That’s Phastos, he’s my brother’s fiancé. And my best friend.” She said, and Druig felt heat rise not only to his cheeks but his ears and chest as well. He gaped for a moment, hands stuttering before he could steady them enough to speak again.
“So, you don’t have a boyfriend?” He asked, feeling nervous suddenly for all that he had revealed. Makkari’s smile went sharp, forming more of a smirk, and he swallowed at the sight of it.
“Not unless you’re asking.” She said, raising an eyebrow, and Druig felt his heart drop from his chest to his stomach, and then up to his throat.
“What?” He managed, and Makkari’s smirk softened while she reached up with one hand to cup his cheek, and then rose on her tiptoes towards him. He watched as she brought her face close, and then lightly pressed her lips to his.
He gasped into it, and then without any control he reached forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, leaning down to pull her close and press their lips together again. They were both smiling into it, leaving the kiss a little messy, but still perfect. Absolutely perfect.
Druig started “Eternally Annoyed” as a joke, but in the end it turned out to be the best decision he’d ever made.