Truthfully Druig had no interest in fraternity life. He fully believed it was just an excuse for shitty dudebros to come together in a place for them to be assholes. And he had been very clear about that opinion from the very first time his family broached the subject.
Unfortunately it seemed that his brother, father, mother, and sister did not care one bit about that fact. The second Druig had been accepted to USC it had be “Eternals this” and “Eternals that” and he had very quickly learned that if there was any chance his family would financially support him he would be expected to join.
It likely would have been fine if it weren’t for Ikaris.
Ikaris, the golden boy, the perfect son, the shoe-in for every position ever. And the most annoying fucker to ever fucking exist.
Druig agreed to join the fraternity but he under no circumstances ever agreed to run for leadership positions. And yet, here he is, sophomore year and somehow being voted onto their stupid fraternity government as the fucking social chairman.
What. A. Fucking. Joke.
In the entire past year he has given no indication to actually enjoying being in the fraternity. He hardly does anything with them beyond the bare minimum to make his brother happy. So the idea that he is the best choice for this is, frankly, ridiculous. But here he is.
Ikaris gives him a lecture of course, sounding so much like their father that Druig would almost be impressed if the lecture didn’t come down to “be good at this or I’ll be mad.” Ikaris is as predictable in this as he is in all things.
But still, Druig is not actually an idiot, and he knows that someday he can use this on his resume to find himself a job far away from his fathers law office. So, with a gusto that is completely fake, he throws himself into being social chair.
It honestly goes better than he expects. He’s always been good at making schedules and organising people, and their first two social events go off perfectly. It’s only once he realises they have to collaborate with a sorority for their next event that he remembers why he is actually not suited to this job in any way shape or form.
It probably would have been fine, honestly, if the meeting he set up to work with Delta Prime’s social chair hadn’t been over email and had been signed with an actual name instead of just “sincerely, social chair.”
Not that he signed with his name either.
So when Makkari walks into his little corner office in the fraternity house can he really be blamed for being confused?
Granted he probably could have opened with something other than, “what the fuck are you doing in my office.”
But also, she probably could have responded with something other than, “oh my fucking god you’re in a fraternity, this has to be a joke.”
Needless to say it was not a good start to their collaboration. Not that anything between him and Makkari had ever gone very well. Ever.
Picture this: freshman year, the student employment office. He’s applied as a translator for deaf and HoH students on campus and he’s thinking it’s going to be a pretty easy job, he’s been signing since he could walk, and it pays well.
He is not expecting his first assignment to be a fucking advanced physics class, translating for a hyperactive freshman. She’s a whirlwind of motion, signing so fast he misses half of what she’s saying and has to ask her to repeat at least four times. It’s frustrating for both of them, to say the least. And then the actual lecture starts.
He spends half the class trying to finger spell words he’s never even heard of, and by the end of it not only is the student he’s translating for giving him looks like he’s the stupidest person on Earth, but he’s starting to believe it.
Needless to say they both agreed he shouldn’t translate that class for her again. They’d both assumed that would be it, that the disability services office would understand and assign someone else.
Except apparently he was the only translator available at that time period and because of his employment contract the only person who could choose not to have him was the student who needed services.
Obviously that wasn’t exactly an option so there he was, stuck signing for a class with words he hardly understood, with a student who didn’t even attempt to try to hide her exasperation. Not that he expected her to. It was definitely his own failings here, he knew that, but still, it sucked.
It sucked even more when he convinced himself that he needed to buy the textbook she used and actually learn the words they were talking about, using an entire week's worth of his pay. But it was worth it to see that little frown she always carried slowly faded away as his spelling got better and her notes improved in turn.
He thought they were on their way to friends, finally getting along, when he was suddenly removed from her schedule.
He tried to ask about it, but all he’d been told was that alternate accommodations had been made, and he’d been reassigned to some guy and his intro to math class.
The next time he’d seen Makkari he had, unfortunately, been very very drunk and already upset from a conversation with his father that day.
And so maybe his impulse control had been low and maybe he’d been a little rude. But still, he’d thought they were becoming friends and then she’d requested another translator and he was upset about it.
So when she’d walked into the bar he was at, sitting with one of his fraternity brothers, he’d been a bit of a dick. And she’s reacted to that.
(Their exact conversation went as follows:
“Hey, Druig.”
“Fuck off.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said, fuck off.”
“What’s your problem.”
“Right now? Only you, Makkari.”
“Well fuck you too, then.” )
It had only spiralled from there. Everytime she’d seen him on campus she’d flipped him the finger, and he’d responded in kind. When he’d been scheduled as an emergency replacement translator for one of her classes second semester she’d left the class instead of working with him. When he’d arrived at a bar she was already at with a group of friends he’d immediately left. And on and on.
It maybe would have been fine if they didn’t run into each other so often, but it seemed that half the time Druig went somewhere Makkari was there. The grocery store, the bars, the best pizza place a block away.
He really shouldn’t have been so surprised when she walked into his office, but again, she was about the last person he pegged for a sorority girl.
She clearly felt the same about him.
“How the fuck are you in a fraternity? You’re the most unlikable person I’ve ever met.” He feels somewhat the same, about himself. He is also still surprised, everyday, that he is in this fraternity, much less the social chair.
“I have layers.” He signs, keeping his expression dry, and is slightly gratified when she snorts.
“What layers? Bitterness, cynicism, and annoying?” She smirks at him, and he bites his tongue to keep from laughing.
“You forgot handsome.” He says and is again gratified when she rolls her eyes. This is familiar for them by now, insulting each other until one of them gets annoyed enough to leave.
Except for once he actually needs her to stay, and she seems to realise that at the same moment. She sighs and runs a hand over her braids and then steps into his office and closes the door behind her.
He tries not to stiffen at the sudden change in the atmosphere, like the walls have shrunk in. Makkari just steps to the chair on the opposite side of the desk and settles down.
“Look,” she starts with, eyes focused ove this shoulder, “I know you hate me and that’s fine but I do actually care about my sorority and I want us to have a good event, so could we maybe call a truce just to get through this?”
“I don’t hate you.” He responds immediately, unable to hide the surprise from his face. She cocks her head and raises an eyebrow in disbelief. “I really don’t.”
“Okay.” She signs, clearly still in disbelief, and he wants to say it again, wants to make sure she believes him, but she’s shaking her head and moving on before he can. “It doesn’t matter how you feel about me. It matters that we plan this event and that it goes well for both our organisations.”
“Fine. Truce then.” He signs eventually, and she nods.
“Okay so I had some ideas,” she says, and he has to fight down a surprisingly fond smile when she pulls out a giant notebook with Delta Prime emblazoned on it. He remembers her meticulous notes from her physics class, and he’s unsurprised she has just as many for her sorority.
It goes surprisingly well, the rest of that meeting, until Ikaris shows up, barraging in out of nowhere. He’s got his nose stuck in his phone and clearly no idea that Makkari is there.
Druig automatically keeps signing when Ikaris starts talking, like muscle memory, and doesn’t even realise that he’s effectively translating for Makkari as Ikaris rambles on.
“Druig,” Ikaris says, still staring at his phone, “this social commitment with Delta Prime, Sersei is their president. We’re thinking we should add some contests to it. Maybe like “funniest member” and “best dressed” or even “cutest couple” since there’s so many of us paired up. I’ll need you to add those for me and then set up some sort of voting system so everyone can do it.”
Then he’s gone, without ever even noticing Makkari in the office. Druig sighs and puts a hand to his brow to rub at the tension headache that’s immediately come up.
“So,” Makkari signs once he looks back up at her, “that’s the famous Ikaris?”
“Yeah.” Druig snorts and runs his hand dive this face for a second. “Sorry about him, he can be oblivious. He’s been like that our whole lives.”
“You knew each other before USC?” She asks, clearly surprised and Druig realises she probably doesn’t know. It’s not like he and Ikaris are actually blood related.
“He’s my brother.” He says, and smiles a little at the shocked expression on Makkari’s face. She wipes it away quickly, but he’s still entertained by it.
“I had no idea.”
“Most people don’t.” He says, looking thoughtfully down at the wood of his little desk for a moment. “We’re adopted, and not exactly close.”
“Yeah I can’t really see the two of you hanging out on a weekend, at least not based on what Sersei’s told me about him.” Makkari signs once he looks up again and he laughs a little.
“I don’t know how she puts up with him.” He shakes his head and this time Makkari laughs, a rough huffing sound. He can’t help thinking he wouldn’t mind hearing it again.
“Nobody understands the two of them.” She says and then turns back to her notebook on her lap. “Well, we could add those things, maybe here-“
She points to part of their event schedule and then they’re back at it. He’s actually beginning to think this thing is going really well, that they might actually work well together, when there’s a knock on his door and Thena comes in.
She throws herself on Druig’s lap without pause and holds his face tight between her hands. She promptly begins telling him about the latest failed date she’s been on, rambling about assholes who think women can’t shoot whiskey. By the time he manages to push her off him and to the floor and look up, Makkari is gone.
He can’t help his bitterness at Thena, though she probably doesn’t really deserve his harsh words. But he really thought he and Makkari were doing well, and now she’s come and ruined it.
“Then.” He says, voice rough with annoyance. “Stop going out with random tinder guys and just ask Gil out. You’re in love with each other, grow up.”
And then he leaves her there in his office, stomping up to his room to drown himself in homework.
He doesn’t see Makkari again until their event actually arrives. Or rather, he doesn’t see her alone again. They have to work together, obviously, to prepare all the details and the decorations, but they’re never alone, and their conversations stay strictly on task.
Whatever development they’d been making before is clearly gone. Makkari is back to being cold and short with him, and in the face of her sudden aloofness Druig gets a little… petty.
It really does start as an accident. He’s not great at decorating, and he’s certainly more suited to boxing and fighting than balancing on a chair to hang up streamers. And it’s not even really his fault that the chair wobbles and he ends up pulling a few of the streamers down, ripping them. She’s the one who let go of the chair! .
But Makkari blows up, an angry whirl of hands as she accuses him of ruining the decorations she picked and trying to undermine her. He’s so surprised by her sudden fury that he doesn’t even recognise the feeling in his chest as relief until she finally stops angrily signing.
“It was an accident, and I’m fine thanks for asking, it definitely didn’t hurt at all falling off the chair that you were supposed to be holding steady.”
“Oh please, don’t be a baby, you barely fell.” She says, and maybe that’s true but it also sparks more anger in him. He gets up off his little heap on the floor and points accusingly at her.
“Go. Fuck. Yourself.” He signs slowly and carefully, and revels a bit in the way she straightens up, lifting her chin towards him.
She steps closer and pokes him in the chest, expression full of fury. Instantly, like a child, he pokes her back. Then she shoves him, hard enough that he stumbles and his back hits the wall. She doesn’t let up, pushing against him with one hand and using the other to sign, “Fuck you, Druig.”
And for reasons completely unbeknownst to him, because sanity had clearly left home the minute he fell off the chair, his response is, “I wish you would.”
Makkari freezes, the hand on his chest spasming once but still holding him to the wall. Every thought in his mind is gone, nothing but the image of her shocked face taking over, and the slightest feeling of absolute horror.
He feels like he should apologise, should take it back, but he doesn’t. He just watches as emotions fly across Makkari’s face until it finally settles back on anger.
“That’s not fucking funny.” She signs.
“I’m not joking.” He responds, and promptly realises he must have gotten a concussion. That is the only reasonable explanation for what the fuck he’s doing right now. Makkari’s expression darkens further and she slaps both hands against his chest once, then twice.
On the third slap he grabs her wrists, holding her tight enough that she can’t pull away. She tries but he just squeezes both her wrists and she stills, looking up at him furiously. Slowly he transfers her wrists to one hand, and uses the other to sign.
“You’re beautiful when you’re mad at me.” He says, and it’s true. Her cheeks are glowing and her chest is heaving and he’s thinking he’s a goddamn idiot for not figuring this out before. He lets her wrists go and is pleased when she doesn’t step away from him.
“You’re infuriating. I’m always mad at you.” She says, glaring at him.
“Guess that’s why you’re always beautiful.” He says, and delights in the change of her expression, the sudden light that enters her eyes.
“You drive me crazy.” She says, but she’s leaning her head up and he’s leaning his down and he doesn’t really have time to respond because she suddenly surges up, brushing their lips together.
He’s kissed people before, isn’t even a virgin, but it almost feels like he is in this moment. Because the kisses he’s had before were nothing like this. This is the very taste of passion, of emotion, of anger and want and need all wrapped into one. He can feel the slight shake of Makkari’s hands as they rest against his chest and his own shake as he reaches for her hips.
The sudden cacophony of clapping startles him away from her, and she follows his gaze to the crowd of people around the room watching them. He turns red immediately, embarrassed and mortified at how easy it was to forget they weren’t alone in this room. Everyone is turned towards them, and half the people are clapping. He even thinks he spots someone recording.
“What the hell.” He says, and tightens his hands on Makkari’s hips when she turns to face the room, keeping her from walking away from him.
“You just won me $50!” Kingo says and signs, and then runs out of the room with his phone raised.
Within seconds every phone in the room chimes or vibrates, and Druig has a sinking feeling in his gut he knows what Kingo just sent. Based on the look of fury on Makkari’s face she comes to the same realisation. This time when she pulls from him he lets his hands fall to his side, but he follows as she rushes out of the room.
He follows her outside and down the pathway back towards the main campus until she finally stops and sits on a little bench. He joins her and then waits, wanting to let her gather her thoughts for a moment.
“What just happened?” She asks eventually, looking up at him with narrowed eyes.
“Well I think Kingo may have placed a bet on us.” He says, shrugging calmly in a way that is at odds with his feelings inside. He isn’t even really sure what he’s feeling inside.
“You kissed me.” She signed suddenly, pointing at him aggressively.
“Technically, you kissed me.” He signed, and nearly laughed at the indignation that crossed her face.
“Don’t you pull that with me. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that you’re beautiful and I’ve wanted to kiss you since the very first day I met you.” He says in a rare moment of complete honesty. Makkari blinks at him, clearly not expecting that.
“Why did you stop being my translator then?” She asked, and that was just about the last thing he expected.
“Me? You’re the one who requested someone else!”
“What?” She signed, giving him a look of disbelief. “I didn’t request a replacement you did!”
“No, I didn’t.” He said, shaking his head. Makkari’s look of disbelief faded and then fell into one of humour before she let out that breathy laugh he’d heard before.
“I’m an idiot!” She signed and then threw her hands in the air in emphasis. Then she turned to him and rapidly said, “I thought you had figured out that I was crushing on you, so you requested not to work with me anymore. And then you were so mean to me when I saw you again I knew I had to be right.”
“But I thought-'' he signed and then shook his head, starting over. “We’re both idiots.”
And then both of them were laughing, hard enough that he was starting to lose his breath when he opened his eyes and realised they had leaned towards each other.
He didn’t think, just leaned that little bit closer to press his lips against her smiling mouth. She was still grinning when she pressed back, making the kiss messy and difficult and oh so perfect.
When they arrived at their event that night it was easy to ignore the cheering and looks from everyone as they walked in holding hands.
It was even easy to ignore Ikaris’s furious face of jealousy when the votes came in and somehow Druig and Makkari won the category for best couple.
He imagined they had Phastos to thank for that one.
In fact it was easy to ignore everything, except for the woman dancing in his arms and smiling up at him. Easy to ignore everything but the frantic beating of his heart every time she leaned in for a kiss, every time she stole one from his cheek, and every time she wound her hands into his.
It was easy to ignore everything but his beautiful, beautiful Makkari.