Work Text:
It was the start of a new semester, and the first lecture of a programming course Impulse had chosen. The whole course was focused on creating a working piece of software, accompanied by a graphical interface.
During the lecture, Impulse found out that every programmer was to be paired with a design student, and the work was to be completed in pairs. He was dreading this, since he knew no one from the design department and would ultimately end up getting paired randomly.
At the end of the lecture, he scanned the room, looking for people who might look friendly enough to do the project with and who didn't already have a pair. His eyes landed on a cyan haired guy in the far corner of the room, who looked like he didn't have a pair yet.
Impulse made his way over to the guy and tapped him on the shoulder, “Sorry to bother, do you have a pair for the project yet?”.
“Nope, I assume you are a programming student?”
“Yea, I am trying to get a decent grade, so if you are up for the challenge, we could work on the project. My name is Impulse.”
“Sure, I go by Scott”.
Scott and Impulse exchanged phone numbers and decided on a time to start working on the project.
They had agreed to start working on the project in the campus library, with the first thing on the list being deciding on what they would actually do for the assignment and then split the tasks.
Scott was waiting in the library when Impulse popped through the door, balancing two takeaway coffees on his laptop. “Ah coffee!” Scott perked up from where he had been scrolling on his phone.
“Yeap, I thought this might be a long afternoon so I got some coffee for us”, Impulse explained a bit sheepishly.
Scott happily accepted the coffee and the two went on to discuss details about the project. They decided on making a simple platformer game, where Impulse would code the game itself and Scott would do the graphics for it.
The next time they met up, it was in a coffee shop near campus. This time Impulse was there first, living a lot closer to the cafe than Scott did. He chose a corner table where they wouldn't be in the way of others while ultimately ending up hogging the table for a good few hours.
A familiar head of cyan hair appeared through the cafe door and Impulse waved at Scott so he could locate him easier. Scott walked over and set a binder full of papers on the table. “I have some design ideas for the levels and characters, let me know what you think we should keep”.
“You are the designer here though, I just write the logic behind the game”, Impulse protested, not wanting to overrule Scott's vision.
“And the project is supposed to reflect both of us and I know that you are going to have some brilliant ideas, so I want you to take a look at the sketches” Scott replied with a warm tone. He wanted Impulse to feel included in the design process too, since Scott could tell Impulse had a tendency to be more in the shadows.
Impulse took a look at the drawings Scott had brought, complemented him on his drawing ability and, as Scott had assumed, had some ideas on the characters and level design.
Since it was Scott who was doing most of the theme selection and such, the game was beginning to look very colorful, so the pair made a decision to fully lean into it and make a candy themed platformer game.
As the project continued, they began to know each other better, and opted to meet a few times just to get to know each other better.
Around a week before the project was due and they were supposed to present the project in front of their classmates, Impulse started feeling nervous. He did not like being in front of a crowd, and being paired with Scott, who was a lot more comfortable in front of people felt like there was an expectation for Impulse to also hold up to that standard.
At the last meeting before returning the project, Scott noticed Impulse seemed a lot more quiet than normal, just answering questions and focusing on his coding instead.
“Are you okay?” Scott asked and placed a hand on Impulse's shoulder.
“Just anxious about the presentation, I hate crowds and being in front of people”, Impulse replied.
“I can do all the talking, I don't mind being in front of the crowd, you can manage the presentation tech instead, I know you are a lot better at that than I am”, Scott reassured Impulse.
“Thank you Scott”, Impulse said, relieved and gave Scott a good hug.
The presentation went better than expected, they were one of the first to do it, so there were less people to compare to, and the first ones to present a game. The presentation involved a trailer style video showcasing the game mechanics and after that Scott talked about how the project had gone.
Afterwards, they were having emotional support hot chocolates in the school cafeteria, when Scott suddenly asked, “I can hear you thinking, what's on your mind?”
“It's a bit stupid”, Impulse deflected the question.
“You can say stupid things too”, Scott replied.
“It's a question about and to you, promise you won't get mad?” Impulse seeked reassurance.
“I won't get mad”, Scott promised.
“I was thinking, if you would be open for a sort of a date night at the pasta restaurant near campus”, Impulse said and hid his face into his hands.
“Of course, that would be really nice!” Scott answered with a soft smile and pulled Impulse into a hug.
“How about next Friday at 7pm?” Impulse suggested, knowing there weren't any parties or other events that day.
“That works perfectly”, Scott replied happily.
Next Friday rolled around and when Scott arrived at the restaurant, he saw Impulse hold up a small bouquet of flowers, waiting at the front of the restaurant. He thought to himself that this was the start of something nice that had begun from an awkward introduction for a school project.