Chapter Text
Computer Science was Derek’s favorite class.
There were many reasons for this, the most obvious being his love for not only computers but technology and mechanics as a whole. The lecture room was always filled with typing and the clicking of mouses instead of talking, his professor always let him into the room early or late if he wanted, and for once in his life everyone in the room seemed to be as eager to learn as he was. All these things were perfectly logical factors to consider when claiming this class as his favorite, normal reasons he would list when people asked why he always looked forward to that part of his day. There was, however, a much more illogical reason for him to enjoy these 50 minutes; and it just happened to be the most influential.
Avery Silva.
To say he “met” Avery this year would be false. The two of them had more so “re-connected” in recent time. They officially met in high school when they shared the same history class. They weren’t friends, they weren’t even table-mates, but Avery went out of his way to say ‘Good morning’ Derek and would find him at lunch just to talk to him.
He could still vividly recall every detail of the day they first had a conversation.
It was Tuesday, sometime in November, Derek’s Senior and Avery’s Sophomore year. It was a chilly afternoon with a nights worth of brown and red leaves covering the ground. Mr. Cook had just assigned the class a partner project about the Industrialization of the United States, and students were clamoring to claim their friends before anyone else. Derek expected to be stuck with someone he didn’t know and was surprised to see Avery sit next to him.
Avery wasn’t one of the “popular” kids, but he was undeniably well liked around school. He was sweet, funny, and always willing to help people out. Derek saw the appeal, but he also saw that his kindness, while not fake, was motivated by a need to be seen as useful. Avery and Derek weren’t the kids you’d expect to hang out together and yet Avery had chosen him regardless.
“So, what part of the project do you want?” Derek asked the boy beside him, pen tapping against the desk. He didn’t expect an actual answer, he had gone through this process too many times to believe he was chosen for any reason aside from his grades. It was more a formality while he prepared to do the entire report himself.
Avery glanced at the instructions on the board again before smiling at him. “Uh, I know the stuff with the economy better than I know all the names and inventions, so I could do good with those, probably.” The slime of his face crinkled in thought, oblivious to Derek’s internal shock. “But maybe that means I SHOULD do the inventions- you know, to study!” Avery shrugged. “Honestly man I’ll take whatever part you don’t wanna do.”
Derek couldn’t suppress the smile that bloomed on his face, nor could he control the way his head wings twitched. “How about you take the economic questions, and then I tutor you on the rest?”
The slime that made up Avery’s body bubbled, a sign of happiness. “Dude, you’re the best!”
“Don’t mention it.”
After that project was over, they didn’t have a chance to be close again. Derek had begun cramming for end-of-semester exams and Avery was busy with soccer season. They still said hi in the hallways and occasionally ate lunch together but their interactions were few and far between. Their last conversation before college was at Derek’s graduation, where Avery had given him a green and red loom bracelet while wearing a matching one.
“I know it’s kind of childish, but I enjoyed your company this year and… I don’t want you to forget me.”
He wore the bracelet every day until it snapped. The rubber bands were still in his nightstand drawer.
Derek had spent his first two years of college without a close friend. His classmates already had their own groups from high school, and his roommate was a fraternity brother that he avoided whenever possible (which wasn’t hard since he spent most of his nights partying). College quickly became a routine of wake up, eat, go to class, tinker, sleep, repeat. The cycle quickly became repetitive and unenjoyable.
By the end of his first year, his scholarship was the one thing that kept him from dropping out, but he came close the summer after his sophomore year. The only reason he hadn’t gone through with it was his mother begging him to give it one more year because she ‘had a gut feeling something good was about to happen’. Derek didn’t know whether she was being truthful or not, but he stayed, knowing full well to never doubt a mother’s intuition; especially not his own.
He was forever glad he had listened.
They had reconnected two weeks before the year started when it was time to move back into the dorms. Derek’s roommate had gotten kicked out for three consecutive DUI’s, so he was being assigned a freshman and was expected to help them move in, which he didn’t really mind. He was currently loitering outside the dormitories, waiting for the freshman to pull in.
“Derek! Is that you?!”
Derek’s head snapped around, locking eyes with the slime he hadn’t seen for over two years now. He had gained a little plumpness and his ‘hair’ was longer, but he hadn’t changed much outside of that. He was still wearing those flower-patterned shirts and cargo shorts, and he still had that gummy smile that Derek hadn’t realized he missed so much until he saw it again.
Derek’s wings fluffed themselves as he resisted the urge to preen them. His hind-brain was screaming at him to make sure he looked as presentable as physically possible. “Avery! It’s good to see you again.” His eyes moved to the boxes sat in the bed of his truck. He could leave his post for just a few minutes. There’d be no harm done. “Need a hand?”
“Please? I think I took too much,” Avery laughed nervously. Derek waved away his concerns and lifted a few of the smaller boxes, parting his wings slightly to balance himself as they walked inside.
“Trust me, it’s never a thing of ‘too much’ in college, only ‘not enough’.” He still felt the sense of dread from his first year when he realized he didn’t bring nearly enough clothes. He gently shifted the boxes to one hip long enough to press a button. “What floor?”
“Floor 3,” Avery answered quickly, easily holding the two boxes under his arm while he checked his phone. “Either 313 or 318, I can’t tell, I forgot my glasses in the car.” Derek pressed the button for their floor before moving to stand next to him.
“What a coincidence! I’m also on floor 3.” Derek suppressed an excited chirp at the thought of being neighbors or even-
“We’re roommates.” He couldn’t hold back his chirp this time after he read the e-mail. “That says room 313. That’s my room.”
“Hell yes!” Avery’s slime bubbled in a way that reminded him of their first conversation in the most endearing way. The elevator dinged and opened onto their floor. “Lead the way, roomie!”
It had been almost three months since that day and Avery had already proven to be a much better roommate than his previous one. He was nicer, cleaner (not a neat freak but he kept himself organized), and overall more pleasant to exist in the same space with. That claim was entirely unbiased on his part.
Entirely.
Derek had gotten to know a lifetimes worth of knowledge about Avery by sharing a room with him and just conversing with him like friends (he was almost certain they were friends now). He learned that Avery and his twin sister werre adopted, raised by two humans of Filipino and Brazilian heritage. He had a human older brother and younger brother, Tristan and Peter, and his sister was named Averi (Derek had made a comment on the obvious source of confusion, Avery told him she went by Ava to make things easier). He had fallen in love with the concept of biology in middle school when they taught about human anatomy, the diagrams of the body entrancing him. He loved the color green, he loved playing Minecraft, and he could still play soccer just as well as he could in high school.
It was no surprise that Derek… felt some way for him.
While he was right about Avery being a people-pleaser, he was also a genuinely kind man, selfless to the point of his own detriment. He’s seen him share his lunch to someone who couldn’t afford it, give up his bus seat for anyone who was struggling the tiniest bit, hold the door open for everybody behind him no matter how big of a line; his point was that Avery had the most golden heart he had ever had the pleasure of witnessing.
Still, he knew he wasn’t in love with him.
Derek was almost a hundred percent certain he had never fallen in love in his life. Sure he had kissed people, gone on a couple of dates, he’s had sex quite a few times now, but he never felt that… spark. His mother always told him he’d find someone eventually, he just needed to be patient, but he was almost thirty years old and had never experienced something as small as a schoolboy crush.
With Avery, he wasn’t in love. Love was too simple a word to describe what he felt for the slime. There were words that were closer to the truth; devotion, adoration, infatuation, yearning, but no words that Derek knew could aptly paint a picture of his feelings. He didn’t have a name for it but it was there. He had the simple truth that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Avery and really that was all he needed. Why define his feelings so neatly? Why keep them in a solid box that never allowed for change? He cherished Avery, deeply and sincerely, and that was enough.
So, yes, Derek loved his computer science class because of Avery. Avery didn’t need this class as a part of his course, so he wasn’t sure why he was in the roaster, but he wasn’t complaining in the slightest. Being able to sit beside him and have proper conversations gave him a certain motivation he couldn’t get anywhere else.
That ‘motivation’ being how he finished his work thirty minutes early purely so he could talk with Avery the rest of the time.
“-And then this absolute prick tries to kick that adorable little street dog! Of course I had to punch him in his stupid hit-able face!” Avery recounted angrily. His slime had spiked while talking, not enough to be worrisome but enough for Derek to place a hand on his shoulder. The slime took a breath to stabilize himself. “Anyways, that’s how I almost got arrested Senior year!” Derek couldn’t help but laugh at how casual the admission came out, the wings on his head flapping softly.
“He deserved it. I would have found a way to bail you out.” Derek had meant it as a joke, but it dawned on him that even back when they weren’t speaking he would have bailed Avery out of jail in a heartbeat.
Thankfully, Avery didn’t comment on how absurd such a claim was. “You always look out for me, Der. I’m glad we’re friends.” He smiled, before laying his head on Derek’s shoulder like it was nothing. He took a second to regain his thoughts and wrapped one of his black and gold wings around Avery’s body. The slime was always colder than him. He knew it was due to the matter his body was made of, but that fact didn’t stop his instincts from feeling displeased and wanting to share his warmth.
“I’m happy we’re friends too.”
Avery chose to burry his face in his neck plumage instead of continuing the conversation, and Derek let the comforting silence wash over them.
Unfortunately for him, class ended soon after and they had to part ways. Avery gave him a hug goodbye like he did every time they separated, and just like every time Derek had to physically concentrate so he wouldn’t nuzzle his chin against his head. Derek never hated his Avian heritage, but sometimes he wished his hind-brain would shut up for a change.
His afternoon class after comp-sci was art. Derek never considered himself an artist before college, but he had to take at least one consistent elective. He could have gone for music, but he had enough of playing piano for the rest of his life, so he decided to stick with art. It had become a surprising comfort for him, his highly reliable memory allowing him to sketch things with impressive accuracy even if he didn’t have a reference photo, and painting the things that stuck in his mind allowed him to easily process some of his more difficult thoughts.
His favorite things to draw, however, was nudity. Not in a sexual manner, he just found the naked body to be beautiful. Something vulnerable, something personal, a physical form that contained so much inside its skin. Emotions, memories, perspectives, the body was the shell that held it all inside. That wasn’t even mentioning the variety, how no body was ever the exact same, not even with twins. He dare not even think about the magnificent differences between species, both big and small.
Despite the beauty that he saw in the naked form, whenever he spoke his thoughts on it he was teased relentlessly or called a pervert.
He didn’t talk about it anymore.
“-And remember!” His teachers voice faded into focus. “You do have a project! Your task is to find someone of a different species than yourself and capture their pure, unfiltered essence! We have nude models available if needed, but I would prefer if you found a subject yourself!”
Right, the project. The project due in fourteen days time. The project Derek had no idea how to start. He had tried to ask for a model right off the bat but he had been denied. His professor had told him that there was almost certainly someone he could paint in such a way. He refused to acknowledge what was being implied. His professor had teased him on him and Avery before, and he knew exactly what he expected from him.
The more he thought about it, however, the less apprehensive he was about the idea. It didn’t have to be something weird or awkward. Avery would understand that it was for a class, he knew he would, but even if he didn’t it only meant he could freely ask for a model. It would also benefit his artistic process to paint in a familiar, comforting space, such as their shared room.
There was also the undeniable want to see Avery naked.
If he really focused on it, there was a burning desire deep in his gut to know the slime intimately. To run his hands across his body, his lips, his tongue, his teeth. To feel Avery explore him in turn, for him to find places he didn’t know existed. The urge to make him feel special, to ingrain in Avery’s head the knowledge of how deeply rooted his feelings were without saying a word. The sensual appeal was on the back-burner of his mind, his heart much more focused on the idea of getting to study Avery’s beauty, admire him in a sense no one had gotten to appreciate before.
It was decided before he had even reached his dorm.
When he unlocked the door, he knew Avery would be at his desk, his biology course releasing exactly twenty minutes before his art course ended. There was, strangely, an oddity with their routine, that being the nervous face the slime wore when he spun his chair to look at him.
“I have to ask you something-“
The same words, the same time, the same nervous yet determined tone. Derek would have laughed at the situation if he wasn’t partially terrified (they would laugh about it together later).
“You can go first-“
“No, no, it would be rude-“
“I insist.”
Derek sighed at his roommate, shaking his head at the obvious mutual stalling.
“At the same time?”
“Fine.”
.
.
.
“I want to draw you for my nude art study-“
“Can I study you for my biology report you have to be naked but I promise I’ll be respectful-“
Silence.
Derek’s wings puffed out in a mix of pride and satisfaction when he processed the request. Avery wanted to study him, intimately, for a biology report. He wanted to peel past his outer layers and witness what he hid from the rest of the unworthy world. Did he also want to feel him, to adore him, to show him how much he meant to him? There was only one thing he could respond to such a request.
“Yes!”