★ Herbert west × Daniel cain
Warnings: highschool AU! stupid boy crush and uhhhh frog
Summary: Herbert doesn't want a lab partner in biology. He honestly just wants to dissect his frog by himself in peace. It's too bad that he does in fact have a lab partner in biology, he can't dissect his frog in peace and on top of all of those inconveniences his lab partner seems all too interested in him rather than the frog.
Note(s): based off of @west-of-miskatonic highschool danbert AU! Oh my god this guy cooked when making this AU, couldn't put the pan down…
Twenty minutes, it's been twenty minutes into biology and five brain itching minutes of Herbert dissecting his frog. He puts all his frustrated energy into cutting open the frog from the base of its head to its groin. Cursing mister Hill in violent muttering for gracing him with a lab partner as he guts his frog. “Did you cut your hair?”
For a moment Herbert halted his harsh digging and slicing then without caution started up again. “Are you just going to play twenty one questions or are you going to start dissecting?” He doesn't acknowledge his lab partners’ very obvious ploy at trying to get to know him better, It's irrelevant he concludes.
“Oh! I've been taking notes. You seemed to know what you're doing so I just thought I'd take notes…” Herbert scoffs glancing to his left at the shody spiral bound notebook that his lab partner apparently has been taking notes in.
He pushes up his clunky black frames eyebrows furrowed deep, he sets down his dull lab scissors now fully turned to get a better look at the notes. “Not bad.” Herbert is surprised looking at his lab partners notes, not impressed by any means but surprised. They're a little messy but all in all very informative. He concludes that maybe his lab partner isn't totally useless and hands the scissors over to him.
For a second his lab partner fumbles to grab the scissors and Hebert has to forcibly lean back on his stool to hold himself back from snatching them out of his hands. “Thanks- I'm uh Dan by the way!”
Herbert inspects the snips and pulls done by his lab partner, cataloging each movement. Not too shabby.
“I did cut my hair… by the way.” Herbert has to choke down the warm sick feeling at the base of his throat, gross.
The next day Herbert snags an old pair of his foster fathers black jeans, they're awfully too baggy and he has to use a shoestring and multiple safety pins just to hold them in place. He also applies a heavy coat of hair spray into his fringe trying to style it the best he can. When he feels like he looks decent enough he throws on his sweater, not looking twice in the mirror and grabs his books.
“Oh- your clothes! What happened to your skirt and-”
He doesn't stay around long enough to hear the rest of his foster mothers moaning and groaning, he's already heard enough from when he chopped off his hair.
It's quiet on his way to the bus stop, he doesn't notice any noise when he arrives at the stop either. It's rather odd because someone would snicker behind him or throw something at his head by now but nothing and somehow that's even more annoying than all of the other options. Herbert taps his foot, irritated at the lack of noise around him. For once he wants someone to comment something snide to him just so he could snap back, but alas nothing. He checks his watch and the bus should be here in roughly three minutes.
“Hey-” His head shoots to turn to his left, it's his lab partner, Dan, from yesterday. “I didn't notice you took this bus… uh I was wondering if we could- if you would sit with me? I wanted to go over our notes.” He onces over Dan next to him. He's tall, looks harmless and he definitely doesn't want to go over the notes with Herbert; he's just using that as an excuse to sit next to him.
He doesn't respond but turns his head back to stare off across the street, grateful that Dan doesn't continue talking. The bus arrives three minutes later and it's on time for once something that almost never happens.
Dan gets on the bus after him and files into a two person seat taking his spot closest to the middle walkway. “So what's your name? I don't remember you telling me yesterday.”
“Herbert west.” Dan nods looking from In Front of him to the window behind Herbert than to Herbert.
“Herbert? Okay Herbert. Good morning Herbert.” Again Herbert has to choke down the warmth at the bottom of his throat. It's still gross but he thinks he'll get used to it. He nods and shifts his eyes over to Dan immediately snapping them back to Infront of him again, Dan's toothy smile overwhelming him. Gross.
“You know Herbert, I have some old pants you can have.” Herbert slams his locker shut, locking it with his dead bolt. He places the key in Dan's hand turning his back to Dan so he can place it in his backpack. “They're too small for me and I wouldn't mind giving them to you-” Dan continues struggling with the zipper for a second before he finally successfully zips the bag back up. “Yes! You can come over later today and try them on- my parents aren't home and Meg is busy with her girlfriends tonight.” Herbert can only imagine Dan doing a little fist pump in his accomplishment of zipping up his bag. The idea of free pants intriguing him slightly, the idea of Meg not floating about Dan's house clinging to Dan like a monkey while he's at Dan's house sealing the deal.
“I'll be there at five.” Herbert announces and then it's settled.
“Okay- OKAY” The door to the Cain residence swings open and Herbert can't help but be slightly elated by the annoyed look on Dan's face when he greets him at the door.
“Hurry get in, it's cold outside.” Dan moves to the side to let Herbert in. He takes the bag off of Herbert's shoulders and sets it by the door. “How are you not freezing…?”
“The cold doesn't bother me Dan.” Dan only nods and hums in disbelief. He leads Herbert down through the living room then the hallway and into his room. Herbert finds it odd as he practically lives there but let's Dan do it anyway. He also ignores the stark contrast of Dan's warm skin on his bicep.
“I'll go get the pants, I got some new books. I don't mind if you look through them.” Dan leaves his room, probably to get the pants out of the dryer, and so Herbert takes Dan's advice and begins to shuffle through his scattered book collection.
The first two are some science fiction novels (Herbert pushes those to the side) and the rest seem to be medical textbooks. Interesting… Herbert knew about Dan's aspirations to become a doctor but he didn't fully get to know the extent of it.
He moves the heavy modules around sifting through the pages every once and a while. He gets towards the end of the thick stack before he gets to the second to last book. It's a thinner book about a quarter the size of the last three and Herbert has to pause to digest the title.
Transexuals: The Brain, Body and Life
“Hey I'm back!” Herbert snaps his head to Dan's door and almost smiles at the sight of Dan struggling to balance a filled laundry basket in his arms and close the door behind him. “I see you've found them.” Dan comments, placing the basket on the foot of his bed.
Herbert nods. “Yes I have Dan…” Dan starts to aimlessly fold the rest of his laundry, plucking out the pants he had wanted to give to Herbert. “Very intriguing selection.”
Dan smiles softly, pulling open a drawer in his dresser and placing a T-shirt into it before he turns back to Herbert. “Oh I sorted out the pants already if you'd like to try them on.” Dan nods to the three pairs of black trousers laying on his comforter next to the main pile of clothes.
Herbert moves to inspect them shuffling through them. These are exactly my size. “Thank you Dan.” Herbert neatly folds each pair before picking them up and placing them onto the night stand besides the bed. He turns to Dan with an awkward smile squirming up onto his lips.
Dan stops his folding and turns to Herbert, he almost has to pinch himself. Is he smiling? Dan feels himself having to choke down a laugh. “no problem Herbert.”
Sorry this took so long... I've got me a job now! Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading it :3
