#aliverse

As she stormed up the stairs to the TA coordination overseer’s office, Elsie thought to herself that this was perhaps the most anger she had ever allowed herself to feel in all twenty-one years of her life thus far. Worse than her flare of irritation at Ceecee months before for allowing her evil spikeball to eat the rare cheese collection Elsie had sprung for as a self-gifted birthday present, certainly worse than that time when that same spiny ball of fury had taken a midday nap on the seat of her office chair,  and somehow, worse than the fateful publication in Annals of Theoretical Physics that had undermined her future field of study entirely for years to come. 

Yes, all of that certainly paled in comparison to the events that had been set into motion only days before when she had, naively and idiotically, she might add, assumed that becoming an undergraduate TA in the last year of her degree could lead to nothing but good things. A boost on her grad school applications? Check. The ability to endow the incoming freshmen with a lifelong love and passion for physics? Double check. Co-TA-ing with the absolute blight on theoretical physics that was Jack Smith Turner? Who also happened to be six and a half feet of unfairly cruel gorgeousness? Who also also had sealed his fate as her sworn enemy since the faithful day he’d taken the last first-row seat in their Physics 110 class?

Unfortunately, quintuple-check, which is why she was currently storming up the stairs to the TA coordination center, only footsteps behind said long-legged perpetual thorn in her side. 

“It isn’t too late to give up and turn around, Jack,” Elsie huffed, mentally making a note to join Cece on her early-morning runs more often as she charged forward, propelled by pure indignation alone. “This is my TA spot, and we both know it.”

“Elsie, for the last time, there is no reason why we can’t just do this together,” Jack sighed, unfairly calm and unbothered-looking for someone who had remained several steps ahead of her since they’d begun climbing four flights of stairs ago. “The class is too large for one TA. You can’t run labs by yourself, an-”

“Oh, I can’t run labs by myself?” Elsie seethed, her rage peaking more steeply than a displacement verses time graph with increasing velocity- a concept that she could certainly teach better than this elitist theoretical-physics-invalidator-robot masquerading as a science undergraduate. Typically, she would never allow herself to snap at anyone the way she was now, but there was something about Jack that single-handedly managed to unravel every last one of her meticulously curated alternate personalities, and she hated him with the fire of a thousand Wolf-Rayet stars for it. The logical part of her brain knew that more likely than not, Jack was only intending to point out the obvious- that a class of two hundred plus only one TA would undoubtedly lead to disaster regardless of said TA’s competence- but something about his tone, so smooth and careful and goddamn patronizing was enough for her to allow her irritation to show quite plainly. 

“Elsie, you and I both know that’s not what I meant.” Jack groaned, halting in front of her to hold open the door, and Elsie had to bite her tongue to hold back her thanks. As she stormed through ahead of him, she thought that she saw his eyes lock onto her face for a moment, his gaze rapt with attention. His next words were a bit softer, more likely than not an attempt to placate her into not begging the coordinator to remove him from the course. “You’re smarter than deliberate misinterpretations.” 

Elsie couldn’t quite think of a sufficiently snappy response. She settled on, “You don’t know that,” which was admittedly not exactly her best scathing retort. 

“I’d like to think I do.” 

Elsie paused at the note of sincerity, her eyes flicking back to meet his, which hadn’t left her since she’d passed him at the door. “If I have even a little bit of luck, which unfortunately seems unlikely considering that I’ve been assigned to TA a year-long class with the guy that tried to delegitimize my entire field of interest when he was seventeen, you’ll never know me well enough to confirm or deny that.” Elsie’s voice was cold now, any hint of teasing gone, and with that, she pivoted sharply. If she had cared enough to see his response, she would have seen his face falling for a fraction of a second before he re-composed himself, steeling his expression once more. 

After bickering back and forth for some time in the hallway outside the heavy oak door over which of the two would plead their case first, the TA coordinator on duty (who happened to be a very underpaid and understandably irritated graduate student volunteer) eventually shouted through the door that the two of them could come in together or flirt somewhere she wasn’t. Shuddering at the thought of seeing Jack in any sort of romantic light, Elsie had pushed open the door first, with Jack hot on her heels. 

After only five minutes of the pair repeatedly cutting off one another and glaring vehemently at each other, the coordinator cut through their chatter with a single raised finger and a glare that entirely silenced both of them more effectively than the mute button on a remote. 

“Enough, please.” The coordinator, whose name according to her desk sign was Ashley, slid her head into her hands in exasperation, her irritation evident. The beads at the end of her blond braids clicked against the thick wooden desk and then her chair as she straightened, facing the two head-on. Her British accent had been more subtle when she had welcomed the pair in, but its increased intensity seemed to be directly correlated with the length of time she spent with the pair. She couldn’t have been any older than twenty-four or twenty-five, but she looked as tired as if she had been dealing with the two for years. “I can’t shuffle the first-year’s TA’s on a whim just because of some…petty rivalry.” 

Both Elsie and Jack surged forward, their words overlapping urgently as they attempted to communicate that no, this was very much more serious than a petty rivalry, but both shut up upon seeing the single finger Ashley raised in anticipation of their protest. “It’s not my job to understand the distinction between a petty rivalry and whatever layered conflict the two of you have going on, nor is it my job to mediate said conflict, but it is my job to make sure that this class is staffed. The two of you will be working together, whether you like it or not, so I would suggest making your way to the counselling office instead.” Ashley’s eyes slid between the two of them, raising an eyebrow. “Maybe they can help you two sort out all this… tension.” 

Elsie and Jack, understanding all at once that they had managed to push Ashley to the end of her rope, rose from their seats and shuffled to the door as if they had been put in time-out. 

As they began down the hallway, Elsie’s ballet flats clicking sharply against the navy-tiled floor, Elsie swore she heard Ashley add under her breath, “...Or, you two could just hook up already and stop subjecting the rest of us to your weirdo version of flirting.”

-ch1, quantum entanglement, by quillthrills on ao3

It had been a long day, too long—the past 24+ hours had been something you hoped you never had to go through again. What was worse was when you got back to your building, and there was a note on the building door, «No more hot water, pipe burst. Working on getting it fixed» from the landlord. No hot water, no shower, well wasn’t that just perfect?!

You huffed and made your way the five flights of stairs. This building was constantly running into problems. Last year the elevator stopped working, and it had still not been fixed, so you had no faith the water problem would be fixed any time soon. You’d have to shower in the office in the morning before work.

Shutting the door behind you once you entered your apartment you went to flicker the lights on…but nothing happened. You let out a frustrated groan. Then tears started rolling down your face. This sure was a perfectly shitty end to a shitty day.

As you stood there in your misery, your phone let out a chime then another, messages ticking in. You had no idea if you had energy to check them when the silence was permanently disturbed by the sound of your phone ringing, Jack’s ringtone, the one he’d chosen himself.

«Jack, I’m not in the mood today, what do you want?»

A small chuckle sounded on the other end. «I was wondering if you’d gotten home alright, or if you’re still at the office» 

«Got home 10 minutes ago, to the shittiest apartment in town—»

«What happened?»

You contemplated if you should tell him or not. «Just a little burst hot water pipe and some power outage, but I’ll be fine.» He was about to say something but you quickly cut him off before he had a chance, «I don’t want your charity, Jack Turner Smith.» Which was true. You were sure he’d never let you forget it if you let him help you out. «Good night, Jack, I’ll see you in the morning.» Hanging up, you went to grab the flashlight from your hallway closet then made your way to the living room to get out some candles and your fireplace to lighten the mood in your apartment. 

Not even an hour after the call with Jack, there was a knock at the door. You’d almost forgotten the whole ordeal. 

Getting up you went to open up, almost slamming it in Jack’s face. «Why are you here?»

«You sounded upset on the phone. And although I know you don’t like to ask for help, I’m giving it to you, no strings attached.»

You glared up at him, but couldn’t stay mad too long, this was actually so sweet. He’d brought your favorite take-out, a bottle of wine and his laptop (with a power bank strong enough to recharge said laptop) so you could watch a movie.

«Thank you, Jack.» Tears welled up in your eyes, letting him in. 

«Don’t mention it. Just happy to help.» He quickly set up everything, ordering you to sit.

Having Jack there, made the space even more lighter. The two of you sitting on the floor with take-out containers in hand, eating in silence. 

«I called your landlord on the way over here, he says it’ll be fixed in another hour or two.» Jack said. And although you thought it was sweet that he’d called to check, you knew there was no way that estimate would be true. Not that you’d tell him that and burst his hope. 

«Thank you. For everything. I was ready to cry myself to sleep. It’s been a day.» 

«Anything else I can do to lighten your spirit?» You shook your head, looking up at him. Which was when he cupped your head in his hands, leaning down to kiss you softly. «Are you sure about that?» You looked at him in surprise at what he’d just done, but you didn’t hate it.

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