#nerdy guy

"Jaden and Evander"

⚲ sophomore year, east wing dorm hall. earlier.

the basketball team, for as long as they remembered, had called you mike. entirely based off the joke that you were the 'team mvp', since you always squeezed them in for a cheap haircut right before a date or a big game. mike was from michael jordan, basically saying you were their star player.

charlie missed that memo. in fact, he threw all the memos the minute he saw you. even though it was his second year at university, his teammates still bitched about how he "hadn't got a haircut from ol' mike yet" or how he "needed a touch up". it was relenting; every single practice it was somehow brought up.

clearly, he was a damn fool for thinking that mike was a male hairdresser, and an average one at that. he walked into a dorm on the third floor, absolutely swamped with people in basketball jerseys. well, at least he was in the right place, right? the right place being the inaugural homecoming party for the team.

charlie wandered around aimlessly, trying to find one of his teammates he could awkwardly stick next to for the party. but all of them were posted up with a girl, a lazy arm slung around her shoulder or waist and slurring their words already. sheesh.

as he backed up to give his teammate brody a wide berth (him and that random girl were getting hot and heavy for a public space), he bumped into someone. "ohmygosh! sorry about that, are you okay—" he whipped his head around to see a girl.

you were a blur of long, wavy brunette hair and wearing a black radio silence t-shirt, a pair of baggy jeans tied with a studded belt than hung low on your hips and black converse, plus some eye-catching silver jewelry. he gulped, his cheeks flushing the second he made eye contact with you. liking your outfit, he gave it one more appreciative glance before locking his nervous eyes onto your pretty face.

"don't sweat it," you assured him, smiling. "you new here? never seen you before."

charlie looked at you and gaped. when he realized that you were expecting him to answer, his mouth moved faster than his brain. "er— yeah. i'm a freshman." he blurted.

"oh? what's your major?" your interest not piqued, you swirled your drink around in a red solo cup. you'd had this conversation with seven different guys tonight already, you were not in the mood for this again.

"computer science. i know, it's kinda dorky, but i like it." he shrugged shyly, pink dusting his cheeks. "what, uhm... what about you?" you stare at him blankly until he clarifies, "your major, i mean."

it's almost as if a spark ignited in your mind. "oh! i'm an art major." he was, out of the seven, the first to ask you the question back. a low bar, for sure. "i love it, too. it's like... my passion." you started to talk animatedly, using your hands to communicate your excitedness.

you glanced back up at charlie, seeing him staring right at you with an unreadable expression. "you, uh, don't care.. do you?" you smile sheepishly, rubbing the back of your neck and feeling a little embarrassed.

his eyes widen comically. "nono! i do, i just—"

brody had found his way towards the two of you, stumbling and leaning on charlie for support, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "dalgeish, my man!" he slurred his words, a charming grin crossing his face. "seems like you met mikey already, our mvp."

your expression is deadpan, but a smile tugs at the edge of your lips. "brody, flattering as ever." you reply sarcastically, shooting an apologetic grin towards charlie.

you were 'mike'? he wasn't expecting mike to be... a girl. and well, a pretty one at that.

brody slapped charlie on the back so hard it jolted him back into reality. "so mike, can you fix up our boy here before his big debut game? he's been killing it during preseason."

"really?"

charlie could crawl into a hole and die right now. seemed more preferable than this conversation. "uh. uh." he stammered, managing an amalgamation of noises that sounded enough like an agreement.

"i'll get you looking perfect for your big game. c'mon, dalgein, was it?" you smiled, gesturing towards the bathroom. charlie was so entranced by you that he forgot to correct you. more like he didn't have the balls to anyway, you intimidated him a little with that cool-girl aura you had, but nonetheless he followed behind you like a stray dog.

he sat on the edge of your bathtub as he watched you grab a hairtie, putting your long hair up into a messy bun. he could see the underside of your hair was dyed pink and light blonde, kind of making you look like his favorite ice cream flavor growing up, neapolitan.

"i like your hair. it's funky." he blurted before even fully realizing what he was saying, a mortified expression striking his face the second he processed what he just said.

a guffaw left your lips, instead of the noise of disgust he assumed. "that's quite the way with words you have."

"maybe i should be an english major instead," a genuine grin spread across his face, a goofy smile making his crows feet crinkle.

you lean your hip against the sink, shaking your head and chuckling. "i could never. too much sitting still."

he quipped, "my dyslexic ass could never," with a self-deprecating grin on his face, at the exact same time you quipped, "my adhd ass could never." you two burst into giggles at the realization you two made the same joke at the same time.

your hands were a little shaky, you'd only cut one or two peoples hairs before. assuming that boasting about your experience would get you more customers (it did) left out the part where you actually needed the experience. but you'd seen enough youtube videos and gotten your hair cut and dyed enough where you basically knew everything you needed to know.

charlie's hair was uneven in every angle at first, unruly and knotted in some places, though it didn't look it, but eventually you managed to tame it. it was a quick trim, nothing major, but you were determined to make it look good.

your tongue jutted out past your lips a little, which is what you always did when you were focusing intently― rather that be on cutting hair or an art final― and charlie couldn't help the thoughts invading his brain about how he wanted to kiss you stupid.

after he was done and you lead him to the mirror, a nervous yet anticipating smile on your face, he stared at his hair. and immediately seemed to light up. "woah!" he touched his face, as if he was making sure he was actually real. "i look hot."

"who said you didn't before?" you scoffed, immediately freezing as still as a wax statue. liquid courage was really something, huh? you'd regret that in the morning.

charlie's cheeks flushed an embarrassing shade of pink as he giggled shyly, pushing a freshly cut lock of hair behind his ear. he didn't reply to your comment, trying to ease your embarrassment from the brazen comment and instead kept admiring your handiwork.

after a few deafening moments of silence, he turned to you, a satisfied smile on his face. "thanks, michelangelo." he pulled out a twenty, folding it between his index and middle, holding it out for you to take expectantly.

plucking the dollar bill from his hand, you let out a confused "huh?" where did that nickname come from?

"well, that's what mike's short for, right?"

the smile on his face is too cute for you to ruin. so you lie. well, not necessarily, you just.. stretch the truth a little. "uh... yeah." an uneasy grin graces your lips. "no problem, dalgeish."

"charlie," he corrected gently.

"charlie," you repeated. rarely, and by rarely you meant never, did you do this, but your heart tugged at you to. as charlie walked back into the party, you grabbed a spare piece of paper from your coffee table and scribbled pay me by taking me out instead <3 onto the paper hastily, binding it to the $20 bill with a paperclip. yeah, all the other guys on the basketball team paid you, but taking money from charlie felt like taking it from a little kid.

smoothly, you walked by charlie, putting the note and his money back in his pocket.

it wasn't until after the game the next day, after he was changing out of his sticky uniform and into his casual clothes, about to go out with the team for a "winner's feast" (he had made the game-winning shot in the last ten seconds, and they insisted this was a moment that needed to be celebrated), he found it.

as he shimmied into his jeans, he felt around for his keys and found the crumpled up dollar with the note attached.

he smiled, seeing the name signed at the bottom.

your michelangelo. <3

divider credits @cafekitsune

im darth vader if anakin skywalker was a trans guy and also not evil and also not dead

Kuron - my OC/blorbo - “Modern/College AU”

-trans king -Demi & Bi -sexual - 20

I really like how he turned out❤️

*hateful comments will be blocked. Critic or advice welcomed though.

Bonus:

OC - first design 👇

-for a book idea I’ve been playing around with for awhile now

-34y/o

“Behold! My cool kid look from chapters 18 and 24 and 26 and 27 of the meds fic.”

“Blending the aspects of both nerdiness and rad-ness. I can’t believe I just phrased it like that.”