Briller: The Untold Story

[Deleted]

one day it'll be me and you against the world

@bryanbryanbryan

Just be calm, introduce yourself, act natural. You got this. Miller told himself as he paced the inside of his family's quarters. It was afternoon, classes were over and Nate had debated on what he was going to do. Once he'd found out the name and location of the guy he passed in the hallway, Nate had wrestled with himself as to what to do. He wanted to meet him, get to know him, nevermind the fact his heart had skipped a beat. He'd had a few crushes in his life, nothing that lasted yet he couldn't stop thinking about the male from Farm Station.

Since his dad was still out, Nate wrote a quick note just to let him know he might not make it for dinner and not to panic. He'd probably be in by the time his dad was finished but in the off chance he wasn't, he wanted to make sure there was no panicking going on. Once that was done, he grabbed his jacket and exited through the door.

Nate walked through the inside of the Ark, following the path to Farm Station. He had a good excuse to find him, Nate was going to ask him with help with some of his homework. Seemed like good basis to at least start talking. The more he walked, the more time he had to think and he wondered if the idea wasn't actually good and was actually lame instead. Welp, it was too late to change course now, especially when he saw the familiar mess of hair and then the face and his heart seemed to skip another beat and he almost forgot how to word.

After a few moments of probably looking incredibly dumb, he threw caution to the wind and cleared his throat. "Hey, you're Bryan right? I'm Nathan."

Well that wasn't awkward at all. Cue the sarcasm, cue him wanting the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

ooc// let me know if this works for you or if I need to change or edit anything <3

[Deleted]

It was just another day on Farm Station. Classes were out and Bryan had spent some time in the library for a little while before heading back home. It was just more of the same day to day stuff until someone unexpected approached Bryan. Nathan Miller. Bryan kind of knew Miller, in the sense of having had classes with him, but they'd never really talked. He knew Miller was from Alpha, and he thought he heard his dad was on the guard, and while Bryan didn't have any sort of bitterness toward the privileged on the Ark the way some kids he knew did, he just sort of assumed Miller wouldn't have any reason to want to interact with him.

He seemed to be friends with Jasper, so Bryan doubted he was a snob, but Jasper was someone who was hard to ignore. Bryan wasn't like that at all. He mostly put his head down, did his work, and didn't draw attention to himself.

For a moment, Bryan wondered if Miller had mistaken him for someone else, the way he seemed at a loss of words, but then he introduced himself. Bryan smiled automatically, though his gaze was a little uncertain. Why had Miller approached him? "Yeah. Miller, right?" he asked. "What's up?" he added, not knowing where this was going.

Tag: @nate
Note: Same back at ya! Lemme know if I need to change anything.

[Deleted]

@bryanbryanbryan

Miller wondered if he was smiling like an idiot because that was how he felt. Seeing Bryan smile was the cutest thing ever and he felt his stomach do a flip flop with butterflies seemingly having a race around his insides. But the way he smiled was just precious.

"That's me!" He replied, confirming who he was. He was referred to as Miller by most, rarely Nathan and sometimes Nate but his friends and his father. "I'm having trouble with a piece in our assigned homework. I was wondering if you might be able to help shed some light?" The moment the words were out of his mouth he realized something. Bryan might think he was just using him for homework help. Great first impression there you idiot. Miller berated himself.

A plan that he thought would be good and he didn't even think it through. It's probably better than saying hey I just met you and this is crazy but I like you. Actually, that was probably better than the pretense of homework although both were truthful. Miller did have some troubles with the homework so it wasn't a complete lie. "I'm sorry, I know this is out of the blue. And I get it if you want to say no, I understand."

He hoped he wouldn't say no. He was going to try and test the waters here before coming out with his feelings.

[Deleted]

Bryan hadn't paid a ton of attention to Miller before, but he was pretty sure he'd never seen Miller smile like that. Part of Bryan wondered if he should be worried (Jasper seemed like a bit of a troublemaker, and if Miller hung out with him, who knew?), but part of Bryan thought it was nice. Miller had a nice smile. And... distractingly dark eyelashes Bryan had never noticed before.

When Miller started to explain why he'd approached Bryan, it started to make sense. People had asked him for homework help before. Bryan was a decent student. He wasn't a genius or anything, but his grades were good, and because he wasn't the type to disrupt classes, everyone probably assumed he was the studious type. And maybe he was. There was a part of him that craved more, craved something exciting happening in his life, but he hadn't gone looking for it. Not yet, anyway.

"Don't be sorry," he said when Miller finished, shaking his head, his smile widening a little. "As long as it's not one of the language classes, I can do my best." Bryan could never quite wrap his tongue around languages other than English.

Tag: @nate

[Deleted]

one day it'll be me and you against the world

@bryanbryanbryan

Miller liked to have fun sometimes, joke and dork about but this was one of those times when he was being sincere. Usually if he was going to joke, he would have Jasper along to bounce ideas from. Jasper was an exceptional troublemaker and Miller could always count on him for that. Sometimes they needed a bit of a giggle and while they were young what did it matter? Soon they would grow up and have to adult and that wasn't something he really looked forward too. Well, not entirely.

The smile on his face remained as he felt somewhat relieved that everything was okay. "The language classes are one of my favorites." Nate admitted; just something about learning a language and their history behind it was fascinating to him. And if Bryan ever needed help with languages, Nate would happily offer his services. "My issue is with biology." Miller began, "well it's not really an issue. More like I can't seem to figure it out."

Now was the ultimate question and he hoped against hope things went to plan. That Bryan didn't have anywhere to go right that moment because Nate was going to ask him. "Do you have any free time right now? To go over a little bit of it?" This wasn't exactly smooth but he wasn't really the best and coming up with plans involving someone he was liking.

[Deleted]

Bryan was surprised Miller liked languages, though he wasn't sure why. Probably just because Bryan found them so confusing. But his expression brightened a bit when Miller mentioned he needed help with biology. It was probably Bryan's best subject, not just because he liked it, but because he would need it for his future job. "Biology I can do," he said confidently, grinning.

"Uh, I was just heading back home from the library, but I don't think my parents will care if I come back late," he said. "We could go back to the library, if you want, or I'm sure my folks wouldn't mind the company." Bryan didn't often have people over. The apartments on Farm Station were small, so stuffing more people inside them than were meant to live there didn't make for the best place to socialize. Or study, in this case. "Unless you wanted to go somewhere else?" he said, still smiling but scratching the back of his neck, unsure why he suddenly felt a little nervous. Though, it wasn't a bad sort of nervous. More like, he hoped he wasn't going to embarrass himself trying to show Miller what he needed help with.

Tag: @nate

[Deleted]

one day it'll be me and you against the world

@bryanbryanbryan

Oh boy did he feel relieved that it was a subject that was known. "That's awesome." Miller replied, wanting to give a little bit of a cheer but resisting for now. No need to show off how much of a dork he could be, he didn't want to scare Bryan by that side of his personality. Not yet - that would come later if they became friends and he hoped that would be the outcome no matter what. Even if his feelings weren't returned, he'd take friendship over not having a friendship.

He had to tell himself just to breathe and relax, he was overthinking this and that was never good.

Farm Station apartments weren't exactly huge and he didn't want to put his family out by going and studying in there, it wasn't fair on them. That was the only reason why he wanted to disagree with that option though if he was honest with himself, he didn't mind where. Although, the library was probably better, being neutral ground for both of them. He continued to have the soft smile on his face as he spoke, "the library might be better? Good atmosphere for studying." Miller nodded. "Though if you preferred somewhere else, I'd be fine with that."

[Deleted]

Bryan chuckled softly when Miller also said if he wanted to go somewhere else, it would be fine, amused by the way that they both seemed indecisive, maybe nervous even. "Let's go to the library," he said, making the decision as he smiled at Miller. He inclined his head back in the direction he'd been coming from and started heading that way, moving slowly until Miller followed him.

"So are you not big on sciences in general, or just biology?" he asked as they walked. The hallways was not wide, and he wondered if Miller minded the way their shoulder occasionally brushed together. Bryan was finding it distracting in a way he probably shouldn't. "Are you more into the creative stuff?" he added, because languages seemed like a skill that required a more creative mind that Bryan had. Bryan was better in subjects that had indisputable answers for every question, not a million ways you could go.

Tag: @nate

[Deleted]

@bryanbryanbryan

Miller thought about the question before he answered. It was weird having it asked because it wasn't a common question people asked him. In a way it was nice as it allowed him to think how he felt. How did he feel about sciences? "I like them, they are highly interesting subjects. But there is so much more to it than meets the eye and it can be a little overwhelming." He was a smart guy, though if it came down it it and he had to be put in a category, it would be brawns, not brains.

He had trouble thinking with the way his shoulder kept brushing against Bryan's and he hoped he wasn't blushing like he thought he was blushing. He'd never been this close before and he didn't mind it one bit and he never noticed how broad Bryan's shoulders were. Did he like his shoulders being nibbled? Miller stop it, he scolded himself, staring straight ahead.

"I like the creative side since it's not so limited. It's more open, more options to get to the destination, you know?" There were so many paths to go down when it was the creative side whereas something that wasn't in that category was far more limited. He was going to become a guard like his father and that wasn't exactly the most creative thing in the world. There were the laws to uphold, no room for moving or for error. So he liked to be able to explore when it was something more creative, which was another reason why he tended to draw.

No-one could tell him what to draw when he did, the skies were the limit. If he wanted to draw flowers or a castle he could. He was only limited by his imagination, not because of others putting their ideals on him or the fact there was already a set path in motion for such things. And although he wasn't the best artist out there(he was pretty terrible if he was quite honest with himself) but that didn't stop him from enjoying it or doing it.

The library was coming closer and although that meant studying soon, Miller found himself wanting to know more. "What do you like about biology?" It wasn't him being nice, he genuinely wanted to know. He wanted to know everything he could about him.

[Deleted]

Bryan nodded as Miller said he found sciences overwhelming. "I can understand that," he said. Science was a huge subject, and not only did you have to be able to follow it's logic, but generally you also had to be good at math too, which was far less interesting than the science itself, Bryan thought. He rolled around Miller's suggestion that in creative studies, there were more ways to get to the conclusion, and it was true. "Yeah, well, I have been accused of being boring in the past," he said, giving Miller a self-deprecating smile, though it was warm. "I don't need a wild goose chase to find an answer." He paused for a moment, then chuckled. "Does anyone even know what that expression means anymore?" They all knew what it meant, of course, but the Old Earth origins seemed lost. God, he suddenly hoped he wasn't making an idiot of himself.

When Miller asked why he liked biology, he shrugged a little. "I like studying life, I guess." He gestured around them. "Everything here is so sterile, and cold most of the time. Everything's metal, or recycled. The only thing organic that still connects us to Earth are the people and the plants." That probably sounded stupid and simple to a kid from Alpha, but it was how Bryan felt. He held the door for Miller as they went into the library.

Tag: @nate