Deaf Library Student x Popular Kid
Nigel x Evan
***
"This isn't fair!"
"Life's not fair."
"Why am I getting in trouble for something my friends did?" Evan snapped at the principal as he was led towards the library. "Did you even speak to my parents?"
"I sure did, why do you think you're not being expelled and only being punished to library duty? No football for three months, just this, this is your punishment-."
"You can't do that! Right when I finish this stupid 'punishment', the team will be having their final games - possibly even championships! This school can't get that far in the games without me." Evan reminds the principal sharply, but when he saw that cause no reaction, he scoffs. "So, you don't care for the schools football reputation? You'll lose the consecutive record this school has in terms of having never lost a championship if you do this."
Evan saw that his words weren't making any impact, groaning when he got to the doors of the library. He didn't want to waste his time in the library that rarely anyone ever used.
It was easy to admit that in comparison to what punishments his friends got compared to him...this was much more preferred. He was not as involved in the deed that got him into the trouble he's in, but he already knew because of association...
When his principal opened the doors, he was immediately disgusted by the smell that filled his nostrils. Looking around the dusty place, he saw the blinds were open and it was too bright. There were some computers on the side, but he didn't let that stop him from still dreading this place.
"For the next three months, you will come here right when the school opens at six in the morning to do the necessary things required. You'll go to school normally, then when that's over you come here and do the work necessary until six-."
"This feels fucking illegal, you can't just...force this kind of child labor upon someone!" Evan snapped at him.
He looked around some more, only to set his eyes on the empty front desk.
"Oh, I see what's going on here," Evan chuckled, patting his principal's shoulder, "You're low on staff. Is the school that lazy to not just hire another person to take the job, what's up with that?"
Evan began to go towards the desk, shaking his head in ridicule. Only to gasp when someone stood up from behind the counter quickly.
Holding some books in hand, he looked up to see a guy looking down at him too. He didn't expect anyone to be behind the counter...but he also didn't expect for a student to be there too.
"Nigel, this is your temporary assistant." The principal spoke up now, Evan looking as he saw him do some simple sign language while speaking.
He frowned, looking back at the guy who grinned.
"Assistant?" Evan spoke up sharply when he regained his grip, seeing the principal nod. "Assistant my ass."
"You have three months, and if you don't think you can do it, come to me. I'll suggest some other schools for you once I expel you." The principal mocked back just as sharply, causing Evan to glare at him.
As he walked away, he saw the principal stop suddenly. Only to turn back around and look at him sternly.
Evan was confused as to why he was looking at him like that. He already got the memo.
"What?"
When the principal just left, he scoffed at such a thing. Only to turn back around and saw the Nigel individual still standing there.
Evan sighed, snickering as he took out his phone. Only to lean against the counter and contemplate texting one of his friends to pick him up.
"So, the principal says your name is Nigel, right?" Evan looked at him, seeing Nigel nod slowly. "Okay, so listen to this Nigel, I really shouldn't be here. I have a life, I have stuff to do. I'm a Junior and I can't let three months of my life be taken over something so stupid. It's not fair for me that I have to suffer in here with you, no offense. You might like this boring life, but I have mine. Do you see where I'm going with this?"
Evan waited for Nigel to respond, only to see him look at his lips some. His eyes narrowed at them and Evan frowned, only to see Nigel look back at his eyes.
"Why are you looking at my lips?" Evan questions him, and he saw Nigel look back at them again. "Are you into dudes or something? Listen, I'm straight, but I don't have a problem with gay dudes. Just don't try to force your sexuality onto me, that's pretty shitty."
The more he spoke, the more Nigel would look at his lips. Evan began to cover his mouth now and saw Nigel almost look offended by him doing so.
Now he was confused and raised his eyebrow. Only to see Nigel sigh, stepping back as he looked down at Evan in contempt.
"I am deaf, but I can read lips perfectly. You really have no filter, saying whatever you want without the consideration of how others might feel." Nigel spoke up, shocking Evan as he heard his voice for the first time. "I'm bisexual, not gay; but you don't need to worry. I wouldn't dream of forcing anything upon anyone. Besides, I'd never like somebody like you."
Evan watched as Nigel began to reach behind the counter, pulling up a camera out of nowhere. That's when his picture was taken on the spot and he flinched. Except Nigel just connected the camera to the computer as Evan's picture was extracted. Set on a template for a library card, he saw Nigel working on it.
He didn't care about that though as it was the words that he said.
'Besides, I'd never like somebody like you.'
That was ringing in his mind more than anything else because...
"Wait, I think I heard you wrong." Evan chuckles, putting his phone away as he began to tap the counter to get Nigel's attention. When Nigel did look at him, he looked annoyed. "Did you say that you would never somebody like me?"
"Yes." Nigel answered back quickly, looking away as he suddenly crouched. Evan looking over the counter to see Nigel resting a blank card on some scanner.
Only to stand back up and press a few more things on the computer. Evan looked at the screen and saw how stupid he looked in the picture. Almost like a deer in headlights look...
"Do you not like this picture?"
Evan looked at Nigel, seeing him looking at him now. He wondered if he genuinely cared if his picture looked bad, but he took the chance and shook his head no.
"Too bad, you should have told me before I did all of this." Nigel responds back, causing Evan to glare at him as his card began to be scanned.
He saw Nigel crouch down again, except this time he didn't look over the counter. Now his mind was hearing the echo of those words. Someone possibly not liking him?
As if he wasn't the most attractive guy at their school.
"Why?"
When Evan says that, he looked off as he waited for a response. Only to remember that Nigel couldn't hear and sighed, waiting until he stood up.
Once Nigel did, he saw him place the new card before him and he cringed at the image of it.
"Why?" He finally repeated himself, and saw Nigel just look at him for more clarification. "Why would you never like somebody like me?"
"You're still on that?" Nigel snickers, turning away from him and Evan still didn't get the answer he wanted. He watched as Nigel turned away and dug into a drawer, grabbing a lanyard. "This is what you will be wearing for the next three months. Principal Henderson already informed me of what's going on. I'm just going to make sure you don't ruin my sanctuary. The library is a safe place, it's quiet and calming-."
"Of course you say that, you can't even hear any of the sounds that run through. Sometimes sounds happen, trust me - libraries are not always the quiet 'sanctuary' people make them out to be." Evan said with no malicious intent.
By seeing Nigel's expression however, he knew that he offended him. He sighed, not being used to speaking to someone who couldn't...hear.
There wasn't even a hearing aid on his ear, so for all he knew, he could be...lying.
"Again, lacking the ability to be considerate of others, so rude." Nigel sneered at him. "I'm not stupid. I know sounds can happen in a library-."
"So you can hear!" Evan exclaims excitedly, and he saw Nigel glare at him again. "What?"
"Ignorant."
Evan gasped, watching Nigel turn away from him and walk around the front desk. Beginning to push a cart that was full of books, Evan didn't bother following him.
He found himself not only irritated because Nigel said he would never like someone like him - as if he wasn't wanted by practically everyone. It also was because he now...didn't really think Nigel was deaf.
It didn't make sense to him because he spoke perfectly and just so happened to read his lips perfectly too. He didn't want to be that person, since he was already having this punishment because of some bullshit, but...he felt like he came across actual bullshit.
Now he wondered if he was to expose that Nigel wasn't actually deaf...would the punishment be revoked?
He had never even seen Nigel before in his whole time being at this school. Having gone here since freshman year, never once did he see this Nigel person. Though he would admit that he never went to the library either, this was the first time he's gone to the school library.
Evan began to whistle sharply in the library, slamming his hand on the desk to try and see if Nigel would come. Only to grab his lanyard and put it around his neck, walking around the library while doing so. He purposely went to the opposite side of the library to see if Nigel would put in the effort to find him.
As he whistled, he could hear someone enter the library to his surprise. He immediately stopped, rushing back towards the front as he hid behind a bookshelf, looking between some books.
Only to see a guy standing before the counter, setting down a book as he set a letter inside. He narrowed his eyes on such a thing and saw the guy rush out quickly without even waiting.
Letting his curiosity get the best of him, he went to the book and opened it up. Only to see an envelope that was clearly decorated and done with precision. He looked back over his shoulder to see if the guy was there, but when he saw he wasn't, he just took the letter.
Beginning to open it, he found himself smelling something. Only to smell the envelope and it clearly had some sort of cologne or perfume spritzed upon it. He pulled the letter out and all sorts of things began to fall out.
When he crouched down to pick them up quickly, he heard the cart beginning to roll back. That anxiety setting in to try and get everything back in the letter perfectly. Except as he was doing so, he heard footsteps from behind him.
Looking, he saw the guy who left the letter with a completely red face.
"What are you doing?! Touching things that don't belong to you!" The guy snapped, snatching away the letter and envelope from Evan. "You popular people are so rude! Why weren't you suspended along with your friends? Everyone knows what you did, so why are you still here?"
"What the fuck are you on about? I had the least amount of participation in that mess."
"Liar."
Before Evan could snap back, he heard the cart settle behind him. Looking, he saw Nigel looking down at them both.
Evan felt himself be nudged off to the side, seeing the guy stand up as he held the roughed up letter before Nigel. Only to raise up one hand and start doing...sign language upon it.
"I'm so sorry," The guy apologizes to Nigel, and Evan watched in amazement how he was speaking and doing such a thing with his hand, "I didn't want you to find out my feelings for you like this. I wasn't ready to confess, but this jerk ruined my plans. Nigel, I wanted to tell you at the Winter Dance next month by letter and ask you. Because I have had feelings for you ever since this school year started."
Evan saw Nigel grin down at the guy, and he didn't understand.
The whole time he's been around Nigel - even if it was only for half an hour, this was the first time that he saw something actually genuine across his face. He looked back at the guy who took a deep breath suddenly.
"Will you...be my boyfriend?"
Evan began to laugh, the guy glaring down at him while Nigel paid him no mind. He began to help himself to his feet and sighed in amusement.
"Isn't this great, is this a romcom or something?" Evan snorts, seeing the guy sneer at him.
"What I'm doing right now isn't funny." The guy snaps, seeing him still do sign language even though he wasn't speaking directly to Nigel. "But you know what, I should be thanking you. If you didn't snoop through things that didn't belong to you, I would've never had the courage to ask Nigel out this early. I did what the others couldn't because they suck at sign language, I committed to learning it for Nigel, obviously."
Evan glanced over at Nigel who was looking at him now. He began to snicker, looking away from Nigel and patting the random guy's shoulder.
"Others?"
"Yep, it must be shocking for you since you believe the whole world revolves around you. I bet you thought everyone only liked you."
"Of course I did, because it's true." Evan smiles confidently.
"I don't like you."
"And why is that?" Evan asks in curiosity.
"You're a bully."
Evan rolled his eyes, the both of them going silent now. The only thing that hasn't been answered was the random guy's question.
Would Nigel be his boyfriend?
As they stood there quietly, Evan saw the guy begin to look around awkwardly. His ears red and Evan sighed in boredom.
"I think you just got rejected~." Evan snorts, finding this amusing that he saw such a thing the day he was being condemned to this punishment.
"No," Nigel spoke up, and Evan looked to see him looking at Evan, "I haven't said anything. Mason and I were communicating through letters. I didn't even know what he looked like but, you're a Sophomore, right?"
When Mason nodded, Evan's face twisted up at such a thing.
"I can't say yes immediately because I don't know you enough. How about we have some dates first and if something continues to grow between us, I'll say yes."
"Five dates?" Mason suggests, and Nigel nodded. "Okay...this...this is a start! You have my number so...just text me when you want to go on our first date."
Evan watched as Mason rushed away excitedly, his arms folding as he looked back at Nigel. Only to see him walking away as if nothing happened.
He walked in front of Nigel, looking up at him and saw him look at him with no amusement.
"Is that it?" Evan asks, and Nigel didn't say anything. He waited for him to respond until he looked away from him.
"You can leave early, just make sure to come here tomorrow morning at six." Nigel tells him, not answering his question.
Evan didn't have a problem with leaving early, but after having seen such a thing, he was more curious about where it'd go. This was a whole other side of the school that he never even knew about. He was now seeing a whole different side, and it amused him.
The whole situation did.
Especially Nigel.
He wondered in all honesty, what was to like about someone as boring as him. Not to mention his...disability?
Evan found himself determined to understand more. He thought he might as well distract himself with something while wasting his time with this 'punishment'.
More like, somebody.
✎_________________˖*
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