Seven years ago // 1954
The wind blows, brushing past long pink hair neatly tied in a low ponytail. Shutting his eyes, Terrance grunts softly beneath his breath as he fixes his glasses, holding his book bag tightly against his hip.
"Chilly innit?"
Sighing, he fixes his hair and turns to face Wilbur, the brunette grinning so wide it nearly hurt to look just looking at him. "I don't understand why it has to go into the negatives during the fall season." Terrance breathes out as he fixes his tie, attempting to hold himself together before getting on the train so he can get an education without looking like he just rolled out of bed. Leaves scattered on the subway floor, a gust of wind blowing past him, this time it was stronger than before.
Though it wasn't the weather's doing, but the train pulling up to their station.
"Shit-" he cusses, papers flying from his bag. "You've got to be kidding..." his head turns from the train to his papers, unable to decide which to go for first as people began boarding and getting off.
Wilbur was rushing to catch up to the discarded notes, failing miserably as he nearly trips over his own feet. "That's not good." He breathes out, pushing his body from the floor to continue chasing their hard work. Terrance merely stared, giving up as he lets his shoulders drop, people pushing past him to get to where they needed.
One of his papers passes by his feet. Not even caring to reach out for it as he accepts the fact that this day may have been a bad day for him. "HEYY!" All of a sudden, a voice unfamiliar calls out from behind Terrance. He turns around, watching as a girl, messily dressed with a white button down, untucked. She wore a long brown leather skirt and a loosened tie around her neck. She was rushing towards Terrance, wild hair and all, hands filled with her coat, her book bag and one of his papers.
She sprints past him, overtaking Wilbur as she chases after their notes.
"Your papers!" She tells, heavily breathing. She's practically wrestling the wind, hands reaching towards the mini tornado of notes flying around her. She catches one, two, and nearly three before she falls. Wilbur catches her though, assisting in her chase.
They're laughing and yelling, acting like children as Terrance watched helplessly from afar.
People began to stare, the train doors shutting and began to make its exit.
"Ah..." Terrance hums, watching the train blow away more of his papers. The mystery girl catches them though, all of his and Wilbur's notes collected in her arms as Will stuffs it into her hold. They walk towards Terrance, face blank with bewilderment. "Maybe I should've stayed home today." He hums to himself.
"Terrance, mate! Do you know this little fireball!!" Wilbur yells enough for the entire station to hear, putting an arm around the female. She snickers, shaking her head as she tries to fix the mess of her hair. "Nope." Terrance sighs, grabbing at the papers the girl hands over to him. She exhaled, exhausted.
"Thank you, Will, and uh...", "Y/n." She smiles, holding her hand out for him to shake. He stills, in the midst of stuffing his papers back in his book bag. There's hesitance, studying her, her cheeks are pink with activity and her eyes are wide with expression. "Thank you, Y/n. But it seems we've all missed our train." He comments, shaking her hand in return with a firm grip.
He doesn't notice how long it goes for, Wilbur eyeing Y/n as she gazes down at where their hands held, cheeks reddening just a tiny bit more. He tears his eyes away when Terrance pulls away, thinking to himself of the new and strange energy that seemed to float around them.
"Shoot. I'm so sorry." Y/n sighs, a hand in her hair as she earnestly stares into Terrance's eyes, unable to look away.
"No no, it was my fault. You wouldn't have missed it if it wasn't for me." He straightens his posture, Wilbur sneaking his way to his side. "It's all good. At least your papers are back where they should be!" A smile paints her face and she can't stop herself from wondering where they were headed off to. They looked so professional. They're how she imagines her professors to look when she gets to her schooling-
"I'm Wilbur, this is Terrance." The brunette holds his hand out proudly. Y/n shakes it in a similar attitude, snickering. "If I may ask, where were you headed off to?" He questions, pulling away. Y/n does so too, sighing helplessly. "That one prestigious school in the city. I'm just starting now although I'm a month late... it's tough to get an education as a woman you know." Terrance blinks at her words, turning his head to look at Wilbur.
They share a knowing glance.
"We'll help you catch up." Wilbur then says. Terrance shoots a killer glare toward him. "Eh?" Her voice is hinted with confusion, switching her focus each time she goes to stare at one or the other.
Then, Terrance begins explaining with a sigh, fixing his glasses. "We go to the same prestigious school." Putting on an accent to the word 'prestigious,', teasing her lightly.
She doesn't seem to notice, fixated on the fact the three of them were going to the same school.
"Y-you're my age!?" Y/n yells, catching the attention of those who pass them. Terrance smirks, shaking his head. "How old are you?" Asks Wilbur, now curious. "Sixteen." She mutters, the tension in her shoulders releasing when she lets herself settle down. Wilbur then hums, wrapping an arm around Terrance. "This guy," he starts but Terrance nudges him away.
"Is two years older. I, on the other hand, am four years older. I'm just on the campus right next door." He explains simply, shoving his hands in his pants pockets. "So..." Y/n hums, the cogs in her head turning. "You'll be seeing us... more often." Wilbur places his hand back in its spot around Terrance's shoulder, pulling him close so their hips collide and Terrance's personal space is no longer existent.
He can't do anything about it, letting Wilbur manhandle him like a rag doll.
"So uh..." she begins, fidgeting with the straps of her art bag. Terrance glanced at it briefly, its interior probably stuffed with papers so unorganized. She's awkward when she stammers again. Y/n can practically cry with the way her confidence was suddenly lacking. She clears her throat, glancing at both the men before beginning, this time sternly.
"Then... after this train... I can follow you to campus right?"
Wilbur and Terrance blinked, confused.
"Y-you didn't know before..?" Will nervously chuckled, scratching the back of his head. He imagined Y/n like some lost little duckling. Poor girl. Entering an all-men education all by herself. And to think she could've wandered somewhere completely different.
Terrance thought of the same thing, exchanging another knowing glance at Wilbur.
"Uhm... they did not care very much to give me a tour." Y/n breathes out. There is silence between the trio and she realizes how unfortunate of a situation she was in, ashamed that she's confided in two strangers so suddenly. She skims through their concerned expressions and swallows. To lighten the mood, she smiles, letting out a snicker and tightening the grip on her art bag strap that wrapped over her chest.
"It's all good though! I've gotten this far. What's stopping me from achieving more!" She says the words so casually with a bright, giant grin; it rolls off her tongue in snickers although just a second ago she was feeling purposefully neglected by society. If a man was in place of her, he'd have no issues with the privilege of education.
She grumbled angrily in her thoughts, showing off her toothy smile to shadow her annoyance.
Wilbur states, pondering while Terrance merely sighs.
"If you say so," he shrugs, fixing the strap of his book bag without realizing he'd copied a small habit of hers. Like how she incidentally began fixing her appearance like how Terrance did; straightening and tightening her tie neatly around her collar, tucking her button-up into her long brown leather skirt. The ends flailed out at the bottom, swaying with each step.
"So you'll help me?" Y/n beams up at Terrance, big eyes staring at him gratefully as if he'd saved her life.
"Yep. Just remember to follow me."
Wilbur scoffs when Terrance takes the situation into his own hands. Completely avoiding even letting him lead Y/n around.
Wilbur was much too known in younger classes to be walking around freely. He was like a celebrity, the way men would crowd him, asking him about his studies and how women from the nearby shopping area would swarm him like a flock of birds.
Terrance himself was simply notorious for his stone-cold attitude.
He was viewed as handsome like Wilbur, with long, slick pink hair. Glasses which made him look so much more mature for his age of seventeen. But if he wasn't seen as a competitor more often, he'd attract more people around him. If he didn't turn away from them.
As long as others did not bother him while he was studying, he did not bother them. He did not see a need for very many friends anyways. "An eye for an eye." he always tells Wilbur. His voice was so monotone that will believed that it could cause an earthquake on the other side of the earth.
He was fine by himself. That was how he liked it.
____
On the train
Long minutes passed finally and the train boarded their station.
Wilbur and Y/n had spent their time well by conversing in one another's lives. Will found out the struggles she had to go through to receive the privilege of an education. Y/n found out Wilbur was still idle; unable to think of what he could possibly do for the world in the future. "This guy here has got it all figured out!" He wrapped an arm around Terrance again, the man who stood just a few steps away in irritation when his ears began to ring each time Will and Y/n shared a laugh. Their voices alone were loud enough to wake the whole city.
Y/n tried to include Terrance a few times. She'd given up when he made it clear to her that he preferred calmly waiting for the train by their side. He liked to listen, and so he did. He'd participate when he wanted with yes, no, shrugs and a few head nods.
By the time the train had arrived, Y/n and Wilbur were finally satisfied with the amount of information they'd found out about each other. Terrance will forever remember the dirty stares they got boarding the train, and how loud the two had been without realizing it.
Terrance sighs, watching in the corner of his eye as Y/n walks behind him, Wilbur sandwiching her in the middle. She seems less frazzled, more bouncy and upbeat.
They get to an empty booth of seats, Y/n taking the window as Wilbur fills in the space next to her. Terrance helps himself, sitting on the window seat across from Y/n. He can't help but hold eye contact with Y/n as she stares at him, her expression unreadable. He raises a brow, questioning her.
She simply leans back in her seat, smiling so sweetly at him he could almost feel his tooth rot.
His jaw clenched, the atmosphere calm and comfy yet there was a sudden feeling he'd yet to understand. He blames it on Y/n, playing it off with another deep sigh and assuming that the feeling rushing through him was just annoyance. In fact, he did feel quite irritated with her. So he wasn't fully incorrect.
Still, he wasn't exactly sure why.