Dynamics

Date/Timing: 26 Oct 2005
Setting: around the University of Manchester; Manchester, United Kingdom
Revising the "Ginger" chapter of the same name
.
""Hey! Gottlieb! Wait up!""
Hermann stumbles to a standstill, saves himself from falling by shifting most of his weight onto his cane. Underneath his layers, his wings twitch and Hermann rolls his shoulders to disguise the motion. 
""Thanks!"" calls Reid.
Hermann turns, grumbles, "What do you want?"
Reid bounds over, grinning. "You /do know who I am! Rhys owes me five pounds. Lunch's on me!"
Hermann raises his defenses. "Get to your point before we're both late for our next class," he growls.
"We can talk on the way." Reid matches Hermann's pace along the hall to the classroom. "Which's sorta the problem." He fluffs his hair. "I'm wondering if you'll help me study. Solar dynamics are kicking my ass and you've got the best marks."
Hermann lets suspicion drip from his voice. "Yours are second-best."
"I know," says Reid through an enormous grin. "That's why I want to study with you. I need to learn all your tricks."
"There aren't any tricks," Hermann sniffs. "I work hard."
"Then we can work hard together." 
Hermann stops suddenly.
Reid trips over his own feet and nearly goes down.
"If this is some sort of dare or a pity thing, you can kindly fuck off right now. I don't have time for this," Hermann snaps.
Reid winces and the light in his eyes dims a fraction. "No! I mean—I just want to study with you. Honest. Cross my heart." He makes the matching gesture.
Hermann shifts his grips on his cane, chews his lip. "Fine," he finally says. "We'll talk about times and places after the lecture."
"/Brilliant!" Reid's entire being lights up. "Thanks, mate." He pats—
Hermann twists away, propels himself to a seat in the middle of the classroom, and drops himself into it.
The lecture nearly flies by.
"Let's talk about studying over lunch," says Reid from Hermann's elbow.
Hermann jumps, resumes stuffing his books and notes into his rucksack.
"I was serious before about it being my treat. I want to introduce you to my favourite curry." 
Hermann stares.
"You /have to be hungry by now."
Hermann sniffs, checks his binding with a quick brush against his chest, and tilts his head, 'go ahead', to Reid.
Reid glows and sets off at a pace Hermann can easily match.
On the short walk through the crisp late autumn air, Hermann focuses on his breathing, sparing as much attention as is left to responding properly to Reid's questions around the fear squeezing his chest.
Soon they reach a busy street lined its entire length with curry and kebab shops.
"They call it the 'Curry Mile'."
"I can see why."
Reid laughs, bows Hermann into a narrow storefront. "This's the one." He steers Hermann to a small table near the window, even pulling out a chair for him.
Hermann frowns, but sits.
"What would you like?"
"Saag paneer, please."
"Coming right up~!"
Reid strolls to the counter to place the order. 
Hermann relaxes, somewhat relieved to find the location Reid chose shields his bad leg from other patrons walking past. 
His mobile chimes—
Hermann digs it from his bag. 
/justin_time: We meeting for supper?
/h_gottlieb: I'll be fine this evening, thank you. 
/h_gottlieb: I think I will try the next few days on my own, as well. 
/justin_time: Cool beans. You know how to reach me! 
Hermann tucks his mobile away. 
Reid returns with two heaping plates of heavenly-smelling food and slides in across the table.
They rehash the morning's lectures around bits of saag paneer and chicken vindaloo and Hermann gradually gives in to his enthusiasm for the topic of stellar evolution, which Reid appears to share. 
Eventually the pair pause to catch their breath.
Reid leans back in his chair. "You know, you sound like a proper Mancunian now, but you didn't at the start of the term. What was that accent?"
"Bavarian, with a touch of Berliner."
"German? I suppose I should've guessed with a name like yours." 
Hermann snorts. 
"So what's a German doing in Manchester?"
"You're a Glaswegian," Hermann counters. "What're /you doing here?"
Reid laughs—
Hermann heart turns a little flip.
"I'm here for the Lovell. I can't /wait to get my hands on it." Reid grimaces. "I'm making myself an indentured servant of Lord Academia for a couple of days with an old telescope. I'm a complete /idiot." He shakes his head and grins. "Your turn, Gottlieb."
"The physics and astronomy program attracted me. There aren't many like it in Europe." Hermann shrugs. "I also receive a full scholarship to attend."
"I /knew I picked the right guy to tutor me! You have to be the /only one in our year in the program on full scholarship!"
Hermann lowers his eyes and picks at his food.
"Humble. I like that." Reid takes a bite of vindaloo for emphasis.
A mobile chimes.
Reid fumbles in his pocket, extracts the thing. "Fuck. I need to run to make my stupid literature class," he whines. 
Hermann sighs.
Reid looks at his backpack, then his food, then Hermann. "Fuck that. I'll get the notes from Rhys. I'm not cutting out early now that I've got you." He picks up his fork.
"Reid, what are you doing? You need to get to class," hisses Hermann.
"It'll be fine. Getting to know you is more fun." Reid drops his eyes, then looks up through his lashes. "This's already the best afternoon I've had since I got to this town. I'm /kicking myself for not dragging you out earlier." 
"Wh—" Hermann swallows. "What do you mean?"
"Just what I said." Fluffs his hair. "And I'll get the notes from my roommate later. You don't have an afternoon lecture, do you?"
Hermann shakes his head.
"Great! You were saying something about shell helium flashes?"
Their meals are long gone and the restaurant owner has been giving them the evil eye for a while when they pack up their things and set out for campus. 
Hermann and Reid debate the merits of various theories of planet formation the entirety of the walk to Reid's residence.
"Where've you been, Edan?" drawls a bored voice with a Welsh tilt. "You missed class and old Cooper actually noticed. You'll catch hell on Friday."
Reid turns to Hermann. "That's my useless roommate, Rhys." Continues in a stage whisper, "He's a /literature major."
The curly-haired boy lounging on the upper bunk sniffs and gives Reid a two-finger salute.
"The lovely lady wasting her time with him is Vigsai. If she likes you, she'll let you call her 'Iggy'."
A dark-skinned girl sitting cross-legged next to Rhys offers a friendly wave and a wide smile.
"She's at least got a practical major. Biology. Vigsai and Rhys, meet Hermann Gottlieb."
"This the astronomy genius you've been talking about all term?" Rhys asks without looking up from his textbook.
The back of Reid's neck darkens—a blush?
"Yea, finally worked up the nerve to talk to him," he says as he ruffles his own hair. He turns to Hermann, sheepish. "You're intimidating as hell. Everyone in the program's been /terrified of you since you took on Munro the first day. Legend is, no one does that and lasts the /week."
Hermann blushes to the tips of his ears and his head fills with static. 
"What do you think, Gottlieb?" says Reid.
Hermann wrenches himself back into the flow of conversation, joining in shyly.
Reid (not Edan, not yet), Rhys, and Vigsai seem nice enough, but they're strangers and strangers make him nervous and, as time goes on, he catches himself rolling his shoulders to shift his aching, tightly-bound wings. He waits for a pause in the talk and says, "This has been pleasant, but I need to get back to my room and study."
"O-oh, of course. Sorry to keep you!" Reid hops up, opens the door. 
"'bye, Gottlieb!"
"Goodbye, Rhys, Vigsai," he replies.
Hermann sets out, Reid at his heels to the door.
"See you tomorrow, Gottlieb," he says. With bright eyes and a note of hope: "Maybe we can meet for lunch after Smith's class?"
"Maybe," Hermann answers noncommittally. "Goodnight, Reid."
"Goodnight." Hermann plods to his own building, manages the locks and doors, and seals himself inside his room. He's out of his coat, jumper, shirt, undershirt, and binding in a flash. With a sigh, he stretches his wings their full reach, then flutters some more of the soreness out of them. He scoops up a pair of downy feathers from the floor, shuffles to the washroom, and stuffs them into the biohazard container. 
He wets a washcloth, scrubs his face.
Hermann looks at his reflection in the mirror, mumbles, "What the hell was Reid thinking?" Sighs. "What the hell am /I thinking?"
Category:Celestial Mechanics
2007 10 26
Category:Ficlet
Category:Manchester (setting)
Category:University of Manchester (setting)
Category:Hermann
Category:Hermann's POV
Category:Hermann (ficlet)
Category:Hermann has wings
Category:Hermann loves stars
Category:Edan
Category:Edan (ficlet)
Category:Rhys
Category:Rhys (ficlet)
Category:Vigsai
Category:Vigsai (ficlet)
Category:Munro (mention)
Category:Ficlets with images
Category:CM: Ginger