The First Dance

## Characters Involved

* Niccolo Salinas
* Morgan
* Cliff
* Fletcher Vireo
* Gagan
* Chaison
* Cynthia
* Drink-Bot
* Scarlet
* Ally
* Dolly
* Zakra
* Katelyn

## The Event

The dance event took place in December, 2019. It started with Ally, Scarlet, Dolly, and later Fletcher discussing how a planned dance was supposed to happen to give the place some normalcy. The discussion quickly moved to who was going with dates. Ally brings up that she is going with Dolly while Scarlet and Cynthia are without anyone. Fletcher confesses that he's not even sure he's going and brings up he'd consider should he have a date, but even then, it'd probably not be his thing. He does encourage Cynthia though, explaining that she's bound to get one soon. She takes the moment to tease Fletcher about him probably going with science should he go with anyone at all before Chaison appears to interrupt the discussion. He starts flirting with Cynthia at the moment while Zakra watches him in amusement and comments on how he hopes his boyfriend is up for it. Kiemo takes the time to retort that such a thing is stupid and Georgia supports him and his claims. Most people choose to ignore him as more people join the conversation and Cliff is left asking Fletcher if he has a date or not. Upon hearing they both do not, Fletcher teases them and jokes that they should go with Chaison. This idea is quickly shot down. Instead, they suggest going with Drink-Bot instead, having used it previously while hanging out with Fletcher. Fletcher continues to joke that they may do so so long as Fletcher isn't using the robot himself. He does, however, think that the robot should attend the party if for no other reason that the guests will like it and it'll be beneficial for them. They agree to do so before returning to the discussion about organizing dates. Chaison tries to be able to go with multiple people only to be joked about and his ego left slightly bruised. He begins to give up on flirting with Katelyn as she doesn't seem to appreciate his affinity for tubas and Chaison doesn't take kindly to her brass pun.

Meanwhile, Gagan makes his first appearance and walks down the hallway having just arrived pretty recently. He catches the attention of the group quickly considering his height and the rest of his appearance as well. Chaison and Ally are among the first to greet him, Chaison eager to boast while Ally is shorter with her greeting. Gagan remains polite, not changing much of his expression as he glances up from a piece of paper he was examining. He greets them both in turn and introduces himself while Katelyn shortly follows the greeting after. However, she enjoys teasing Chaison and returns to that conversation instead. Gagan takes this as a sign it is time for him to take his leave and Fletcher, who has been quiet this whole time, continues to eye Gagan until he disappears. He takes a moment to realize that Cliff is trying to talk to him and get his attention as he starts taking notes. Fletcher upon being asked again if he is going, tries to decline, stating that he's expected to get to work on his cures. He can't waste time going to dances and tries to politely come up with an excuse. Cliff manages to convince him regardless and he promises to go if only for a little bit. Cynthia overhears this and is still upset about not having a date when Chaison tries to assure her it'll be okay if she doesn't. In her old school, she explains, getting dates to dances meant everything and she's confused about how that isn't the case here. She accepts that she's kind of going with Chaison after all and leaves to get ready.

During this time, Cynthia and Heather advise each other on dresses while Morgan and Niccolo begin to wake up. The two have been asleep for some time and Niccolo suggests that with the noise that woke them up, they go figure out what the commotion is about. Niccolo offers since Morgan can't walk well, to fetch a wheelchair and go investigate. He manages to find out about the dance after locating one and both of the cat boys end up going to the dance together. Cliff tags along with them and they all end up at the cafeteria while Fletcher sprints over in his lab coat having almost been late. The other students have begun to show up too and even new student Gagan, who was questioning if, since he knew no one, if he should attend too shows up as well. On Gagan's way to the dance, he encounters Alvis, giving the younger man a compliment on his suit which Alvis is greatly appreciative of. Alvis thinks that Gagan is attractive before giving Gagan instructions on how to get to the dance before heading there himself.

As the dance starts and Gagan takes up a spot by the wall and keeping to himself, his attention on the crowd as he searched for Alvis, he realizes it doesn't matter. He doesn't plan on staying long anyways, not fancying being around a bunch of couples. His silence is interrupted as Fletcher takes notice of him and heads over, politely introducing himself as the local scientist. Gagan snickers a bit as he notices that Fletcher came in a lab coat and are both interestingly dressed for the event. He also remarks that he wouldn't have guessed that Fletcher was a scientist before continuing to introduce himself. They make a bit of small talk after this before Gagan brings up an observation about him having unsettled some of the other students. It surprises Gagan when Fletcher looks confused by this and remarks that he didn't find him unsettling at all. Fletcher when pressed on this, doesn't speak much about it, flustering instead and downplaying the topic. Gagan lets it be and goes on to mention such subjects as why he came to the school, causing Fletcher to have to explain what opportunities were supposed to await them. Clearly, these opportunities were bizarre though, hardly belonging in a public school and one meant for the intellectual elite. Fletcher and Gagan don't press much on this subject and instead, with help of his notepad, Fletcher quickly works out that something has unsettled Gagan. He asks about it and though she is not mentioned by name, Fletcher first learns about Roxy's death and how Gagan recently lost someone close to him. Fletcher tries to console him a bit, bonding with Gagan a bit more in the moment as he too fears losing someone close to him because of his father. He ran away from it though and doesn't know the circumstances of Gagan's loss yet.

Fletcher pities Gagan for a moment as he decides to leave him to grieve, his notepad not giving him enough information to know what to do next. Instead, he watches Niccolo and Morgan interact, watching the two as they dance before seeking out a place to put the drink-bot he was carrying around. He selects one of the far tables and continues to watch from the sidelines. Sure enough, the bot draws in Cliff's attention and they come over to him. There's some light flirting from Cliff's end and Fletcher doesn't respond outside of courteously nodding and replying. Fletcher talks a bit more with her, watching as Ally and Dolly now start dancing before Gagan comes over and interrupts him again. Gagan takes interest in the drink-bot, requesting to know how it works, believing that the conversation will be a positive experience and he's curious too. Fletcher is surprised to have someone take an interest in the engineering process and is eager enough to explain. Fletcher stammers a bit through his explanation though he calms as he realizes that Gagan remained interested.

They continue talking about how the drink-bot works and how it could be improved, the two bouncing off each other until Gagan points out that Fletcher is a little young for a scientist. Fletcher is surprised but pretends not to have heard the statement, not wanting to acknowledge the reasons he had become a scientist so young. Gagan, however, during the experience seems impressed if not a bit insecure having the first real conversation he was part of involve someone he deemed more intelligent than himself. Gagan sees himself as inferior to Fletcher pretty quick and brings up Fletcher's age again as well as his position. Fletcher tells him that he was a gifted child so it makes sense. Hearing that Fletcher holds a degree of sorts and was working on more has Gagan quickly impressed with Fletcher. Fletcher is flustered and embarrassed by the praise but humbly explains that he is just dedicated and works hard on his studies and that's how he managed. He then brings up tinkering, a subject Gagan leaps on knowing more about and Fletcher ends up hyperfixating, eager to learn more about how Gagan creates models himself. When Gagan offers to show him, he's ecstatic despite Gagan's continued insecurities. He still expects Fletcher to not be interested in hanging out with someone like him. Fletcher is shocked by this and shakes his head, explaining how it'd be absurd if he didn't want to hang out with someone who could make machines that could take over the world. Gagan finds it amusing that Fletcher missed what he meant but is still grateful to have already made a seeming friend that he can invite over. Gagan offers for them to stick around for a bit before moving on to go make robots together in Gagan's room should no one be requesting their attention. Fletcher agrees to this despite his work. He has not been shown to step away from his work for just anyone, barely willing to do it at this point for his friends. Perhaps he's able to justify it because it's still science related. Perhaps not.

Regardless, Fletcher chooses to continue to stick by Gagan until they leave to build robots together. Things get a little awkward though when Cliff appears and asks about what they're doing, interrupting Fletcher's thoughts about how he should be focus on meeting new people instead of work constantly. He's torn on this but doesn't have time to ponder it. Fletcher feels guilty for not speaking with Cliff before and being there more for him. Fletcher was kinda his date after all and he didn't show up as much as he should have. Gagan, however, pays Cliff little attention, continuing to speak to Fletcher about how and why he came to the school. How he had little option. Fletcher takes the moment to say he's pleased to have met Gagan and that to Fletcher, he's a pretty cool guy. Gagan remarks that it's a nicer opinion than most would give him. He smiles at Fletcher before Fletcher explains that the others' opinions of him are dumb as far as he knows. Granted, he'd need to gather more research but that's his current idea. Gagan is a bit uncomfortable, considering whether or not he'll explain himself and his past to Fletcher at some point. Fletcher tells him to take his time. They continue to speak for some time, inventing the word *mechanic-ing* which to Gagan sounds more like a euphemism before Fletcher explains the experiments they all were forced to endure. Or, the survivors were. Fletcher seems a bit bothered by the whole thing, slightly uncomfortable by the experience. Gagan starts to panic at this news and Fletcher does too in response, apologizing quickly for saying anything.

Gagan is terrified to know they're trapped, asking to know how the other students were lured in. Cliff doesn't admit much and says he was kidnapped, Fletcher says he willingly came because of opportunity and claims that it was close to his father. He doesn't specify much at this point. Granted, he doesn't get the chance to as Gagan excuses him and Fletcher stating that while he's sorry, they need to get to mechanic-ing right at that moment. Fletcher doesn't object and goes willingly. Because of Gagan's bloody nose, Fletcher opens the door for him and Cliff is left alone back at the dance with Morgan and Niccolo. Whatever happens with Gagan and Fletcher during mechanic-ing is shown offscreen and they both return later.

Chaison appears eventually at the dance, ready to make an entrance and he is shown worried alongside Heather when Cynthia doesn't immediately make an appearance. He worries before Starr brings up Fletcher and he gets a bit tense, remembering his rivalry with the scientist. The one-sided one he has. He doesn't get to talk much to Starr before Cynthia appears and the two compliment each other and they have a dance together. Chaison is a bit on edge, bringing up Fletcher underhandedly as he suspected at one time that she preferred Fletcher over him. Cynthia denies this and claims she's just there for him. This helps with his own insecurities and Cynthia's too a bit and after this event, they officially get together.

With Gagan and Fletcher returning to the dance, Fletcher is weary of Chaison having the history they have and Gagan notices, the two closer after making robots. Gagan encourages him, explaining that they knew this to be the case and that they, as discussed, need to talk through things. Gagan encourages Fletcher to get some confidence and do it on his own while he goes off and fetches drinks. He'll be there should Fletcher need it. Fletcher goes to have the chat, requesting that Gagan burn whatever is in his third drawer should something go wrong. Fletcher doesn't wait for a response though as he starts talking to Chaison, he glances at Gagan before continuing. Cynthia notices that Gagan was with Fletcher and offers to go help Gagan with the drink-bot. Fletcher gets stuck with Chaison and having to explain that he wasn't interested in Cynthia. The two end up working things out but it's awkward. Chaison eventually returns to Cynthia's company while Fletcher goes to hang out with Gagan and Cliff again, Fletcher and Gagan in particular getting closer as time continued and forming the foundations for a strictly platonic science bro kind of relationship.