FIC: Textbook Scenario (1/1)
Title: Textbook Scenario
Fandom: Good Will Hunting
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: The peace and quiet lasted all of two months before Sean opened his door to find Will Hunting asleep on his doorstep.
100fandoms prompt #26 'balm'
A/N: I rewatched the film today, hence the fic. I also attempted slash with this. Sorta. Probably not. Um. *sparkle* Feedback welcome!
*
i.
*
The peace and quiet lasted all of two months before Sean opened his door to find Will Hunting asleep on his doorstep. The boy looked beat, and it was 6am, so, after considering his options, he settled on nudging Will with a slippered foot. "Will. Wake up." The boy muttered something in his sleep and burrowed further into his bomber jacket, face disappearing from sight. Sean sighed. "Will. Wake the fuck up and get inside." He grabbed the kid by one meaty bicep and yanked him to his feet, propelling him roughly in the 'indoors' direction. Didn't forget the morning paper, though, given that it was the reason he'd opened his door in the first place.
Inside, Will still appeared mostly asleep. Hands in pockets, he helped himself to a slice of the couch - a rather bit slice, as a matter of fact, stretching over the whole goddamn thing. Sean sighed again, and got on the phone to the college. Someone would have to cover his class today. No, he wasn't coming in. No, he couldn't say why. He sneaked a peek at the figure on his couch. It was a personal matter.
Fine. He fixed coffee; read the paper. Considered phoning the boy's professors; dismissed the idea. God, what now?
At about eight, Will started showing signs of life. Sean thrust a mug of coffee at him, and a plate with bacon and hash browns.
"Eat the food. Drink the coffee."
Will raised an eyebrow at that, but prodded his food obediently. "How come I woke up inside your house?"
"Because I had to collect you from my doorstep this morning. You don't remember?" He sipped his coffee; his third for the day.
Grimacing around a mouthful of bacon, the boy shook his head. "No. I've been driving for - I don't even remember - this bacon's really good," he said, surprised.
"I have a great many talents," Sean said. He nodded at Will's hand, which was conspicuously free of any ring-related objects. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"
"With the driving? With California? With the job?"
"With the girl, idiot. What happened with the girl? "
Finally catching on, Will followed his gaze down to his bare hands. He smiled, self-deprecating. "Isn't it obvious?"
Sean exhaled slowly. "It's never obvious, Will."
The boy finished chewing his mouthful and shrugged. "Can I crash at your place for a bit?"
*
ii.
*
Will refused to talk about why he'd left California in such a hurry, and Sean didn't press him. Instead, he kitted him out with some bedsheets and a duvet for the couch, and pointed him in the direction of the bathroom.
For three days, the boy mainly slept and scribbled nonsensical symbols on Sean's mirrors. At least, they were nonsensical to Sean. If he'd bothered to copy any of them down and hand them over to MIT, he was sure that they would receive an ecstatic reception.
On the fourth day - more or less coming up to the end of Sean's impromptu sabbatical - Will got dressed and took him back to the park, to watch the swans.
"Is this all right?"
Is what all right? Sean wasn't too sure, and said so.
Will grimaced. "I'm doing it all wrong, aren't I? It's weird, you'd think that my manipulation skills would be as developed as the rest of my brain, but that doesn't appear to be fucking case."
"I think those are 'people skills' you're talking about."
A flash of teeth. "Yeah, and is that what they call them in those books of yours?"
Point. "I'm not expecting a grand performance, Will. Just tell me what you're comfortable talking about."
Will mulled this over and found it satisfactory; nodded. "Swans are monogamous as a species - did you know?"
Sean did know this, actually, but it didn't seem the time to point it out.
"I read about this swan, over in England - actually, Skylar read about it, she kept up with all the overseas news - who fell in love with one of those little boats, you know, like bicycles?"
"Peddle-boats," Sean guessed.
Will nodded. "Yeah. Well, it was a novelty one for a fair, or a carnival, or something, and it was shaped like a swan. One of the Queen's swans fell in love with it, and so all of these boffins over in England are now wringing their hands 'cause it means that he's never going to find a real mate." He stared at the little flotilla of swans on the other side of the lake, curiously investigation some children's offerings of bread. "When she told me about it, I thought that was the funniest thing I'd ever heard."
"And now?"
"Now it's still a fucking joke." He fished in his pockets for cigs; finding none, he patted his hands together for warmth and got to his feet. "Shit, I'm sorry. This wasn't - I guess this wasn't where I wanted to talk to you. You wanna head back?"
Sean said nothing for a moment, then stood carefully. It was fucking cold, the freeze creeping in even through his thick coat and the several layers beneath. How the hell did this kid not turn into one huge icicle, clad only in a t-shirt beneath his thin jacket? "Not especially. You want to tell me why you brought me out here to look at the swans?"
The kid shifted from foot to foot, cagey. Undone all their work, it looked like, and in the space of a couple of months. Still didn't trust him enough to speak, even after everything - "Will?"
"Fuck it," the kid hissed, and stepped forward.
*
iii.
*
Sean caught him about a millisecond before the kid would have - well. He was obviously slipping, if he hadn't predicted this. Will was already trying to pull free, muttering a litany of curses and the rising flush of mortification staining his cheeks red.
"Wait. Will." Nothing; still twisting in his grip, and now people were starting to turn and stare. "Will. Are you aiming to get me arrested?" That got through. He stopped moving, his face turned to the side.
"Shit," he muttered. "Aw, fuck, Sean, Shit!"
"Yeah," Sean agreed, and let go of Will's arms. "You weren't kidding about picking a bad place for this."
The boy's face twitched; for one horrible moment, Sean thought that he might lash out. Amusement, the expression turned out to be, and the kid bust up laughing. It was infectious; he felt his own mirth bubbling up. "I was telling you a swan story!" The kid gasped, rubbing at his eyes and finally looking at him. "It was a fucking metaphor!"
"Jesus Christ, I left you alone for two months, sport, two whole months, and you come back on a level with See Spot Run?"
"And a new deep-rooted issue," Will corrected him, settling down somewhat. He nodded in the direction of Sean's car.
"Yeah, well, let's save that for the afternoon."
They got home all right.
*
iv.
*
"Can I please -"
"No."
"But -"
"No."
"Look. I know what you're thinking - casebook scenario, yadda yadda yadda, chapter and verse. But I'm not -"
"No."
"Jesus fucking Christ, would you let me finish a sentence!" Will spun around, the colour high in his cheeks. "I'm not asking for a fucking lay, all right? I just want to find out if I'm - you know - and -"
"No."
"Fuck!" He threw his hands up and sat down heavily in one of Sean's armchairs.
They sat in silence for a bit: Sean, in his corner, thoughtful; Will, in the other corner, stewing.
"Are you throwing me out?" He asked suddenly.
Sean shook his head.
"Then -"
"No, sport."
Will - honest to God - growled under his breath. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
Sean sipped his coffee. "Would you like me to show you the textbook first, or shall we skip ahead to the Code of Conduct?"
"Fuck."
*
v.
*
Three a.m.; someone named Skylar, evidently unaware of time differences. He staggered downstairs and handed the phone to the kid, nudging him awake and shoving it under his cheek. As it turned out, he needn't have bothered: Will muttered something into the handset and hung up in less than a minute.
Sean was fixing coffee in the kitchen. "That was brief."
"That was the girl. And I'm not fucking her around anymore." For some inexplicable reason, Will was in his boxers. Given that it was a twenty-degree high during the day, God only knew what the temperature was like in the middle of the night. Sean was wearing thick pyjamas, a thick robe, and the thickest slippers in existence.
"Have some coffee," he said, turning back to the coffeepot.
Will yawned behind him. "Fine."
"Are you planning on talking to me about Skylar?" Sean asked, turning around.
The kid, it turned out, was a lot closer to him than he'd guessed. Close enough to step forward quickly enough that Sean couldn't grab him and push him away. So, instead, he ended up pressed against the edge of the kitchen counter, leaning as far away as possible from the mostly-naked young man attempting to kiss him.
It wasn't bad, as kisses went. Sean caught Will's elbows and gently tugged him away. The boy's face was full of disappointment. "That -" he paused and swallowed. "That wasn't -"
"No," Sean said gently. He handed him a mug of coffee. "No, it wasn't."
Flushed and embarrassed as all hell, probably. Finally, the kid sighed. "Fine. What's the fucking textbook?"
*
epilogue.
*
When Sean came down the next morning, he found Will awake on the couch, four textbooks open in front on him. He had the phone tucked between his cheek and shoulder. "Yeah, I was just gonna drive - well, no, Skylar, all my shit's in the car, so -"
Sean made coffee.
Will came into the kitchen a little later. "I was going to set off in a couple of hours," he said.
Sean nodded. "Are you all cured, then?"
Will laughed. "I'm going to stop by on spur-of-the-moment visits; you know that, right? California's not that far away."
Smiling, then. Also, coffee.
*
fin
Fandom: Good Will Hunting
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: The peace and quiet lasted all of two months before Sean opened his door to find Will Hunting asleep on his doorstep.
100fandoms prompt #26 'balm'
A/N: I rewatched the film today, hence the fic. I also attempted slash with this. Sorta. Probably not. Um. *sparkle* Feedback welcome!
*
i.
*
The peace and quiet lasted all of two months before Sean opened his door to find Will Hunting asleep on his doorstep. The boy looked beat, and it was 6am, so, after considering his options, he settled on nudging Will with a slippered foot. "Will. Wake up." The boy muttered something in his sleep and burrowed further into his bomber jacket, face disappearing from sight. Sean sighed. "Will. Wake the fuck up and get inside." He grabbed the kid by one meaty bicep and yanked him to his feet, propelling him roughly in the 'indoors' direction. Didn't forget the morning paper, though, given that it was the reason he'd opened his door in the first place.
Inside, Will still appeared mostly asleep. Hands in pockets, he helped himself to a slice of the couch - a rather bit slice, as a matter of fact, stretching over the whole goddamn thing. Sean sighed again, and got on the phone to the college. Someone would have to cover his class today. No, he wasn't coming in. No, he couldn't say why. He sneaked a peek at the figure on his couch. It was a personal matter.
Fine. He fixed coffee; read the paper. Considered phoning the boy's professors; dismissed the idea. God, what now?
At about eight, Will started showing signs of life. Sean thrust a mug of coffee at him, and a plate with bacon and hash browns.
"Eat the food. Drink the coffee."
Will raised an eyebrow at that, but prodded his food obediently. "How come I woke up inside your house?"
"Because I had to collect you from my doorstep this morning. You don't remember?" He sipped his coffee; his third for the day.
Grimacing around a mouthful of bacon, the boy shook his head. "No. I've been driving for - I don't even remember - this bacon's really good," he said, surprised.
"I have a great many talents," Sean said. He nodded at Will's hand, which was conspicuously free of any ring-related objects. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"
"With the driving? With California? With the job?"
"With the girl, idiot. What happened with the girl? "
Finally catching on, Will followed his gaze down to his bare hands. He smiled, self-deprecating. "Isn't it obvious?"
Sean exhaled slowly. "It's never obvious, Will."
The boy finished chewing his mouthful and shrugged. "Can I crash at your place for a bit?"
*
ii.
*
Will refused to talk about why he'd left California in such a hurry, and Sean didn't press him. Instead, he kitted him out with some bedsheets and a duvet for the couch, and pointed him in the direction of the bathroom.
For three days, the boy mainly slept and scribbled nonsensical symbols on Sean's mirrors. At least, they were nonsensical to Sean. If he'd bothered to copy any of them down and hand them over to MIT, he was sure that they would receive an ecstatic reception.
On the fourth day - more or less coming up to the end of Sean's impromptu sabbatical - Will got dressed and took him back to the park, to watch the swans.
"Is this all right?"
Is what all right? Sean wasn't too sure, and said so.
Will grimaced. "I'm doing it all wrong, aren't I? It's weird, you'd think that my manipulation skills would be as developed as the rest of my brain, but that doesn't appear to be fucking case."
"I think those are 'people skills' you're talking about."
A flash of teeth. "Yeah, and is that what they call them in those books of yours?"
Point. "I'm not expecting a grand performance, Will. Just tell me what you're comfortable talking about."
Will mulled this over and found it satisfactory; nodded. "Swans are monogamous as a species - did you know?"
Sean did know this, actually, but it didn't seem the time to point it out.
"I read about this swan, over in England - actually, Skylar read about it, she kept up with all the overseas news - who fell in love with one of those little boats, you know, like bicycles?"
"Peddle-boats," Sean guessed.
Will nodded. "Yeah. Well, it was a novelty one for a fair, or a carnival, or something, and it was shaped like a swan. One of the Queen's swans fell in love with it, and so all of these boffins over in England are now wringing their hands 'cause it means that he's never going to find a real mate." He stared at the little flotilla of swans on the other side of the lake, curiously investigation some children's offerings of bread. "When she told me about it, I thought that was the funniest thing I'd ever heard."
"And now?"
"Now it's still a fucking joke." He fished in his pockets for cigs; finding none, he patted his hands together for warmth and got to his feet. "Shit, I'm sorry. This wasn't - I guess this wasn't where I wanted to talk to you. You wanna head back?"
Sean said nothing for a moment, then stood carefully. It was fucking cold, the freeze creeping in even through his thick coat and the several layers beneath. How the hell did this kid not turn into one huge icicle, clad only in a t-shirt beneath his thin jacket? "Not especially. You want to tell me why you brought me out here to look at the swans?"
The kid shifted from foot to foot, cagey. Undone all their work, it looked like, and in the space of a couple of months. Still didn't trust him enough to speak, even after everything - "Will?"
"Fuck it," the kid hissed, and stepped forward.
*
iii.
*
Sean caught him about a millisecond before the kid would have - well. He was obviously slipping, if he hadn't predicted this. Will was already trying to pull free, muttering a litany of curses and the rising flush of mortification staining his cheeks red.
"Wait. Will." Nothing; still twisting in his grip, and now people were starting to turn and stare. "Will. Are you aiming to get me arrested?" That got through. He stopped moving, his face turned to the side.
"Shit," he muttered. "Aw, fuck, Sean, Shit!"
"Yeah," Sean agreed, and let go of Will's arms. "You weren't kidding about picking a bad place for this."
The boy's face twitched; for one horrible moment, Sean thought that he might lash out. Amusement, the expression turned out to be, and the kid bust up laughing. It was infectious; he felt his own mirth bubbling up. "I was telling you a swan story!" The kid gasped, rubbing at his eyes and finally looking at him. "It was a fucking metaphor!"
"Jesus Christ, I left you alone for two months, sport, two whole months, and you come back on a level with See Spot Run?"
"And a new deep-rooted issue," Will corrected him, settling down somewhat. He nodded in the direction of Sean's car.
"Yeah, well, let's save that for the afternoon."
They got home all right.
*
iv.
*
"Can I please -"
"No."
"But -"
"No."
"Look. I know what you're thinking - casebook scenario, yadda yadda yadda, chapter and verse. But I'm not -"
"No."
"Jesus fucking Christ, would you let me finish a sentence!" Will spun around, the colour high in his cheeks. "I'm not asking for a fucking lay, all right? I just want to find out if I'm - you know - and -"
"No."
"Fuck!" He threw his hands up and sat down heavily in one of Sean's armchairs.
They sat in silence for a bit: Sean, in his corner, thoughtful; Will, in the other corner, stewing.
"Are you throwing me out?" He asked suddenly.
Sean shook his head.
"Then -"
"No, sport."
Will - honest to God - growled under his breath. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
Sean sipped his coffee. "Would you like me to show you the textbook first, or shall we skip ahead to the Code of Conduct?"
"Fuck."
*
v.
*
Three a.m.; someone named Skylar, evidently unaware of time differences. He staggered downstairs and handed the phone to the kid, nudging him awake and shoving it under his cheek. As it turned out, he needn't have bothered: Will muttered something into the handset and hung up in less than a minute.
Sean was fixing coffee in the kitchen. "That was brief."
"That was the girl. And I'm not fucking her around anymore." For some inexplicable reason, Will was in his boxers. Given that it was a twenty-degree high during the day, God only knew what the temperature was like in the middle of the night. Sean was wearing thick pyjamas, a thick robe, and the thickest slippers in existence.
"Have some coffee," he said, turning back to the coffeepot.
Will yawned behind him. "Fine."
"Are you planning on talking to me about Skylar?" Sean asked, turning around.
The kid, it turned out, was a lot closer to him than he'd guessed. Close enough to step forward quickly enough that Sean couldn't grab him and push him away. So, instead, he ended up pressed against the edge of the kitchen counter, leaning as far away as possible from the mostly-naked young man attempting to kiss him.
It wasn't bad, as kisses went. Sean caught Will's elbows and gently tugged him away. The boy's face was full of disappointment. "That -" he paused and swallowed. "That wasn't -"
"No," Sean said gently. He handed him a mug of coffee. "No, it wasn't."
Flushed and embarrassed as all hell, probably. Finally, the kid sighed. "Fine. What's the fucking textbook?"
*
epilogue.
*
When Sean came down the next morning, he found Will awake on the couch, four textbooks open in front on him. He had the phone tucked between his cheek and shoulder. "Yeah, I was just gonna drive - well, no, Skylar, all my shit's in the car, so -"
Sean made coffee.
Will came into the kitchen a little later. "I was going to set off in a couple of hours," he said.
Sean nodded. "Are you all cured, then?"
Will laughed. "I'm going to stop by on spur-of-the-moment visits; you know that, right? California's not that far away."
Smiling, then. Also, coffee.
*
fin