Anna might be (elatedorgassy) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-08-07 20:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, anna of arendelle, stiles stilinski |
Who: Anna and Stiles Stilinski
What: Platonic Meet-cute
When: Aug 2
Where: University of Irvine Campus
Rating: Gen
Status: Complete
Stiles hadn’t really wanted to be on the UCI campus for another month at least, but he’d felt bad about how upset that professor was about his missing lizard, so he’d volunteered to put some of the flyers around campus on the weekend.
So here he was, on a Saturday afternoon, dutifully taping up another HAVE YOU SEEN THIS LIZARD? poster to one of the bulletin boards around campus. He was holding the roll of masking tape between his teeth as he fought with it, having (correctly) guessed that there wouldn’t be any push pins.
Anna was wandering around the campus, as she’d just been by to take a look at an apartment a block or so away. The problem with the housing so close to campus was that it was all really shoddy, and expensive. Landlords knew they could charge whatever they wanted to, and that college students would sleep six to a room to pay it. Anna didn’t want to have to put up with that, so she’d turned the guy down. He’d find someone else.
She walked to campus and found the bulletin boards. There was a guy putting up flyers who looked familiar. And the lizard struck a chord in her head, too. She stepped closer, trying to figure out who he was and why that lizard looked so familiar.
Stiles glanced over when he felt eyes on him and grinned (more like grimaced) around his mouthful as he nodded his head in acknowledgement. Once the sign was affixed to the board, he stepped back and pulled it free from his teeth.
“So, have you seen this lizard? Because there’s a highly emotional professor of...something...who would be incredibly grateful.”
“Yeah, uh… I heard about that,” Anna said, giving him a small smile. She motioned toward the lizard. “Somewhere… on the internet?” She said, then it clicked into place. “Oh, right! Valarnet! That’s where I’ve seen that reptilian face before! ...are you… did you find him there?”
Stiles’s eyebrows raised, incredulous. “....yeah, actually,” he said, slowly. “So, you’re another UCI student. Do they include a Valar account with your campus email now?”
“Not that I know of?” Anna said, apologetically. “This will be my first fall… um… I’m a new student. I’m just… y’know… trying to get to know the campus and stuff?” She’d turned into such a little girl now that the spotlight was on her.
Stiles pushed the masking tape around his wrist and adjusted his glasses on his face. New to UCI in the fall, but on Valarnet already. The universe was small, but could it really be that small?
He took a chance.
“Anna? Uh….elated or gassy?”
Anna gave a little gasp, then burst into laughter. “There’s… I really should explain that…” She said, shaking her head and her hands a bit. “But yes, that’s me. Wow, what a crazy, random happenstance.” UCI was so big, they were like two drops of water in a bucket. Yet, they randomly ran into each other. “You’re… Stiles, right?”
The laughter helped, and Stiles grinned. “Yeah, I’m Stiles. And I would probably be more surprised if it didn’t feel like there was some kind of cosmic force drawing the UCI students on Valarnet together.” He shrugged and scrubbed the back of his neck lightly with his fingers. “Anyway. It’s good to know you’re a real person.”
“That’s a very good point. I mean, Valarnet people seem to… gather. I guess.” She shrugged, grinning softly. “Yeah, it’s definitely good to know you’re not a fifty year old stalker or something masquerading as a UCI student.”
“Yeah, but it seems like a good thing,” Stiles replied. “Not the fifty year-old stalker thing. The whole...community, I guess.” He smiled again. “So, what do you think of our fair campus? You figure out where your classes are yet?”
“Yeah, it does.” Anna replied quickly, breaking into a brighter smile herself. “Oh! Right! Classes and the like… yes, I’ve sort of wandered around. I’ve got my schedule for the fall. Do you want to see?” She asked, and then turned to dig around in her purse. A moment later she produced a folded, taped schedule of classes with building numbers, days and times all typed on. She held it out to him.
Stiles took her schedule and squinted at it a little in the bright sunlight before shading it with his hand. “Wow. That’s a lot of credits. Oh hey--you’re taking a Freshmen seminar. I did that too. It was pretty cool. Mine was on Minecraft. A friend of mine took the Harry Potter one.”
Anna gasped. “That’s the one I’m taking! Look. I have no idea what it’s going to be about. I just told my counselor woman what I like and she put together a schedule for me. I’m… I may be a bit of an over-achiever,” she added, going rather pink. “But I like learning.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Stiles replied, hoping his tone was reassuring, and handed the schedule back to her with a playful wink. “Your advisor must be pretty cool to get you into the Harry Potter seminar. So you’re a Ravenclaw, huh? Love learning for the sake of learning?”
“I guess so? I mean, I’m pretty brave, too. And loyal. I dunno. Maybe I’m a Gryffin-Huffle-Claw.” Anna beamed. “I’d hate to put myself into just one of the houses, you know? I think they’re all good.” She leaned in a little and lowered her voice playfully conspiratorially. “I’m Divergent.”
Stiles laughed a little a that. “Yeah? Go you. I have no idea what that is,” he confessed. “I mean, I’ve seen the promos? But I haven’t actually read the books or seen the movie.”
He nodded his head towards the student center. “You want to get some coffee? Do you drink coffee? I’ve got a few more stops to make before I can head home, but I could use a break.” He gestured with his stack of posters and roll of tape, tucking them into his shoulder bag.
“I love coffee!” Anna said, bouncing a bit on her heels. She realized a second later how lame that probably looked and sounded, and cleared her throat. “I mean, yeah. Cool. Coffee sounds good,” she added, lowering her voice to a much less giddy level.
Stiles’ lips twitched. He remembered being that awkwardly enthusiastic. He’d grown out if it--mostly--but it wasn’t that long ago. “But does coffee love you?” he countered. He shifted his bag on his shoulder and gestured towards the student center. “Maybe decaf for you,” he teased.
Anna actually snorted a little laugh out. She lifted both hands to cup over her mouth, and shook her head. “Decaf it is,” she said, muffled through her fingers. Then she fell into step beside him.