Work Text:
Colton had his chemistry textbook open in front of him, jotting down notes as he ate his breakfast. He glanced at the time and winced a little. The rest of the team would start streaming in soon and he hadn’t gotten as far as he wanted to get in the chapter, and with the team came distractions.
One of which plopped himself down in front of Colton with a plate piled high with eggs, and maybe a waffle under all the eggs.
“Morning,” Joel grinned, shoveling the first bite into his mouth.
“Morning,” Colton laughed, shaking his head as Eddy started humming to himself as he ate.
“What are you working on?”
“Chemistry,” Colton replied, “I won’t be able to do the lab part until we get back to the Lou but I have a test I have to return to my professor by Friday.
“I’ll help you study,” Joel seemed to light up at the prospect of helping Colton.
“Really?”
“I mean, I may not know anything about this sort of thing, but can definitely ask you questions and tell you if the textbook says you got the right answer.”
“You would do that?”
“There’s not a lot I wouldn’t do for you, Colt.”
And Eddy had rarely looked that sincere. But whenever he did, it was directed at Colton. And Colton had noticed. And he knew it meant something, he was just waiting for Joel to tell him what it meant.
Still, Colton closed his notebook and handed the textbook to Joel.
“It’s over the previous chapter, there should be a Test Your Knowledge section at the end.”
“Can I help you blow something up when we get home?” Eddy asked with a wide grin as he flipped back to the correct page.
Colton laughed and said, “The labs don’t involve blowing anything up.”
“You’re smart, you could probably find a way to blow to stuff up with what you have.”
“I can’t promise an explosion, but you can pour liquid from one beaker to the other if you want.”
“Sweet,” Joel grinned, “and afterward, I can take you to Sydney Street for dinner as a thank you.”
“What?”
“Or as a date,” Joel looked down at the textbook, scanning over the questions and then finding the answer key in the back of the book.
“I’d like that,” Colton replied, biting his lip as Joel looked back up.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
And Joel grinned widely in response before asking the first question on the page.