prompt: danbert meeting for the first time in an aquarium? like maybe one of them works there? (I love your fics btw)
Herbert glanced up from his book as a shadow fell across the page. He was met with the sight of a boy around his age, wearing a garish blue polo shirt and lanyard. Pinned above his nametag was a badge that read, Ask me about manatees!
"Hey there," Dan (thank you, nametag) greeted. "You need help with anything?"
Herbert, who just wanted to be left alone to complete his Trig homework, replied curtly, "No."
He'd hoped that would be the end of their little interaction. Herbert could get back to his work, occasionally looking at array of fish swimming past in the huge tank, and Dan could go tell some brats facts about dolphins or something. But Dan simply grinned and sat down beside Herbert on the viewing bench.
"I see you here all the time," Dan said.
"I have a season pass."
"What's your name?"
"Do you always bother your customers this much?" Herbert groused.
Dan just laughed and ran a hand through his hair, making Herbert's stomach swoop. It was unfair how cute he was.
"When I want to," Dan quipped. He leaned over to look at Herbert's notebook. "What're you doing, anyway?"
"Homework," Herbert snapped, flipping his book closed. "Nothing too exciting, I'm sure."
Dan raised an eyebrow at him, which really was ridiculous. He was the one pestering him, and yet he had the gall to act as though Herbert were being uncouth by not wanting to share scribbled equations with him?
"You know," Dan began conversationally, "most people do their homework in a library. Your school not got one of those?"
Herbert huffed an irritated breath. "Obviously it does."
"Just can't resist Stella, huh?" Dan said, gesturing to a huge sea turtle swimming lazily past the screen.
Herbert glared at him. Dan didn't need to know he preferred the aquarium to the library. The library was too crowded, full of students all clustered together around shelves and tables, talking loudly more than they were studying. Herbert missed his elementary school days. The school librarian, Mrs. Pillsner, had been militant about maintaining silence at all times. He'd respected that about her.
Also, he did like the aquarium. So long as he came on weekday mornings when no kids would be running around, squealing every time a fish so much as blew a bubble, he had peace. He could sit in front of the saltwater tank, bathed in the ethereal blue glow of the water, and solve his problems without the annoying nag of chatter itching at his ears.
Rather, he usually could. When he wasn't being interrogated by employees.
Herbert didn't answer Dan. Instead, he flicked his eyes down to his chest and asked, "What about the manatees?"
Dan paused then blinked at him. "Huh?"
"Your shirt," Herbert said, nodding at his badge. "It says you have something very exciting to tell me about manatees."
"Oh." Dan glanced down at his manatees badge, as though just remembering it was there. "Right. Well, every month we try to raise awareness for different species of endangered sea creatures. Last month it was humpback whales, now we're onto manatees."
Herbert hummed. "I prefer whales," he said, turning to face the tank.
They sat in silence for a moment, watching a nurse shark swim by, when Dan spoke up.
"I can, uh, still tell you some pretty cool stuff about whales," he ventured.
Herbert looked at him out of the corner of his eye. He was scratching at the back of his neck, sneaking glances at Herbert. He turned away when their eyes met, seemingly embarrassed. Ugh. Even when he was nervous, he was cute. How annoying could he be?
"Alright," Herbert said anyway. He coughed into his fist at the grin Dan aimed at him. "I mean, if you really want to. Seems like you've got nothing better to do."
"Alright then," Dan replied, his smile dazzling. "You still haven't told me your name though."
Herbert rolled his eyes. "It's Herbert. I don't know how that's relevant to whales but there you go."
"Nothing to do with the whales," Dan agreed. "I just wanted to put a name to the face."
Then he started listing off random quips about whale anatomy--"You couldn't swim through the heart of a blue whale, but you could probably sit in it."--and Herbert listened. They sat there, just the two of them and the glow of the tank, for most of the morning, and Herbert didn't even mind. In fact, he might've actually liked it.
He certainly wouldn't be returning to the library anytime soon.
