—A TALE OF TWO NERDS
You were surprised that your college even had a botany class. But even more——your classmates.
WC: 1.9K-2K
PAIRING: Nerd!Jo x nerd fem reader
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mention of smut, no eventual smut, fluff, yearning probably, not proofread at all, unfinished (read poll at the end), reader is meant to be a bit like maomao from the apothecary diaries
Ever since you were a little kid, you had loved all things plants and herbs.
It was mainly your father’s fault—he always fed into your love of botanical things. You even fostered that special interest from him as well.
You think it started when he first took you out on a walk throughout the neighborhood—tiny sneakers kicking against the concrete ground as he named off plants while walking. Most of them were weeds or simply random plants, but occasionally you’d encounter the medicinal herb here and there, pluck it, and watch as your father grinded up parts of the flower.
Sometimes it’d be the root, sometimes the petals, and sometimes the stamen.
It was just fascinating.
Those special memories stuck to you up to even present day.
That’s why you were utterly over joyed when you discovered the existence of a botany class at the college you were enrolling in.
Well—it was kind of dumb, since many colleges and universities offered botany classes/plant science courses but still!
Since you’ve gotten used to everything, you’ve started to notice the usual way of things.
Cliques, what’s socially acceptable and what’s not, the average archetype you’d find around, and the warning signs about someone that tells you to avoid establishing a bond with them.
Aside from social life itself, you’ve also set yourself a nicely personalized routine. Occasionally, you’re too lazy to follow it but you always make sure to stop by the schools morning café. Always.
It’s calm, never overcrowded for some reason, and occasionally has the cute, white-haired regular you don’t know the name of.
When he does come, the employees always seem to have their eye on him. So do the few people there. But you can’t blame them—you’ve been staring too.
He comes in, quiet and polite. He sits himself down at a table, opens his Macbook, sets down his usual load of books and papers, then actually goes over to order.
You don’t remember what he orders, though why would you? He’s just a really really cute guy. But not cute enough for you to be weird about him.
One day, you’re just doing your regular thing—calmly writing down the name of a plant for your botany class.
For a starter project, your instructor has asked your class to write about an infamous plant and its characteristics.
You decided to write about the Andrographis paniculata, or, also known as, the king of bitters. The name itself is self explanatory.
It’s basic knowledge for you, that being clear with the way you write down information about the plant off of the top of your head—pen leaving strokes of black on your paper effortlessly and diligently.
Okay, maybe you also liked this class because you thought it would go easy for you. And, it is so far so… What’s the problem?
Someone taps you on the shoulder. It’s light and clearly hesitant.
You turn to look over your shoulder. It’s the cute white-haired guy.
A boyish, awkward grin creeps up onto his face as he pushes his glasses up. “H—Hey…Sorry to bother you but uhm.. Is there a keychain on the seat next to you?” He asks, eyes darting everywhere but you.
You look over at the seat next to you. And would you look at that, there’s a small Digimon keychain carelessly sprawled out on the seat. You recognize it as an ikkakumon—say thanks to your annoying brother for constantly playing that Digimon game around you.
You give it to him, and he takes it. “Thank you! Thought I lost this thing..” You nod, still staying quiet.
“Can I uh.. Get you something? To return the favor.” He asks, fiddling around with the keychain in one hand, while the other is busy scratching the nape of his neck like a cliché anime scene.
You don’t refuse. It’s about time you end your habit of not eating in the morning anyway.
At the counter, it’s a quiet, but awkward atmosphere between the two of you. Especially with the fact that most people here are staring at that hunk of a cutie. You feel out of place, though you’ve never been too keen on your looks to be fair.
And finally, one of the only workers actually present finally comes up to the register. She looks at you both expectingly. The white-haired boy clears his throat. “I’ll get the uhhh.. Eggs and cheddar protein box.” (OK YEAH STARBUCKS SUE ME) Now you don’t really know what the hell that is, but you know what protein is.
You’ve already noticed he’s lean and has a broader shoulder width than most, but he doesn’t seem like a gym rat or a protein guy. Though, maybe you’re just overthinking things—does the “protein” box even have protein or is it just for show… Okay yeah you’re definitely thinking into it too much.
“And the name for the order?”
“Gojo.”
Gojo? Isn’t that the same family that the school’s library is named after? No, no, it must be a coincidence.
You catch the woman behind the register’s eyes widen just a fraction—not too wide, but just enough to be noticeable. She coughs, as if trying to move onto a touchy topic that was never even discussed, but felt. “And for the lady?”
Gojo’s eyes focus downwards to you. He nudges your shoulder expectingly. “I’ll just take an iced shaken espresso.” You mutter. The cashier nods. “And the name?”
“Y/N.”
“Y/N… That’s a pretty name.” You hear Gojo mutter to himself. Your head immediately turns to his direction in response, eyes widened and mouth slightly agape. “A—Ah! Didn’t mean to say that out loud—ahah. Ha. Ha….” He says, stammering and letting out evidently forced chuckles. You ignore him, not wanting to make the situation more awkward than it already is.
After that, you both don’t interact much. Except, there’s an underlying tension between the two of you in your botany class.
I guess you hadn’t noticed him before—considering he sits at the very back, all quiet and focused.
You seem to find yourself bothered by all of the girls practically eye-fucking him during class. And of course, then does the occasional guy here and there.
You don’t know why you found yourself so drawn to him, you were never too keen on most romantic topics—not saying you were attracted to him or something… Just interested. Yeah.
It was kind of disappointing to not immediately have some cliché sort of scenes happening between you both, but hey, you were in reality—not much you could do about that.
And just to top it off, your roommate has gotten more and more interested in ranting until her jaw hurts. But she keeps you entertained, you guess.
But it’s a little annoying when you can’t get an ounce of quiet because she’s always blabbering on about something. Mainly relationships and drama, but she occasionally switches up the topic here and there.
“Oh Y/N… You seriously haven’t found even anyone cute in here? There’s like hundreds of boys roaming the halls everyday. Remember that!” Your roommate—Holly—groans.
The pages of a book are sprawled over your face as you grab the spine of a random book and drop it on top of your head, attempting to tune Holly out. But her voice booms over your flimsy attempt at noise cancellation. “Ah! What about that cute nerd-hunk?”
You scowl, voice muffled by the book. “Nerd-hunk? What kinda label’s that?” Holly shrugs her shoulders. “I guess it’s kinda corny if you think about it, but you’re just a hater—so I can’t be bothered to come up with something else.”
“Hater, my a—“ Holly clasps her hands together, interrupting your sentence mid-way. “So, you’ve interacted with ‘im or nah?” She asks, leaning over to you.
You feel like you’re forgetting something.
It’s probably nothing, actually,
You nod your head, sighing. “It was just cause I gave him some keychain. Bought me coffee for it yesterday, in the morning.”
“So.. you helped him find it or was it just out in the open next to you?”
“The latter. But anyone could’ve done that, so it was unnecessary. Like, it was literally right next to me—didn’t have to do anything…”
“Maybe he’s just into you.”
“I don’t think so. I’m just kind of… Plain, I guess. And he’s—I hate to say it—really cute. Also hot.”
“I expected you to be one of those girls that like.. weren’t into him. You know? Like… In those fan-fictions where the female protagonist just so happens to be the odd-one-out and isn’t into the male lead. And since the male lead is into that, there’s a whole thing—“
“I get it, Holly..”
“Okay, but do you?”
“Did you seriously just ask me that?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a rhetorical question...”
“I’m joking!”
You can’t help but roll your eyes, shoving the book off of your face. You roll off of the bed, falling onto the ground with an “oof” the book falls to the floor with you, landing on your chest. Holly grimaces. “Seriously? The ground is dirty.”
You huff.
“What a life you live. Aside from that! Shoot your shot, girl. There’s no harm in admitting you have a crush anyway.”
“But I don’t. And if I did, it’d be just endless pining cause—have you seen the guy?”
“Yeah.”
“Rhetorical. Anyway, you see then that I have no chance. Probably has a line of girls and a few guys waiting to just… snatch up his virginity or something.”
“I don’t blame them….” Holly drawls out, lolling her head backwards, making her head lazily dangle over the chair she’s sitting on.
“Aren’t you in a talking stage or something?”
“Talking stages are boring and a waste of time,” Holly groans, carelessly waving a hand around just to be extra. “And fucking virgins is an honor these days. Everyone in college has hooked up with someone already.”
“You’re so superficial dawg…”
“Or maybe it’s just honesty.”
“How do we even know he’s a virgin for sure?”
“…You know what, I’m going to sleep. Night, Y/N.”
You narrow your eyes at Holly, not being able to tell if she’s actually tired or just bored of talking about virgins. Maybe both. “Ooookay… Night, then.” You mutter.
***
The next day arrives. Your phones set alarm blares throughout the room, immediately waking you up. You roll over to your phone groggily, turning off the timer with squinted eyes.
Sunlight peaks through the gaps of your curtains, creating bright shapes of beaming light on your floor.
You lazily drag your legs over your mattress, your feet just barely hovering over the floor as you push your body up and sit up on the bed. You then proceed to lazily stretch like a cat, arms going up and back straightening.
Finally, you feel like you have it in your to stagger your way over to the bathroom.
You do the usual—brush your teeth, shower, and brush your hair last.
You notice thin droplets of water splat on the floor as you brush out the hair. Usually, you’d have grabbed a paper towel from the kitchen and wipe it off, but you’re a lot more tired than usual. You can’t be bothered.
You continue to calmly pass minuscule bristles up and down through your hair. That is until—
You left your botany notebook in your classroom.
You choke on your spit at remembering. The brush falls to the ground, hitting your ankle as you hunch over and grab the ends of your sink, coughing.
END (for now, maybe)
A/N: holy hiatus I’m sorry guys but I’m BACK and have my motivation. this is one of my drafts from this week and I’m wondering if I should continue it. but also be honest have I lost my spark…
What is the fate of this fic?
Unfinished
Finish it
