Closed A Temporary Truce

[Elliot Briar]

Even though he did his best to revise over the holidays, it was always a little jarring to go straight back into school work once the semester started again. Elliot had tucked himself away at a table in the library, scanning through a frankly obnoxious book for a History of Magic assignment. He was glad to be able to get it done with immediately and not have to worry about any due homework, but he always struggled to really focus when it came to history, and the holiday break fog wasn't helping. He scratched a few notes before flipping a page, hoping he'd have enough for a solid essay soon.

 

[Tyler Lee]

Tyler had enjoyed Christmas, though the rest of the break had been a bit boring. He'd missed being around kids his own age, especially because his parents hadn't been entirely pleased about his grades for the first semester. He'd still gotten some pretty kickass Christmas presents, but his parents had hinted at something even better if he got his grades up for the end of the year. That was certainly a motivator for him, so he had decided to try to get his assignments done a little bit faster this time around. The History of Magic assignment required a specific book, and it was a bit frustrating that he couldn't immediately find it. It wasn't until he looked around and spotted Elliot with it, that he remembered he shared that class with the Hufflepuffs. Tyler didn't want to wait until the boy was done, and he also didn't want to do his assignment later. So with his hands in his pockets, he walked over to the Hufflepuff. He hoped the other boy was intimidated by him from their previous encounters. "I need this book." He said, curious how Elliot would react to this.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot looked up at the sound of a familiar voice, feeling his stomach drop when he met eyes with Tyler. A run in with Blake or Tyler was the last thing he needed to start of the semester, especially when he didn't even have anyone like Lars or Maddy around. His only hope was that Tyler wouldn't start any real trouble in the Library, surely even him feeling the need to behave under the eyes of other students and the librarians. "I'm...using it," He said cautiously, watching Tyler's face. "You can use it later." He was trying to keep his voice as even as possible, but he couldn't help immediately tearing his gaze away, pretending to focus back on the book and not on Tyler.

 

[Tyler Lee]

Tyler kept his face impassive as he looked at the Hufflepuff, hoping to cow him into letting him use the book. But it seemed like he wasn't as intimidating to the other boy as he had hoped. It frustrated him. He was certain that with Blake here, he wouldn't be rebuffed so easily. "I can see you are using it, I'm not blind." He said, his voice a touch impatient now. "But I need it, now." He scoffed. "Not later. Aren't you nearly done with it?"

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot was probably only maybe half-way done with the book, if that, but the temptation to give up and just let have Tyler take the book was strong, if only to make him leave him alone. The idea of leaving a project half-finished, and not being able to finish it until Tyler was done himself was stressful. What if Tyler took too long? Or worse, what if he never actually gave the book back. It didn't seem out of character for him to do something like that, if only to mess with Elliot. Gathering what nerve he had, Elliot shuffled his seat over a little, glancing warily at Tyler and back at his work. "We could.. Share it? We're working on the same thing it shouldn't be too difficult.." Dreading that Tyler would actually agree to his own suggestion, Elliot was still hoping Tyler would just give up and go away, but at least sharing would mean Elliot could hurry and finish his own work sooner.

 

[Tyler Lee]

Tyler sighed in annoyance as the boy just wouldn't give up the book. He supposed he had guessed wrong about how intimidated Elliot was by him. He'd made the mistake of assuming he was as nervous as Lars, who probably would have run off already. Either that, or the boy took his studies very seriously. He did seem like a bit of a nerd, so they wouldn't surprise Tyler too much. He couldn't back out now without looking weak, so after a moment of hesitation he realized that Elliot's compromise was the best he was going to get. "Whatever, if you're not going to be annoying about it. I guess." He said, shooting the boy a glare as he sat down next to him. He took parchment out of his bag, then looked over at what Elliot was scribbling down. "How much do you have already?"

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot tried not to let his displeasure at Tyler actually agreeing to his idea show too obviously on his face. He'd just have to get his work done as quickly as possible so he could leave. He did frown at Tyler when he glared and mentioned Elliot being annoying. Couldn't Tyler be pleasant for like two minutes? Elliot had been hoping Tyler would be a bit less awful without Blake around to egg each other one, but it seemed like Tyler was just as good being unpleasant all on his own too.
Resisting the urge to hide his notes from Tyler when he asked, Elliot sighed before looking them over. "Um, mostly just early life stuff still. The basics like uh, birth year and hometown and stuff are right here if you wanna catch up real quick." As much as Elliot hated the idea of letting Tyler use his notes, having to page back to the earlier chapter for Tyler would mean it would take that much longer for them to be finished, and the sooner this whole encounter was over, the better.

 

[Tyler Lee]

Tyler had figured Elliot was a bit of a nerd, and if he hadn't noticed it before, he at least could tell by how he wasn't willing to give up his book or studying even a little bit for him. So looking over at his notes had seemed like a good idea, though he wasn't sure how the boy would react. He was surprised when the boy told him what he had written down, and then practically gave him permission to copy it. He wasn't going to waste that opportunity. "Cool." He said, pulling the sheet closer to copy down what Elliot had written down with a slight smile. "I almost forgot Hufflepuffs were supposed to be helpful." He said, a slight taunt in his words. "But I guess you proved that point." He pushed the sheet back to Elliot when he was done copying it down, pleased with how this was going so far. Elliot seemed to be more useful than he had anticipated.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot tried to focus on his work and not on the fact that he was somehow letting Tyler copy his notes. Willingly. He couldn't quite tell if Tyler was trying to compliment or insult him with the comment about Hufflepuffs, and just responded with a clipped "Right," instead, continuing to read. It was a little harder to focus with Tyler at his elbow, but he was able to get what he needed off the current page and went to turn the book to the next one, pausing with his hand on the corner of the page. The temptation to go on ahead, Tyler or no Tyler was there, but their interaction so far, while strained, had at least been civil and Elliot wanted to keep that way. Swallowing his pride for a second time in so many minutes, Elliot looked at Tyler levelly "Can I turn the page now?"

 

[Tyler Lee]

Tyler was amused and showed it with a slight smirk. He wondered how much of this assignment he could just copy from Elliot, letting him do most of the work. They were sitting close together, and he had let him get away with it so far. Tyler made a point of looking over at the page for a bit before looking back at Elliot. "You can now." He said, smiling a bit. As the page was turned, Tyler waited for Elliot to start writing before glancing over at where he was looking and what he was writing down, letting him do the hard work. He made no attempt to hide it, mostly trying to see how the Hufflepuff would react to this. It was more amusing than simply doing his homework.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot tried to focus on his work, rather than Tyler, who he could practically feel smirking at him at this point. Resisting the urge to cover up his notes, even stopping the instinctual movement of his arm between them on the table, Elliot had to remind himself that the sooner they were both done, the sooner he could leave. If that meant letting Tyler copy his notes so he didn't have to wait for him to turn the page, then, as much as he hated it, he'd just have to let him do it. At least Elliot could actually write his own essay later, away from Tyler. He wasn't going to be able to copy that.