uther maine was not the valentine's date of your dreams.

you were not his ideal date either, for the sake of fairness, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd so much as glanced at anyone.

this was esmarie's idea, obviously. she was meant to invite you over for a galentine's slash gaylentine's day hangout, but alas, orpheus bloody ellerby had decided to cancel on the lampfield n' co gig to take her out for lunch. in a valiant effort to spare your ego, she'd set you up as recompense.

but really, uther fucking maine?

admittedly he was cute, in a studious, asocial manner–fluffy brown hair, a nicely crafted cupid's bow and an entirely too pleasant smile, but he was lackluster to you.

you'd seen him around his ensemble of mates, from ashby mintz to willow hales, a few jokes escaping him here and there, and the rare occurrence of not looking perpetually like his brain was zooming a hundred miles per hour. but of course, he hadn't deemed you worthy of such a luxury.

a study date on the fourteenth of february was even more horrific than being single.

"where the hell does professor arjun think i'm supposed to find the time to do another project?" uther muttered, more to himself. the student committee roses that they'd been dropping in front of every dorm door sat wilting on his desk besides his lego x-wing fighter model.

like you.

you hadn't so much as cracked opened your notebook, merely sitting on his desk chair while he sat on his navy sheets, buried in a veritable fortress of textbooks. his tresses were slightly ruffled, a bandaid or two wrapped around his fingers to hide various paper cuts. it'd have been a nice view if your mood had been less ireful.

"sorry." he quipped rather sheepishly after a moment, as if just realising that you were still present.

he was aware that he should have at least taken you to the campus library–but he'd wanted this date less than you had. "don't look at me like that, c'mon. i know it's technically an extra project, but it'd look good on my record."