The new kid stood awkwardly at the back of the classroom, backpack still slung over one shoulder, feeling the weight of everyone’s eyes without daring to meet them. They’d already learned not to expect much — no one had so much as looked at them during the morning, and when they sat down, the desk beside them stayed empty even though there were plenty of others to choose from.

When Alphys shuffled to the front and squeaked something about “groups of two” for a project, the air shifted. Desks scraped. Pairs formed instantly — friends clicking together like magnets — leaving the new kid standing alone.

They didn’t wait for the silence to turn cruel.

Instead, they turned sharply to their right and moved.

Noelle Holiday sat there, head bent over her notes, trying to make herself as small as possible. Everyone knew her — the best in the class, the straight-A student, polite, quiet, dependable. And easy to ignore.

Until now.

The new kid’s fist hit her desk with a loud thunk.

"Be my partner," they said, bluntly.

Noelle froze.

For a second she thought maybe she’d misheard, but when she risked looking up, the new kid was still there — staring at her with an intensity that made her ears burn.

“…Y-yes,” she blurted, voice cracking halfway through.

It was more reflex than choice.

And now here they both sat — side by side at her table, a thick silence growing between them. Fifty minutes left to figure out what animal to do their project on. Fifty minutes left to figure each other out.

Noelle gripped her pencil so tightly her knuckles ached. She could feel her heart hammering like she’d just been chased, and every time she glanced sideways, the new kid was still there. Watching her. Not cruelly. Not kindly either. Just… there.

She swallowed and ventured:

“S-so… do you, um, like animals? Or…?”

The new kid blinked at her — like the question hadn’t even occurred to them.

“I guess,” they said. “You?”

That caught her off guard. She ducked her head, tucking a strand of fur behind one ear.

“Oh, uh… yeah. I mean — yes. I really like rabbits. And foxes. And… um… seals are cute too. But I guess a deer would be boring, huh?”

Her laugh was weak but real.

The new kid tilted their head at her.

“Why would it be boring? You’re a deer, aren’t you?”

That made her ears go bright red.

“I— well— yes! But… I don’t know. It just seems…” She fidgeted with her pencil. “Predictable.”

For the first time, the new kid smiled. Just faintly.

“Predictable isn’t bad,” they said.

Noelle’s pencil stopped moving.

The silence that followed wasn’t heavy like before.

When she spoke again, her voice was softer, but steadier:

“M-maybe we could do… um, a fox and a deer? Kind of… opposites. But it could work. I mean— if that’s okay with you.”

They shrugged.

“Sounds fine to me.”

It wasn’t much of an answer, but when they looked at her this time, something in their gaze had shifted.

And when she risked looking back, she realized her heart wasn’t hammering so hard anymore.

For once, she didn’t feel like a deer caught in headlights.

She just felt… seen.

And the new kid — you — didn’t seem so scary anymore either.

Not to her.