(Untitled)

[not_so_smooth]

Sam had yet to realize the disaster that the island had forced on most people here. He'd spend most of Saturday by himself and was up early today for a run and then to study outside of the clinic. Dr. Magnus had given him a list of books to read and some work to do for prepping to become a doctor. Sam knew that he had a long, long road ahead of

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[lucked]

Claire Bennet was doing her best to keep her mouth shut for the entirety of the day.

After the horrors which had taken place the previous day, secrets upon secrets spilling from her lips and those of others, she had resolved to get through the ordeal without letting a single additional grain of rice tip the scale. She was feeling pretty bad about the way things progressed, and found it difficult to keep her chin up, but life had to progress as usual, and she had plenty of classes and even a desk job with the IPD to keep her busy. That morning, she was just stepping out to enjoy a mug of coffee away from the potentially dangerous and triggering crowd at the Compound, when she spotted Sam Witwicky and decided, of all people, he was probably safe to hang around.

When he asked for a pen, without looking up to see who it was, she bit back a laugh, but held out one of the many pens she always kept on her, just in case, and tapped the end of his nose with the tip.

[lucked]

Flipping through a couple of the pages out of curiosity, Claire already felt her eyes swimming at all of the terms on the page, most of which were spelled similarly, just enough that she knew she wouldn't have had an easy time making sense of it all.

"And here I thought I was pretty set, knowing 'Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,'" Claire joked, brow raising. "Aside from that, I uh... know that the butt is the glutimus maximus. And that there's a humerus bone in our arms, not related to the funny bone. Not sure these two facts are the most useful, though."

[not_so_smooth]

"Yeah, I'm wondering if I'm not in over my head here," Sam admitted. Helen was being incredibly helpful and encouraging, but he was beginning to wonder if he had bitten off more than he could chew.

"I still don't k ow if I'm doing this because I want to, or if I just want to matter."

[lucked]

"You're not in over your head," Claire reassured him immediately, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder, the grip strong, confident. "Just remember that these sorts of things take normal people years and years. Like, over a decade, if you count residencies and stuff like that. Medical dramas aren't really a realistic glimpse into how medicine should work, or so I've been told."

Pulling her gaze away from her feet, she tilts her head. "And honestly, wanting to matter isn't a bad thing. I know I wonder if I matter here at least once a day. Especially when I'm doing desk work."

[not_so_smooth]

"Great, what if I only wanted to become a doctor because it looked like only attractive people became them?" he joked. Having to form it into a question to get around the lying curse was tricky, but it seemed to work.

"What if I was hoping to hook me a honey in pre-med and then drop out to become a trophy husband?"

[lucked]

Nose wrinkling, Claire tried her best to tease- you're not handsome enough to be a trophy husband, or that's what prenuptials are for- but she couldn't voice any of the jokes. Which just proved that maybe unyielding truth would come with quite a number of drawbacks.

"If you were hoping for either of those things, I would be very disappointed," she said honestly, laughing at the ridiculousness of the notion. "Also, the competition for trophy spouse might be a little higher on the island. Everyone's so gorgeous."

[not_so_smooth]

"Maybe I could work that to my advantage, everyone else has the gorgeous trophy while my wife would have the odd one," he said, laughing a bit with her. It was the sort of place that looked like a cruise ship of supermodels had crash landed on.

"Not that it's made it all that difficult for me to land a ridiculously attractive girlfriend. Maybe I am the trophy boyfriend and don't know it."

[lucked]

Claire snorted, shaking her head. "I don't know, Sam. You're not very odd in terms of appearance. Actually, I'd say- well, while being forced to always tell the truth like I am now- that you're quite classically handsome. One of those faces that's very easy to like," she nodded earnestly, before grinning more widely.

"On the other hand, I think anyone who contents themselves with me will have to get used to the fact that I'm always going to be short and tiny."

[not_so_smooth]

"Wait, seriously, you think I'm classically handsome?" Sam said, a bit stunned. Mikaela and Cassie both thought that he was cute, but he had always figured that had come with being attracted to his personality first.

"And yes, the lucky guy or girl that ends up with Claire," he added, rolling his eyes. Unfortunately the curse didn't even let him add in some sarcasm, but he was pretty sure she could detect that it was supposed to be there.

"Funny, smart, friendly, beautiful, tiny Claire. I'm sure they'll just content themselves with knowing they got one of the most amazing people ever. Besides, I mean you probably don't take up much of the bed, right? That's a plus. Never get their knees crowded when sitting opposite you. Also, you can take long pants and make them shorter, but you can't really take short pants and make them longer."

[lucked]

"Uh, duh?" Claire replied, brows knitting together in amusement at Sam's complete obliviousness. Sure, maybe his relatively thin stature made the whole 'geek' label fit a lot more easily, but when it came to his actual features, Claire thought it was pretty clear that Sam was potential heartthrob material. "I mean, you kind of hide it behind your normal choice in clothing, but seriously, when you're in a suit, I know for a fact that it sets you on the straight and narrow path to being a heartbreaker."

Wrinkling her nose with amusement, Claire shook her head quickly, feeling slightly embarrassed, and certainly bashful. "But... yeah, I don't know if I'll be sharing anyone's bed anytime soon. On the bright side, yeah, a twin-size bed is already more than enough for me, but that also means people totally have an excuse to give me less and assume I don't need as much as other people do. And I'm tellin' ya, when that happens with food portions, I just want to hit someone upside the head. I may be small, but I still deserve to get my money'

[not_so_smooth]

"Hey, what is wrong with my clothing?" Sam asked, half in mock outrage and half in seriousness as he glanced down at his clothes. Shorts and a t-shirt were classic, timeless, perfectly acceptable. Still, the compliment gave him a sort of warm fuzzy feeling. Just because he had a girlfriend didn't mean it wasn't nice to be complimented by someone like Claire.

"Are you one of those tiny girls that can eat a ton and never get full? It's always the tiny girls that have their picture up for eating the three pound hamburger or the giant steak."

[lucked]

"There is nothing wrong with your clothing, it's just very..." Claire tilted her head, pursing her lips in mock concentration. "How should I put it? Geeky? It's kinda geeky. But in the whole 'I'm a college student and by now, geekdom is respected' kind of way. Which is cool from the perspective of a high schooler."

With a soft, pleased exhale, Claire herself back, hands folded behind the back of her neck. "And sadly, no, I'm not one of the amazing bottomless pits. Wish I was, but I actually have to watch what I eat and make sure I exercise enough to keep it all down."

[not_so_smooth]

"This is not geeky," Sam insisted, plucking at his clothes. "This clothing is neutral at most. And plaid is- plaid is very popular in my world. Is it like the anti-popped collar."

Sam wondered if Claire was just being modest about the eating thing until he remembered that she wasn't able to lie.

"So what do you do for exercise? You know, besides base jumping without a parachute."

[lucked]

"Plaid is totally geeky. Unless you're aiming for lumberjack chic, but... and mind, I don't want to be totally judgmental and superficial when I say this, but you don't exactly have lumberjack physique. Also no neckbeard," Claire pointed out, tilting her head and resting her hand at her chin. "But plaid is otherwise totally hipster geek."

Grinning, Claire traced her toe in a circle under the skin, stretching from side to side. "As for exercise, I jog, I walk. I swim. I mean, it's kind of hard to live on this island without getting enough exercise just by walking around long enough. You've got so much beach to take advantage of.'

[not_so_smooth]

"I am only mildly offended that you're saying I'm not ridiculously bulky despite the fact that I know it's not true," Sam said. On an island full of guys that looked like they regularly bench pressed cars, he was slightly self conscious about his lean but not entirely massive build.

"Yeah, not having a lot of processed foods and having to walk everywhere kind of does wonders for your health. We should job sometime though, I usually go running along the beach."