Less Than Three

Dirk nodded in response, shifting a little closer to watch John work it out. Keep some space, don't weird him out. Distance with some people is always different with others.

John worked the problem slowly, chewing his tongue in concentration. He offered the paper over to Dirk when he was done. "Is that right?" he asked

He gently took the paper from John's hands, running his eyes over the worked out problem. He gave a small sound in his throat and leaned forward to write. "Actually, no. You reversed these two steps." He said, gesturing to a part of the worked out equation. "Multiply, then divide. Other than that, you've got it down."

"okay, let me try another" John sighed. He worked another problem, triple checking his work before showing it to Dirk.

He didn't mean to discourage him, but hey. This was what he asked for. He waited patiently as John worked out the problem, taking the paper once he was done triple checking it. After looking it over, he nodded in approval, setting it back down. "Correct."

"Okay, moving on then" John smiled. "Next set of problems"

Dirk nodded in response with a light smile, running his fingers through his own spiky locks of hair. "Alright. Now this set is relatively simple. You're pretty much just doing the inverse of what you just did."

"that means the opposite right?" John asked.

"Exactly. Reverse your steps and remake the equation from what you just solved." He instructed with a light nod.

John nodded, chewing his tongue again as he slowly worked his way through the problem. "So then All the steps are just backwards." he mumbled to himself.

"Mmhm." He hummed quietly, leaning a little closer to get a better look at what John was doing.

John wrote down his answer before checking his work. "This doesn't seem right, but I'm pretty sure I actually did this right" he frowned.

Dirk looked over the equations and the steps John took to come to his conclusion. With a light smile, he nodded once again. "You did it exactly right."

"Okay" John glanced at his watch. "I think I have time for one more set before I have to go home for dinner" he stated "When do you want me to come back next?"

"Whenever you're available to." He responded, standing and heading to the fridge, dodging the swords to grab a small bottle of orange Crush. "Considering I rarely go anywhere, I'll just be here. So that's entirely up to you."

"Um" John frowned a little, thinking. "I guess if its okay with you, I can come over everyday after school just to go over what we did in class that day, once we catch up I mean, that way I won't fall behind again, and it won't be as big of a deal if we have to skip days. Is that alright?" he asked

"Because I mean, if not we can always just meet up one or two days a week"

He gave him a light shrug, leaning back on the futon. "Like I said, whenever you're available to." He said, looking over at him. "Every day sounds good. We don't want you falling behind again."

John nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll be here right after school then"

"See you then." He responded, reaching out to grab the remote to flip on the television as he took a large gulp of his apple juice.

John laughed. "Aren't we going to do one more set?" he smiled

He hummed thoughtfully, looking up at him. "I think we've done enough probing of your brain today. You're welcome to stay for the rest of the time, however." He said, offering him a light smile.

"Okay, well, what do you want to do then?" John asked

Bro chose that moment to practically bust in the front door. "Honey, I'm hoooome"

Dirk's mouth opened to respond, only to go slack once Bro made his entrance. He emitted a light snort and rolled his eyes behind his shades. "Well I'm not sure now, considering there's a third wheel." He said with a light teasing tone.

And right behind Bro was Dave, hands in his pockets as he walked with a limp. "Took this fucker forever to pick me up."

Dirk raised a brow over at Dave, especially with how he was walking. "Is that why you didn't arrive with John?"

"Yeah." The youngest of the Striders responded. "Twisted it really badly in gym today. I can't really walk too far on it, so I waited for Bro to come by and pick me up."

John rolled his eyes. "Well I guess I'm just gonna head home then, I'll see you guys tomorrow" he smiled, putting his stuff back in his backpack.

Bro looked from John to Dirk with a raised brow. "Am I interrupting something?"

Dirk frowned lightly, staring up at Bro with mild annoyance. "Is it really any business if yours?" He asked him matter-of-factly. "Because last time I checked, I don't remember in inviting you into someone else's personals. "