#I think Season two should end with Steven getting to be a doctor in Egyptology

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

The Right Fit

Summary: This is a short one. Steven has at last accomplished something amazing in academia and the other two decide to give him a gift. Welcome to your rightful place, Steven.

Warning: None

Word Count: 978

Word Prompt:  Suit

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It had been a long and difficult journey. 

Possibly not as long as it could have been. Steven had done so much of the work before he had even set foot on campus. Tests and presentations and meetings had taken up his days. Special considerations had also been taken that had made all three of them nervous, even though Jake had pretended to not care. 

A second job working on campus at the bookstore then promoting up to teacher’s assistant. Night shift cabbie jobs done by Jake and weekend chores done by Marc. When Steven felt overwhelmed or had failed to sleep for the third night in a row, Jake and Marc traded on who got to step in and knock Steven out. 

Now, Steven stood in his flat, exhausted but feeling beyond accomplished. “I did it.” He was still clutching the piece of paper he had gotten in a special flat envelope in the mail. “It’s done. I can’t believe it’s done!” 

He pulled out the special frame he had gotten just for this occasion. Slipping off the back, he carefully pressed the paper into the frame then sealed it up. 

“Doctor Grant.” He beamed as he admired the frame. “I quite like the sound of that.” Steven carefully moved to hang the frame up over the fish tank. 

“Hey, we have a present for you.” Jake spoke up, sounding nonchalant but there was a hint of nervousness there too. 

“Oh?” Steven blinked away from the frame. “I don’t need a present. I mean, you guys helped me out so much. This is really an accomplishment for all of us!” 

Marc had pulled all the right strings to make sure all the schoolwork had been given to Steven and Steven alone. It was all in his name and there was no mention of Marc anywhere on the papers. While the school had been made aware of their special circumstances, Jake and Marc had both sworn up and down before the Dean himself that they would not be helping to cheat or bringing unwanted public opinion to the school. 

In fact, Jake and Marc had both taken their own aptitude tests to prove that Steven was in fact the brains of the operation. Neither of them told Steven what their scores had been. Steven suspected that they were probably higher than they thought they would be, but knew they had both been reluctant about their shared GED experience after school and the Marines had failed them. 

What had really brought Steven to tears with pure love was when Marc and Jake had both decided to sit with the school counselor for evaluation. Marc had spent the day before fighting off such a massive panic attack that Steven had briefly considered sitting in for him. Marc had refused and gone in like a champion, his face set in stone and shoulders square as he marched in. 

By the time he came out, he had collapsed on himself and Jake had been forced to take them home. Marc had held his breath through most of the session. When Jake went in, he had stared down the counselor with what had first seemed to be utter malice. It was later determined to be him fighting off a flashback by dissociating so hard that he had zero memory of the actual session. Apparently it had gone well enough. 

When Steven had sat in his own session, bubbling and talkative and chatting up the counselor like this was all nothing to him, they had given their approval to let him take the classes he wanted. They had also slipped a piece of paper to him with a good therapist recommendation for the other two. Marc had promptly thrown it in the bin and made Steven Promise that he would never force them to do anything like that again. 

“This is your dream, Steven.” Marc grinned. “And we wanted you to have this. So… Stop being stubborn and just accept it, okay?” 

“It was Marc’s idea.” Jake spoke up, moving them to pull a large box out of the closet. 

“How on earth did you guys get this without me noticing?” Steven stared at the box in bafflement. 

“Not as hard to do as you’d think.” Jake shrugged. “You sleep like a baby.” 

“And are super unobservant when we do anything around here.” Marc nodded. “I honestly brought it into the place hidden under a stack of books for the first couple of days.” 

“Wow. I…I think I’m a little disappointed in myself now.” Steven laughed. “Can I open it?” He fidgeted his fingers on his sleeves. He wasn’t used to presents. Things that were just his made him nervous. He always wanted to share. To let others be happy too. He secretly hoped it was some sort of cake or something so he could invite friends over to enjoy it too. 

“Of course you can open it!” Marc sighed. “It’s for you! Go on! You aren’t going to be a doctor for the first time forever!” 

Steven took off the lid and stared down into the box with puzzlement for a moment. His hand was trembling as he picked up the item. He wasn’t sure if it was him that was trembling or perhaps Marc. “A hat?” 

“We aren’t getting you a machete.” Jake smiled. 

Recognition brought tears to his eyes as he suddenly understood. He quickly moved to stand before a mirror and put the hat on. 

It was large and out of place here in his London flat, but soon it would be out where it belonged. He had already been invited out to a dig site to help translate a new tomb that had been found. 

“When danger is near.” Marc smirked. 

Steven had the largest smile he could muster as he tilted the hat back. “Steven Grant has no fear.”