Chapter Text
“Oh great, he is literally a rocket scientist.”
At first glance Caleb saw nothing but competition and possible threat in Will. It was a classic Us vs. Them situation so that wasn't unreasonable reaction, but even looking into the other man's background didn't help ease the feeling like it usually did. It was something he hadn’t experienced in a while, not after his leave from Quantico and Caleb was desperate to get rid of the feeling; he decided the only way to do that would be to best Will.
Caleb started trying to outrun his time and perform better at anything they were tasked to do. Beating Will in one-on-one combat was a personal triumph for him and for a moment Caleb thought he had the situation completely under his control, but then he came to realize that the competition wasn't one sided at all – Will was just as eagerly trying to beat Caleb as Caleb was to beat him. It had quickly moved to a situation of the two simply competing against each other rather than the other's entire class. Caleb was annoyed beyond words that Will was better with computers than he was, but he remained confident that his class would have the hostage exercise in the bag.
As he sat there watching the camera feeds that he now realized were looped, he was dumbstruck by the fact that he himself hadn't considered that something like this could happen. Caleb listened as his class failed and was declared the losing side, and even if he felt annoyed he couldn't help the nagging feeling that if the roles were reversed, he would've attempted to do the same. This still didn't stop Caleb from voicing his objections.
“That doesn't mean that they can hack the CCTVs!” Caleb protested as he joined his classmates, glaring at Will as he walked past the more experienced group.
Will didn't miss a beat when he put Caleb in his place with: “You mean unlike the 900 CCTVs hijacked by that bot net last year? Or pretty much any nanny cam ever, or Ariana Grande and the doughnut shop.” Even though Will wasn't looking at him directly as he laid out all these tidbits, Caleb couldn't help but to feel a little bit schooled by him.
“I want you on my team on trivia night, but that's it.” Caleb shot back, meaning for it to sound insulting but realizing that it sounded more like admiration. He didn't have time to correct himself before others started speaking as enthusiastically against the unfairness of the situation.
Caleb thought the ordeal was over but later found out that Brandon was moving out of their joined room, and by some cruel joke Will had been assigned as the replacement. Caleb watched as the dark-haired man carried his belongings into the room and laid most of them on his new bed. Will seemed intent on ignoring Caleb's presence, and Caleb was fine with that arrangement but he still couldn't help but to watch. Will kept his backpack on as he kept pouncing between the closet and his bed, folding his clothes and rearranging them. It was weird, and Caleb was sure he wouldn't be able to stand even a full week with this weirdo in the same room if this kept up.