poeta nascitur, non fit ~ steven meeks x fem!reader

splintered stanzas: fond recollections~

song of the chapter: tear in my heart by twenty one pilots (duh)

a/n: EVERYONE i cannot believe this story has nearly 12k reads!! thank you for all the love and i send it back fully<3 to celebrate, here is a chapter in our beloved steven meeks' pov! enjoy hehehe

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The day school resumed during the Autumn of 1959 was one to remember for a relatively shy, redheaded boy. As he sat quashed in between his two, yawn-worthy parents - that he still loved despite the severe lack of stimulating conversation - Headmaster Nolan announced a change that uprooted the otherwise monotonous life at Welton Academy for boys. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present the first female scholar ever to be accepted to study at Welton Academy, Miss (y/n) (l/n)." His voice rang out, sparking immediate hushed gossip amongst parents who thought it highly wrong that she'd been admitted. 

"Oh, heavens," his father scoffed, glaring at the older man standing before the room "what next? Are they going to let the Black folks study here too?" His mother looked at his father incredulously, forever a silent feminist victim of the system. 

Not that Steven Meeks would admit to understanding that fact about her, though. 

"Sounds awful, dear." she agreed quietly, and Meeks rubbed his glasses on his coat to better squint at the girl sitting many rows in front of him. While he's staring on in shock, she turns around and waves to the crowd - a tentative, kind smile plastered onto her pretty face. 

At a first glance, she seemed very socially awkward and almost as if she wasn't sure how to act, but he admired the proud way she held herself even though he knew she could hear the rude whispers. 

Once the ceremony had ended, he was nearly swept away in the crowd by his ever so fretful dear mother, but not before he got a glance of the mysterious girl being talked to by one of the Welton mothers. Judging by the girl's face, it seemed she faced a challenge and was... pretending? She was pretending confidence, obviously this woman scared her. 

Inside, some tiny part of him wished to step in, defend her, simply because he understood what it was like to be talked to by the adults around here. 

However, he got the feeling she was not the type of girl who needed anyone to save her, not even from angry, entitled wives and mothers.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Finally, after all the adults had left the gentlemen - and lady - to get settled in before studies began the next day, Mr. Perry's unprecedented appearance at the dorm led the particularly weird group of Welton pupils finally meeting her - officially. 

"I-I'm Knox Overstreet." the boy stuck his hand out, obviously not aware that his lack of social skills when it came to girls was shining through like a lantern in the dark. The girl flashed that smile again, the one that Meeks guessed drew every boy she'd ever met crazy. 

"Meeks." the brown-eyed boy spoke up, stepping up beside Knox so they could meet without him hiding behind someone else. Not this time, he thought. No hiding this time. "Steven Meeks, that is." The girl glanced around awkwardly before responding.