I LOVE Bryce Larkin, and there are hardly any fanfictions that show him in a good light so I wanted to write my own. This is all about Chuck and his Stanford days and Bryce becoming the super spy we know in the show. It will go up to the pilot episode where Casey shoots him.

* insert usual disclaimer here*

Thank you to my beta, ReadingBetweenTheLines

Standing at the entrance of the all too familiar Stanford University, I could not help the huge grin that had planted itself on my face. It was good to finally be back.

I knew my junior year was going to be absolutely amazing but yet something felt off. I looked the same and I certainly felt the same, so I shrugged it off as new year nerves. Little did I know,that my junior year would trigger a chain of events that would change my life forever.

I looked at my watch and headed off to my first class of the day, economics. When I got there, I noticed a paper stamped in the middle of the board. Assigned seating.

Who did that in a college class? I hadn't had assigned seating since high school. With a tiny smirk, I sat down.

After the professor started her lecture a tardy student ran down the aisle and tripped over his own feet his hand hit my desk on the way down and knocked a note that had been loosely secured underneath on my leg. It was addressedto me, Bryce Larkin, so I opened it and read:

Mr. Larkin,

Please meet me in my office as soon as you get this. Don't say anything, just
get up and walk out the door.

-Professor Fleming

Why would Fleming want to meet with me now? I took his class last semester, any problems should have already been taken care of, but I did as the note
said and headed to his office.

I walked to Packard hall, where his office was located, and knocked at the door. Once I was ushered in, I sat in the chairs across from his desk and waited for him to speak.

"How would you like to be a hero, Bryce? Be able to protect innocent people from terrorist attacks and bomb threats, " he started and I stared at him waiting for the punch line, "You passed my class with a 98% last semester and your SAT scores are through the roof. That compared to your athletic ability, well, let's just say the CIA could use people like you."

I just stared at him, my mouth opening and closing like a gold fish. I knew I was acting like a moron, but for the first time in my life I was completely speechless.

"At least think about it. I will contact you later today for your answer. Youcan do a lot of good in this world."

I managed to choke out something intelligent like "Umm… I …okay." before I walked out the door.

As soon as I cleared the building, I sprinted like a bat out of hell all the way to my dorm. The CIA? Were they crazy? I was no hero, I'm just me.

I stood there for what seemed like hours just trying to collect my thoughts, but each one hurt like the sting of an angry bee.

I had to do something to escape it, so I walked outside and saw one of my fraternity brothers, Erick, tossing a football around in his hands.

"Mind a game of catch?" I asked him.

"No, not at all," he replied and tossed it to me.

Football always relaxes me and I soon found the stinging became a annoying buzz. Right before I threw the ball for the umpteenth time, I saw a book that I recognized on a bench sitting beside to a tall man with curly hair.

"Your in EE 131?" I asked

Erick saw I was distracted and shouted "See ya later Bryce!" before taking off without waiting for a reply.

So I continued by saying: "It's pretty brutal, huh? "

"Oh yeah… yeah I… the only reason I signed up is because I'm building my own version of… it's kind of embarrassing actually.."

"What?" I asked.

"You don't remember that old computer game Zork, do you?"

Boy did I. Growing up that was my favorite computer game ever.

"Your likely to be eaten by a grue." I quoted and he smiled.

"Holy crap, you do remember Zork!"

"I love that game, I mean I haven't thought about it in awhile but…"

"Its probably a good thing." he muttered.

"I disagree, it's 1999, the next millennium belongs to the geek."

"Alright," he said his tone brightening "but still, you know text based computer games don't exactly play well with the ladies."

I laughed as I thought about the six girls in my building who certainly enjoyed those types of games. I thought for a second which one would be a good
match for this guy. I don't know why, but I wanted to help him out. He seemed so sweet.

"Well," I started "this girl Jill on my floor is nuts about Everquest."

"Are you serious?"

"You want to meet her?"

"Really? Right now?"

"Yeah, she's over in the quad."

"Yeah, I would very much like to meet her," he said as he scrambled to gather his things.

"Need some help?" I offered.

"No.. oh no I'm fine… I just…you know…have… college… I appreciate… hi, um I'm, ah I'm Chuck by the way."

"Bryce."

"Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too."

"So um… she really genuinely likes Everquest? I mean..."

"Yeah, I think she even plays Zork."

"No way."

"Way, so listen. You're an engineering major right?"

"Yup."

"And your GPA?"

"4.1. Why?"

"I was just wondering. I'm sort of in this fraternity and I was just wondering if you would be interested in joining."

"What would I have to do?"

"Pledge week starts the 17th, just show up."

"I will definitely consider it."

"Ok um, I just saw Jill before my economics class reading by the.. oh there she is. JILL!"

"Hey Bryce, what's up?" she said running up to us and smiling.

"Jill this is Chuck, he is building his own version of Zork and I told him you were the person to bounce some ideas off of."

"Sure, I would love that."

"Thanks." Chuck managed to spit out.

"Darn it, I forgot, I have this thing to do in the library, I have to go. So, talk to you guys later."

Chuck looked at me like he was going to kill me for leaving him alone in this situation, but I just smiled and walked off.

I hid behind the nearest tree and spied on them though. At first, it was painful to watch. They were both pretty shy people and they weren't making
much headway, but before long they were deep in conversation and laughing together.

I knew they were perfect for each other. As I stood there watching, I thought about the words professor Fleming had told me:

"How would you like to be a hero Bryce? Be able to protect innocent people from terrorist attacks and bomb threats."

I knew exactly what he was saying. I couldn't imagine good people like Chuck and Jill being blown away in a terrorist attack or something worse. Especially if I could help prevent it. At that point, I knew what my choice was. I walked to towards Fleming's office.

It didn't matter if I was just me, I would do the best I can and help save lives.

I walked through the door without preamble. Thankfully, he was alone even though he looked completely shocked. I walked up to him, put my hands on his
desk, and said the words that changed my life forever.

"I'll do it."

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