Chapter Text
The second time it happened, nearly a month had passed.
The owl was back, as annoying and persistent as before. It has been scratching at his window for five minutes now. Aventurine almost missed its grumpy hoot. Almost.
Now that Aventurine knew it was Ratio, everything was more complicated.
Since that awkward morning, they hadn’t talked to each other. It wasn’t like Aventurine didn’t try. He even visited Veritas Prime University once in an attempt at reconciliation. It ended with him getting stares full of sympathy from passing students as Aventurine watched the doctor stride away, not before giving him the coldest glare ever known to mankind.
“Whew, how bad was your paper, dude? Even I will cry if Professor Ratio glares at me like that.” A student whispered when Ratio was finally out of sight. Aventurine decided against pointing out the student’s already puffy red eyes out of pity.
Somehow, the students took it as an invitation to crowd him. It went something like this:
“And I thought my paper was terrible. I never saw him that angry.”
“You’re lucky that you’re still alive. Do you copy-paste your paper or something?”
“If you need it, I don’t mind helping you with your paper…”
“Yeah, dude. Lemme see how much you screwed.”
He wasn’t even a student but Aventurine couldn’t help but feel sour at the unjust accusation of his nonexistent paper.
Back to the present, the owl was even more persistent than he remembered. The noise at his window didn’t stop, even ten minutes later, when he exited the bathroom, fully prepared to sleep. It grew louder even, apparently realizing that Aventurine was ignoring him.
What an irony. The Ratio that he knew won’t even spare him a glance. It was usually Aventurine who sought his attention, not the opposite. Oh, how the tables turned. Perhaps it was pettiness that halted him from letting the grumpy owl in.
Aventurine felt his satisfaction grow as the hooting became quieter and less frequent. From then on, it just took another five minutes for the noise to stop. Finally. The owl, or Ratio, should go home to spare them both from a very awkward morning—
Wait.
Did the owl even know the way back home?
“…Ratio? Are you still there?”
It was silent. Too silent.
“Ratio?”
Shit.
Before he knew it, Aventurine was already scrambling to the window.
What if the owl truly didn’t know the way home? Or what if it met a predator on its way? What would happen to Ratio if something happened to the owl? With those thoughts in mind, he couldn’t stop worrying as he pleaded to please, stay where you are, please, please, please—
His eyes met with a pair of big eyes.
Aventurine felt all of his worries melt away as the relief settled in. Ratio, the owl, was still there—safe and sound.
“…You’re still here.”
The owl blinked.
Hurriedly, Aventurine slid his window open. “You can come inside now.”
The owl stayed still.
He repeated.
The owl still didn’t move. It hooted instead. While he wasn’t an ornithologist or had ever learned any avian language, the meaning was clear to him—no.
…
It was sulking.
Damn it.
At first, Aventurine was severely tempted to grab the stubborn owl and just be done with it. The longer this went on, the higher the chance it would fly away, and by then it would be too late to do anything. It was the quickest and easiest solution.
But he looked at the owl, and instead, he chuckled. Then, before he could stop himself, the chuckle turned into a laugh.
Now that he saw it for himself, it was easier to see how things truly are. Objectively. In front of him was an owl—a literal bird.
He was picking a fight with a bird. A bird! This innocent, adorable little creature! How ridiculous and petty of him!
The said creature now looked at him, wary but curious. Perhaps wondering why the weird human suddenly laughed. At least, in that regard, they’re still the same.
So, Aventurine forced down his laughter, leaning over the windowsill to look at the owl in the eye. His voice was quieter than he intended as he said, “I’m sorry.”
The owl blinked.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, in case it didn’t heard. “Would you forgive me and come inside? I’ll feed you delicious food. Well, whatever owls ate.”
He waited.
For a second, Aventurine thought the owl gave him a genuine smile; however, it turned out to be the owl’s version of a smug look.
If only Ratio (the human) were this easy.
Less than a system hour later, a huge box was delivered to his doorstep. The courier didn’t even wait for him, walking as fast as he could—barely running—and bumped into a wall a few times. Aventurine watched as the courier threw himself into the lift door, rapidly pressing the button, looking entirely too eager to leave.
He looked down.
Aeons, whatever was inside, it was alive.
“Well, I did ask them to bring me the best and freshest one out there,” he muttered grimly, “but isn’t this a little too fresh?”
The box shook to confirm him, followed by the scratching sound right after—just in case he didn’t get the memo.
Beside him, the owl perked up. It approached the box, its eyes sparkling with explicit curiosity. It was adorable how excited it was. No, wait, too excited—
“No, nonononono, wait! Stop—"
Too late.
Aventurine underestimated the sharpness of those beaks. It took the owl two seconds to rip a big enough hole to set free the creatures inside.
……
…At least now he knew what was inside.
The little troublemaker hooted innocently as mice screeched and scurried all around the room.
***
Aventurine was screwed.
So, so screwed.
Aventurine woke up with the weight of a grown man crushing him. From his position, he couldn’t see the man’s face, but that shade of hair was too familiar for him to be in denial.
He could feel the soft breathing in his chest and the warmth of bare skin brushing against the gaps in his pyjamas—
He was so, so screwed.
Aventurine should’ve expected this.
No, wait, to be fair, this position was unexpected.
Now that it’s like this, what should he do when the doctor wakes up? What should he say? He considered escaping, but it would be impossible without waking the doctor up. Even if it was inevitable, he still wanted to prolong it as long as possible.
From here, he could only see Ratio's hair. It’s so… luscious. Aventurine’s own hair was a mess because of the last night's disaster—he spent hours preventing any mouse from climbing to the bed while the owl feasted happily. How dare the doctor, the cause of his predicament and misery, have his hair look good effortlessly? How dare he.
Look at that hair! It must be so soft.
Aventurine looked and looked and—before he could stop himself—stroke.
Ratio stirred.
Shit.
…
…
…
Hm?
…
…
…fake alarm. Ratio’s still fast asleep.
Then, despite knowing that it’s a bad idea, Aventurine moved his hand again.
The doctor’s hair was even softer than it appeared. It smelled good, too. What kind of conditioner did he use? Touching it was comforting. For a moment, it lulled him from his imminent doom.
Turned out the doom was more imminent than he thought.
“Gambler.”
Aventurine froze.
“…”
“…”
Ratio seemed to wait for him to respond. He didn’t.
For a while, they both stay silent. Each was waiting for the other.
In the end, Ratio was the one who relented: “Why did you let me in?”
“Why, you said. It’s not as if I could leave you out there, right?" Aventurine tried to act nonchalant, tone light and easy. However, the slight tremble in his voice betrayed him.
“You could. No obligation or law restricted you from doing so. You could have left me be, and no one would be able to hold you accountable.”
“Well…”
The doctor was right. Why did he?
“Was it pity?”
Ha! Pity? The Veritas Ratio? If anything, he pities himself.
“I was…” Aventurine considered a few responses. He could joke to salvage them from this awkwardness, or go full-on professional mode and say something about “for the IPC.” Or he could just escape. But why, instead of his usual demanding tone, did Ratio sound so miserable? Before he could hesitate or second-guess himself, he said the truth, “...worried.”
“Worried?”
“Well, you were a bird after all, with a bird brain and all. You could’ve gotten—I don’t know—involved in some bird fight and get yourself hurt, or eat some wild rat and get poisoned.”
“I would not,” said Ratio; however, Aventurine never heard him less sure before.
“Or you could’ve gotten a mate and have cute little owlets! Now that I think about it, it wouldn’t be so bad—”
“I would not. Oh, for the love of—will you please be quiet, gambler.”
Ah.
The doctor was embarrassed.
It was rare to see the Veritas Ratio lose his composure, for something this trivial nonetheless! However, as much as it was funny, it was almost pitiful how he pulled the blanket, almost swaddling them, to hide himself. Aventurine stayed quiet.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The silence continued for a while.
Today was Saturday, and from the looks of it, neither of them had a valid reason to be in any hurry to get up.
Seems like they would spend the whole morning like this.
“…”
“…”
It should’ve been awkward and mortifying for them both. However, the silence was somehow calming, comfortable even.
“…”
“…”
He should ask Ratio about his haircare products. The hair in his hands was soft and warm and perfect—
As quickly as if it were burned, he pulled his hand.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…you.”
“…?”
“You said you hate me. That I’m ugly.”
—?!
“Wait, what? When? Where? How? Why?!”
The doctor said with his teeth gritted, then grumbled under his breath, “Don’t try to play a fool with me.”
“No, no, no. I’m serious, when?! And why?!”
Now, Ratio was genuinely upset. He sat up to face Aventurine. And Aventurine? Aventurine was…
Screwed. He was screwed.
Their current position was… suggestive.
[Elaboration was eluded due to the established rating. Thank you for the understanding. Have a nice day.]
If Aventurine were a slightly weaker man, he would have died of shock from all the blood that went down. Thankfully, he wasn’t. Close, but not yet.
With all that’s left of his sanity, he grabbed both sides of Ratio’s face, looked into his eyes, and said: “I think you are one of the most gorgeous people I've ever met, and I’m sorry if whatever I said made you think the opposite because I don’t mean it.”
—before wrapped Ratio with the blanket, shoved him off of him with the force and power he never knew he had, and ran to the bathroom.
***
After that morning, they were back to being cordial. Ratio even went out of his way to send him a gift! It was wrapped in a beautiful blue paper, the same shade as the doctor’s usual clothing. There’s a handwritten note:
“I thought this would prove to be useful for you.”
With the excitement of a child on their birthday, Aventurine carefully unwrapped the package.
… it’s a mouse repellent.
.