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Wouldn’t it be funny if there were any mind readers in here?
Vash tapped the back of his pen on his open notebook, head resting in his hand. He was supposed to be taking notes but instead had gotten lost in his thoughts. He never cared about taking notes on time as he usually made them up pretty quickly.
Nah, not enough people in this class. There’s maybe, what, twenty of us? On a good day?
He clicked his pen and looked down at the nearly empty page. It had a title, around three bullet points—one of which was blank—and some doodles of a cat with a gun. His ball point scratched on paper as red ink flowed into the shape of yet another cat in the margins.
If there were any, I hope they like my jokes. Oh! I got another one. Attention mind readers! Who likely don’t exist! Ahem. A man and a woman are going at it, when suddenly they hear a car park out front. The woman panics and says, “Hurry! Out the back window, it’s my husband!” The man grabs his underwear and shoes, hopping in them as he rushes for the window. He stops and turns around. “Hang on. I’m your husband. Why would you say that?” To which she responds, “Why did you try to run?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Vash sees a classmate whip a hand to his mouth, a quiet snort sounding. Wolfwood—the guy Vash may or may not have a massive campus crush on. Vash blinks.
Here’s another one. What do you call a can opener that doesn’t work?
A pause.
A can’t opener.
Another snort from Wolfwood, this time, however, he slouched down.
Holy shit .
Vash instinctively stands, garnering the attention of nearby classmates. Panic fills his eyes as he looks towards the front of the room
His professor looks up from his desk, perplexed.
“Mr. Stampede? Do yo-’
“May I go to the restroom?”
His professor raises an eyebrow.
“I suppose? You really don’t need to ask, you aren’t in elementary school.”
Before he could even finish speaking, Vash was bolting towards the door and running through the building, a burning blush rising from the base of his neck to the tips of his ears.
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. Wolfwood could hear me? The entire time? Oh my god, he totally knows how hot I think he is. Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me.
He wasn’t even sure where he was going until he burst through the building doors and was met with a relaxing view of the on-campus park. He stepped off the sidewalk and slid down the grassy hill, finding himself sitting by the edge of a pond, wrapping his wings around his body in embarrassment. Other students walked around said pond, going to classes or back to their dorms. A calm place to sort out some not-so-calm thoughts.
Okay so. Wolfwood, the guy in my health science class is a mind reader—esper? I think that’s the proper term—and not just human like previously thought. And Wolfwood is the guy I’ve been borderline in love with for the past two years despite barely talking to. And I have thought about him in class. And how he's pretty, or hot, or whatever else. And he heard me.
If Vash’s face could get any redder, it would have. He tucked his knees into his chest and breathed slowly, feathers puffing out from skin in different spots.
This is by far the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to me since I mistook some kid for Nai and hugged him from behind in middle school.
Vash shivered.
Don’t even want to think about that whole thing.
He ran a hand through his hair, soft blond locks falling back into place over his forehead.
How the hell am I gonna go back to that class or even face him ever again?
Vash groaned and laid flat on the grass, lying his wings out to their full span. The sky was incredibly blue above him. Only a few clouds in sight as leaves danced in the wind. The weather was nice. Perfect even. He almost entirely forgot he was panicking until Wolfwood’s upside face appeared directly above him. He froze.
Wolfwood dropped a red notebook into the grass beside Vash’s head.
“Class is over. Ya left this,” he prompted, nonchalant as he tucked a cigarette between his lips.
Vash slowly sat up, tucked his wings and took the notebook. His pen was tucked into the spiral binding. Turning around, he crossed his legs and peered up at Wolfwood—who seemed to be struggling to get his lighter to work. He gave up and just chewed the cigarette.
“Uh, thanks,” Vash’s cheeks dusted pink.
Wolfwood hummed. Vash looked down at the notebook in his arms. Wolfwood sat on the grass and sighed. Vash tensed up.
“Was try’na keep it secret from you as long as possible. Happened a little early, but some’ll call it fate, I s’pose.”
Vash noticed the silver cross that hung on a chain around Wolfwood’s neck.
He’s religious?
“Sorta. Kinda been a constant for me but I don’t really believe in much if I’m honest.”
Feathers puffed from Vash again.
Right. He reads minds.
“Hey, look, uh, just forget about everything I’ve ever said! Thought! You can just pretend it never happ-”
“Not a chance.”
“Huh?” Vash blinked, finally looking Wolfwood in the eyes. “But- why? It’s embarrassing for us both, isn’t it?”
Wolfwood’s cheeks just barely flushed—if Vash didn’t have a good eye he wouldn’t have noticed—and turned his head, clicking his tongue.
“Well, sure , it’s awkward as hell but I don’t just want to forget about it.”
Still not understanding, Vash tilted his head. Wolfwood covered the lower half of his face with his hand and averted his gaze. He sighed again.
“I, uh. Hell. You like me right?”
Vash’s face burned and more feathers ruffled through his skin.
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” Wolfwood, discarding the tobacco he still held onto, ran his fingers through his hair. Vash noted how silky it looked and how he definitely didn’t want to touch it. Wolfwood seemed to only blush more.
“I, uh, like you too, spikey. At least I think I do. Hard to tell since we hardly ever talk, but, um. I’ve seen ya around and think you’re, uh. Hot? Too.”
Vash almost squeaked— almost —and wrapped his wings around himself, covering his face.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Oh my god. I want to kiss you so bad right now. Can I kiss you?”
Wolfwood’s cheeks darkened. He rubbed the nape of his neck and looked at Vash, nodding.
Vash slowly parted his wings and crawled closer to Wolfwood. He hesitantly lifted his wings, using them to shield both of them from the outside world. Wolfwood placed his hand on Vash’s jaw, rubbing a thumb over his lip and Vash closed the distance. It was chaste—short and sweet. Wolfwood tasted like cigarettes.
I want to kiss him again, holy moly.
A smug smile tugged at Wolfwood’s lips, “‘Holy moly?’ Fantastic vocabulary ya got there, Vash.”
“Oh fuck off and kiss me again.”
“As you wish, spikey.”