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Wolfwood yawned as he settled down to sleep under the largest tree on campus he could find. Yeah, he could have just gone to the student union and picked whatever open chair was available, but he was a sucker for warm sunlight especially on a nice day like today.
The tree stood tall, offering the most shade with a very gentle breeze rustling the leaves and spots of sunlight cutting through them, casting dancing shadows on the ground. No one else was around other than sleep deprived college kids rushing to get to class.
Wolfwood had been up till morning studying for his first midterm and now that he had finished—and hopefully passed—he deserved a nap.
He would have gone home if he didn’t have another midterm in a couple hours.
Wolfwood could have used this extra time between classes to study for the next midterm but at this point, if he didn’t already know it, he wasn’t going to learn it in a few minutes.
Besides, it was either sleeping now or sleeping during the test and he chose to sleep now.
He put his backpack beside him, set an alarm on his phone for almost two hours from now, put on his dark sunglasses and closed his eyes, settling back against the tree.
Just a few minutes.
A small nap wouldn’t hurt.
Just a few minutes…
His eyes had been closed maybe a few seconds at most when he heard something snap, a small yelp immediately following, and suddenly something fell on him.
Wolfwood startled awake, hands coming up to hold whatever had landed quite literally in his lap. “What the—”
He found himself starting in a pair of sky blue eyes that looked just as shocked as he was. There was a pair of round orange sunglasses sitting on top of his head and the man wore a red hoodie.
The other man blinked, a gentle breeze lightly ruffling his golden blond hair.
“Uh…”
Wolfwood’s arms were wrapped around him as if he had been ready to have someone fall from the sky. Wolfwood looked up then back at the admittedly cute man in his lap.
“Are you an angel?”
The stranger blinked before a small blush spread across his face. He tried to stand up. “I-I’m so sorry! I slipped!”
Wolfwood was generally quicker with his retorts but he was running on no sleep and he wasn’t quite sure he wasn’t currently sleeping because why would an angel fall from the sky and into his lap?
The man finally stood up and his blush intensified. “No, you’re not dreaming. Did I hurt you? Did I hit your head? I’m so sorry.”
Wolfwood stared again, unable to form a coherent thought until he realized he had said everything out loud.
A red flush spread across his face too. Wolfwood should not be allowed out in public with less than an hour of sleep.
“Are you ok?” The blond man looked like he wanted to check him for injuries.
Wolfwood cleared his throat in an attempt to save face. “‘M fine. Are you? D’you make it a habit to fall from trees?”
The blush returned on the other man’s face. “I’m ok.” He pointed up. “I-My cat is up there and I guess I fell asleep?”
“Your cat?” Wolfwood looked back up and huh, there was a small black cat up in the tree staring down at both of them. It looked like it had been rudely woken up and would go right back to sleep soon.
Wolfwood sighed and settled back against the tree. “Well I’m going back to sleep.” He closed his eyes, only to open one of them and look at the man. “You don’t have a twin up there, do you?” He joked.
The man laughed. “No, he’s in a class right now.”
Wolfwood opened the other eye to stare.
The man looked sheepish.
Wolfwood started laughing. He really needed some sleep. He leaned back again and closed his eyes.
“I’ll see you around, Tongari.”
“T-Tongari?”
But Wolfwood didn’t hear anything else because he finally fell asleep and the last he thought of were those sky blue eyes.
When his alarm went off what felt like mere minutes later, Wolfwood slowly opened his eyes and stretched after turning it off. He already felt a little more human and a little less like every other college zombie on campus. The blond man from earlier was gone and a quick peek up showed the cat was too.
Well, that had certainly been something. He would have something funny to tell his roommate Livio later if he survived his midterms.
He picked up his backpack and noticed a little light blue sticky note sitting on top of it. He picked it up.
Sorry I fell on you! Let me buy you a coffee once midterms are over? -Vash
And below that was a phone number.
Wolfwood stared for a second before he fumbled to get his phone back out to save that number because otherwise he knew he would lose it. The universe was only going to be kind to him this one time and Wolfwood was going to take it.
“Vash, huh?” Wolfwood muttered as he saved the number under Tongari .
He walked to class and took his next midterm, briefly putting away all thoughts of blond men with sky blue eyes.
When he finished his midterm, he took his phone out and tapped the screen as he considered texting the man already. Would that be too soon? Too weird?
He tapped the screen when it went dark and opened the messaging app but hesitated.
He kept walking, unaware of his surroundings.
“Look out!” a familiar voice called out a second before he had a black furball in his hands. He dropped his phone in the confusion and he winced, hoping it didn’t break.
“I’m so sorry! Oh, it’s you.”
And there was Vash, rushing towards him.
His black cat was currently happily purring in Wolfwood’s arms.
Wolfwood glanced up and saw he was under another large tree on the other side of campus from where he had been napping earlier. “I’m gonna start to think you’re doing this on purpose.”
Vash brought his hands up in defense, a faint red dusting his cheeks. “No, my cat likes to climb things, I swear.”
“Relax Tongari. I’m just kidding.” He handed the soft cat back to Vash. “You always bring your cat to class?”
“It’s been a stressful week.”
Well, he agreed with that.
Wolfwood picked up his phone, tapping something on the screen.
“Oh, I left you a note,” Vash looked at him typing away. “My name is—”
“Vash.” Wolfwood replied, grinning when Vash smiled. “Name’s Wolfwood. I just texted you my number. I’ll take you up on that offer for coffee, let me know when.”
Vash lit up. “Great!” He cleared his throat. “I mean, yeah. Great.”
“Later, Tongari.” Wolfwood waved a hand and walked away, intent on going home and going straight to sleep.
The next day back at campus after his next midterm, when Wolfwood sat under another large, shady tree to get some sleep, he heard a rustling above him. He only had a second to look up before someone yelped and fell right into his lap again.
Wolfwood blinked. “Now I know you’re doing this on purpose.”
Vash’s face turned so red it matched his red hoodie. His sunglasses fell from the top of his face to sit on his nose and Wolfwood thought the look was very cute.
In Vash’s lap, was his black cat.
Wolfwood already had his arms wrapped around Vash when he made a decision and stood up while holding Vash, an arm around him and the other under his legs. “Alright, let’s go.”
Vash squeaked. “Wolfwood!” His cat clung on to him while he clutched onto Wolfwood’s shirt. But he made no move to get down and that was all the sign he needed.
“I’m calling in that coffee now before you fall on anyone else.”