Work Text:
Meryl Stryfe has always taken academics incredibly seriously. She's probably the most avid student that Wolfwood has ever met; she's got a resume that would knock the socks off of any company with spaces to fill, and university takes up a large amount of her time- in fact, she's almost constantly busy.
If she isn't available one afternoon, it's because of studying. If she isn't available for a week, it's because of one of the many extracurriculars she's a part of; she's the photography club and she writes for the university newspaper, she tutors underclassmen on the weekends, she's job a part time job at the university bookstore, and she's an RA for one of the dorm buildings on campus. Not to mention that she always put all of her soul into her work; as a journalism major, she keeps herself very busy creating the most beautifully worded articles to hand in to her professors.
Vash Savarem is in a somewhat similar situation, and though he isn't as much of an academic weapon as Meryl, he's still relatively busy. He's an environmental science major and anthropology minor, so he's got more than his fair share of work cut out for him. That being said, even with two science degrees, he still ends up less busy than Meryl, who most people rarely see outside of a library.
Wolfwood is a little bit different from those two. First, he's never taken school as serious as his other two counterparts; live life and enjoy it while you can is the motto he's been living by these days. A lot of people say that college is all about experience, and that experience -in his humble opinion- is more along the lines of partying until one in the morning, not studying until one in the morning.
He's found, ever since he was in high school, really, that school comes easy to him. Too easy. Wolfwood has always made passing grades, and done decent work while at it- there hasn't been a time since he was a sophomore in high school that he's had to study for a test. Therefore, academically, he doesn't need to be as serious as his partners; he's already got a nice pattern down: don't study and just wing it, cross your fingers, and pray to the Lord above that you won't fail.
So far, he's not seen a single sign of it not working.
Unfortunately, the same tactic does not seem to be applicable to Vash or Meryl, both for different reasons. Vash, bless his sweet heart, probably has one of the worst memories of anyone Wolfwood has ever met. Hell, the guy has to set daily reminders on his phone for his classes, because he never seems to remember when to leave his dorm. A simple memorization technique would be pointless on him.
Meryl, on the other hand, probably could pull it off, but she's too concerned with her grades to procrastinate or "wing it" on any assignment; she's too uptight and likes to remain as organized and on top of things as possible. Normally, Wolfwood would agree that this is a sensational tactic to getting ahead in university, especially given everything else she's got going on, but it means that there isn't a whole lot of time she has for anything else, which is especially inconvenient, given that she has two boyfriends.
That being the case, Vash had suggested a study date.
Meryl liked the idea, unsurprisingly, and even invited both Wolfwood and Vash over to her dorm room for the afternoon; since she was the RA of a floor in one of the dorm buildings, she got a single room all to herself. She said that doing a study date would be fun, and that she had a few things to work on anyway.
Wolfwood, in response to Meryl, had commented about how the word "study" and the word "fun" should never be in the same sentence. And yet:
"Nicholas, don't you have work you should be doing?" Meryl asks, not even sparing him a glance. Her eyes are still glued to her screen, which is slowly being filled with words.
Wolfwood huffs. "Nope," he replies, popping the P at the end of the word. "I've already done my stuff." In his honest defense, he 𝘩𝘢𝘴 actually finished his work this time, which isn't really too much of an accomplishment, because his classes are probably some of the easiest ones, and he doesn't end up too busy with any of them.
Meryl briefly looks down at him from where his head lays in her lap. "Not even something to study?"
"Oh, believe me little lady, I'm definitely studying something." He runs a hand over her jaw, and delights in the way her cheeks flush at the gesture.
"Goodness," she mutters to herself, but Wolfwood hears it nonetheless. "Well, that's fine I suppose, just don't distract me. I've really got to finish this article."
Wolfwood doesn't reply to this, he just takes one of her hands, and holds it. She looks down at him once again, with an expression that hangs in the balance of amused and annoyed. Wolfwood presses a kiss to the back of her hand.
"Nicholas, I need both of my hands to type."
"That's a shame," he replies, flippantly. She rolls her eyes. Wolfwood can't help but rub the back of her hand with the pad of his thumb. "What'cha writing about?"
She huffs a stressed sigh. Wolfwood has gotten better at recognizing those. "It's a piece on politics," Meryl replies, sliding her gaze between her computer screen and Wolfwood's head in her lap. "If I wanted to write about politics, I would be a political science major!"
Meryl does this cute thing when she's frustrated; her cheeks get all rosy, and she makes a sort of pouty face. Her lips make an adorable frown, and her eyebrows knit together.
Wolfwood's always thought it looks nice on her, although he hates to see her upset.
"Then I've got this other piece to write about the homecoming football game, which I haven't even had the time to start."
There it is; her desperation to be the top of her class.
Wolfwood smiles up at her. "Should take a break then. You sound all stressed."
Meryl looks at him like he's got three heads. "I can't take a break! I've got too much to do!"
"All the more reason you should do it." Wolfwood uses his other hand and cups the side of her face. "You'll make yourself sick with stress."
Meryl's eyes shut together. "Alright, fine, but only for a few minutes, okay? I really do have to work on these essays, you know."
Wolfwood can't argue with that. He sits up and kisses her on the cheek. "'S long as you're still taking care of yourself." Then, another kiss finds its way onto Meryl's cheek, before he looks away for a split second, looking across his girlfriend's short coffee table.
Vash sits opposite from her, with a set of black headphones on his head, a pair of circular glasses over his eyes, and fingers flying across his laptop's keyboard. Wolfwood thinks he looks handsome like this- so hard at work. He remembers the man saying something about an English Lit essay being due soon, so Wolfwood assumes it's what he's working on.
He looks so focused, and part of Wolfwood hates to interrupt him, but then again, the other part of him knows that there's a very good chance he's overworked too. He raps his fingers against the surface of the table, startling Vash from his trance. The latter looks up, quickly, then slides his headphones off and puts them around his neck.
"Hm?" He hums, lowering the screen of his computer.
"Princess here's taking a work break, wanna join? Something tells me you need to take a moment too."
Vash closes his laptop, and nods. This is the easy part with Vash; he recognizes stress much better than Meryl can, and therefore is a lot easier to help.
Wolfwood picks Meryl up, and gently puts her down on her bed gently; they'll all most likely fit onto her twin sized mattress with enough maneuvering, and he's wanted to hold them, drink them in, and kiss them for hours. If that's selfish, sue him.
Meryl falls back on the mattress and scoots over, in order to leave enough room for her two boyfriends. She's a tiny woman, but heaven knows that Vash and Wolfwood aren't, so space is crucial. She gives Wolfwood a cute smile.
Wolfwood looks over at Vash, before taking his place next; one that will inevitably end up with him in the middle. He doesn't mind though, in fact, quite the opposite. He's always been a little touch starved, and the thought of his partners' close proximity makes him happy.
He scoots next to Meryl, tilting his body just so, in order to leave room for Vash but not squish her. Then, he leans back, and:
"Holy shit, how is your bed so comfortable?"
Meryl turns on her side. "Mattress topper. When I was a freshman, I couldn't sleep at all without one."
Living in dorms, you begin to realize how shitty the beds are; Wolfwood's has a lump around where his legs always end up, and he's come to the conclusion that it'll never go away. Meryl's bed is different.
"Oh wow, that is really nice!" Vash comments, as he lays down in his stomach. Wolfwood can feel the warmth of his body against one of his bare arms. "I always just feel like the princess and the pea whenever I sleep."
Meryl laughs. Her breath tickles Wolfwood's cheeks. He watches Vash take off his glasses and put them on Meryl's bedside table for safe keeping.
"This is nice," Vash whispers. Wolfwood agrees; he's spent the better part of this study date helping Vash with some assignments and laying in Meryl's lap. It's nice to be able to hold them, to love them without any distractions.
Meryl hums in reply, and yawns a bit under her breath. "I guess I never realized how tired I was until now."
"Take a quick nap, then. Restore your energy and all all that," Wolfwood responds, wrapping an arm around her. "Vash and I'll wake you up in a few."
Meryl looks like she's debating it for at least a minute, before she leans into Wolfwood's embrace. "Sounds good," she mutters. "Wake me up in ten?" Vash nods, and Wolfwood watches her close her eyes.
"You can rest up too, Angel," Wolfwood mutters, twisting his head to face Vash.
"I'm fine," he whispers, with a smile. "It's relaxing enough just being here with you both."
Though Wolfwood didn't really show up to the study date with any real work to do, he still feels very accomplished; he finished the hardest task of all: Getting his two favorite over-achievers to take a goddamn break.
And he'll wake Meryl up in ten minutes, and then he'll have to go back to look laying around, admiring them, and supplying them with kisses for emotional support. But for now, this is just lovely.