Chapter Text
"Have you ever noticed Flame like, having a reaction to you whenever you call out to him?"
Wemmbu chokes on the water he was drinking- It lands on Eggchan, effectively wetting his face and uniform. A sermon of coughs escape Wemmbu while Egg in front of him makes a noise of disgust followed by a loud 'Ew'!
He punches his chest in hopes of his coughing fit to stop, eventually it does. Wemmbu barely satisfies the itch caught in his throat- but that was the least of his worries right now.
"I'm sorry, what?" Eggchan yanked his handkerchief from his bag to wipe the water from his face, although his best friend rarely articulated emotion through facial expressions Wemmbu could read 'annoyed' in his best friend's body language.
"I don't mean it like that!"
"What did you mean it like then??" The demon rolls his eyes, he steals Egg's handkerchief and wipes his mouth. Egg's irritation is further amplified by it though he just swipes the item from Wemmbu's hand without typical grace he carries himself with
Egg shoves his handkerchief back in his bag, "So like, you know how when you call Flame's name like uh" The seraphim falls silent for a second. Wemmbu nods his head; a greenlight to continue, or mimic what he was talking about.
"FlaaaeeeAAEM- oh my god."
Wemmbu immediately laughs at the voice crack, "Bro! You mean my iconic Flaeeeemm?" A loud snort escapes him "Temu ahh imitation by the way, never do that again bro"
"That's not the point! Anyways so you know when," Egg looks around for any familiar outsiders listening in. When their vicinity is clear of any students from unstable high he continues. He leans in to guarantee that no one was listening though "When you call out to him right? I noticed that he usually flinches"
Something clicks in Wemmbu's brain.
Like actually clicks.
"Holy shit" Wemmbu's eyes went wide. His memory shuffles through moments of Flame and it was like a light bulb lit up inside his head "When you say it out loud.. I think he does flinch! Wait this is actual gold mine discovery! You're so observant Egg"
Egg puffs his chest proud "I mean what would you do without me"
"Dalright let's not get too ahead of ourselves now. Also wait, why are YOU looking too into my crush's every move??"
"What?! You're so weird, It's not like that-!"
After newfound knowledge was acquired, Wemmbu did the best he could do with it. Obviously call out to Flame using the word, tone and pitch every single time.
And it proved to be effective. At least for the first few days he overuses it. Wemmbu previously used it to tease occasionally but never went overboard till the afternoon Eggchan revealed the confuddling information. Egg also tried his hardest to prove to Wemmbu that he wasn't looking at Flame that way even though it was an initial tease
Effective played in moments when someone else took up Flame's time. Wemmbu uses it to interrupt mid convo, Flame flinches and looks to Wemmbu's general direction. Wemmbu will see something in Flame's eyes and he will turn away from him. Coward. Wemmbu feeds off of Flame's discomfort though.
Wemmbu needs to get at the bottom of this mystery.
"-He has that sad look in his eyes, almost as if he's hoping for someone not me. I don't like that, actually it pisses me off"
"Damn that's rough buddy"
"No because it's starting to remind me of a wet kitten bro. But this is a grown ass guy we're talking about"
"Consider this in theory, maybe Flame is a wet kitten?"
Wemmbu shakes his head, "Nah he's definitely more of a tiger" Wemmbu turns his head away from Egg. Right now they were theorizing what exactly about the 'magic' word triggers in Flame's brain.
Flame typically falls under your average 'american jockey player' stereotype except the american part. Wemmbu thoroughly believed Flame to be so out of touch with feelings like that, sad angsty shit out akin to a movie about life being depressed and nothing worth living- He naturally just had to make this his problem. With Egg as an accomplice, willing or not.
"Maybe it's not the word? What if it's the way you say it" Egg proposes. Egg writes this discovery down in his journal. Wemmbu deflates, Flame being sentient is real? Wemmbu totally thought he was only a one dimensional character, nothing more outside of a stereotype.
He didn't think there were levels to this shit.
From afar, he sees Jaden.
"Hey wait, wasn't Jaden his friend back then?"
"Uhm yeah, why?"
"What- what do you mean 'why', we can literally get the answer straight from him! Easy work bro!"
Egg gives him a pointed stare "Didn't you ask him about 'top secrets' Flame's likely hiding?" He air quotes with his fingers to mock Wemmbu
"Yeah and?"
"And?! Dude he literally wasn't willing to share because even he thinks that's shitty!"
"..Ohhhhhh right. Killjoy" Egg shoves his journal on Wemmbu's lap. When Wemmbu looks, his eyes don't know where to begin.
Wemmbu already gave up when he sees the cursive handwriting. "I'm not reading all that" he hears a groan from Egg, undoubtedly tired of his bullshit
"You haven't even read the title yet"
"Yeah because people who write like this are bots, bots." He emphasizes the last word by shoving it in Eggchan's face. There was some drawn visuals, red arrows drawn connecting each notes- Like this was some kind of bulletboard from a detective solving a case
"Egg GPT, summarize this whole entire thing for me"
"Illiteracy rates are skyrocketing bro" Egg says like it was a known fact "I'm not helping you go down that road"
"Dalright now you're just trolling"
Wemmbu finally begins to skim through what was written, something about Flame potentially having a harsh history with a certain someone. Potentially an ex who frequently used the tone, Wemmbu's face soured at that theory.
Eggchan's other theory wasn't any better too.
"Flame's a piece of shit but definitely not because he grew up in a bad environment. I've seen how his older brother treats him"
"Yeah I was honestly thinking of crossing that theory out"
Silence dawn's on both men, when he looks at Eggchan- he already knows that this week was going to be hell. Eggchan acted like some sort of journalist, especially if Wemmbu insists on uncovering something. And right now, Wemmbu really wanted to unlock Flame's secret.
"We're pulling some sherlock holmes or James Charles type shit aren't we?"
"Bro James Charles the pedophile, it's James bond get it right" Eggchan scoffs "But yes, something like that"
Wemmbu covers his face with his hands and releases a loud groan. "It's going to be such a busy week.."
"And we're starting this investigation by interviewing his friends by the way"
"Fuuuuuckkk"