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Mumbo was done for.
He fiddled with his pencil, twirling it about and making it thud lightly on his desk. The eraser had long been chewed off, but Mumbo didn’t mind. Shaved pencil shedding littered his desk after he’d decided that using a pencil sharpener was needed for ten minutes. After he grew bored of that, he’d adjusted his position in his seat constantly. Oh, what he would give to be able to pace as he wanted to. Grian was used to his fidgeting, and just rolled his eyes and focused on whatever lecture the professor was giving them right now.
What were they even being lectured about? Mumbo had lost focus the minute Grian had come to class. He’d been extremely late as always, and mumbled some lame excuse that he had been cementing his couch. The professor was used to his antics by now, and just gave him a thin-lipped smile until Grian stumbled into his seat.
How could Mumbo focus in these conditions?! Grian had shot him a secretive smile the second he sat down, brown eyes alight with mischief. They’d known each other for longer than Mumbo could remember, but only recently did Mumbo notice the amber in the other man’s eyes. How they lit up every time he smiled and dimmed into more of a black when he hadn’t had his five cups of coffee yet.
Right now, Grian’s brow was scrunched in concentration with whatever Mumbo was supposed to be listening to. Caramel locks fell over his eyes in a tumbled mess. His bed hair was barely disturbed when he combed through it absentmindedly and started sketching a cartoon Grumbot.
Grian’s slender fingers were best at deftly combining gears and small machinery together. He couldn’t draw to save his life, but Mumbo grinned at his friend drawing Mumbo’s creation. Neither of them were listening to the class anymore, but he didn’t mind. Mumbo had stopped fiddling with his pencil at some point, watching Grian with a sort of fondness that had grown over the last year.
Once Grian was done with his drawing, Mumbo grabbed a sticky note and scribbled a message to him. He left enough space for Grian to be able to write back, and slid it over to the other man.
Is that Grumbo, or an eldritch horror? ( Also, I’m stealing your notes after class )
Grian snorted, shooting Mumbo a mock offended gasp. Then he slid the note and wrote back, rolling up the note into a ball so he could throw it against Mumbo's head. Mumbo stuck out his tongue at Grian and unraveled the paper.
You don’t get my notes after insulting my child like that! Good luck failing <3
By the time Mumbo had read the note, Grian had already turned his attention back to the class. Maybe Mumbo would’ve been able to get his attention for longer, but he’d been too busy staring at Grian’s note. He read it over and over again, zoning in on the little passive-aggressive heart Grian had drawn. It didn’t take much to send Mumbo over the edge and started bumbling like a fool when it came to Grian.
Because Mumbo could delude himself with things like these, imagining Grian drawing hearts for a different reason. Seeing those half-lidded eyes right when Mumbo woke up, lacing his fingers through his and smiling blearily at Mumbo. Then they’d get up and make breakfast for each other over the stove, whispering words of devotion above the sizzle of bacon–
Someone jabbed him in the side, making Mumbo stutter, “G-Grian!” Like that was the answer to anything and totally engineer related.
Grian burst into laughter, collapsing onto his desk into a fit of giggles. Mumbo flushed, desperately trying to regain his sanity and reputation. Professor Doc peered at him under his glasses. He sighed like the weight of the world was on him and muttered, “No, Mumbo, Grian is not an example of Newton’s Law. The correct answer, if you bothered on listening is–”
Mumbo tuned out his teacher immediately.
Grian was still giggling, but it was more of a quiet wheeze than anything. It was almost worth it to be humiliated like this, just so Grian could laugh this freely.
***
The bell rang. Finally, Mumbo couldn’t get out of the classroom fast enough. Professor Doc reminded them of what homework they needed to do over the week as everyone packed up. Mumbo was first out the door, ears still burning from earlier.
He was so idiotic! He wasn’t subtle in his affection for Grian at all, but today really took the cake. The whole class probably knew at this point. How was he supposed to graduate if he kept making a fool of himself? He was too busy ogling to recall today’s lesson, and that would show up in the exams next week.
Mumbo groaned and buried his head in his hands. When he finally raised his head, Grian was running after him. His red jumper was a blur of fabric until he slid to a stop to Mumbo. He was at least a head shorter than Mumbo, so he couldn’t see his face as Grian bent over to catch his breath.
“Mumbo!” Grian panted, raising his head after a few moments. His cheeks had this wonderful flush to it from running, and he looked more unkempt than usual. He must’ve been confused after Mumbo left him like that. Mumbo winced. Gosh, he was really bad at this crush stuff.
Grian brushed a lock out of his eyes, brown eyes scanning over Mumbo worriedly. “You forgot your notebook. Are you okay? I’m sure no one even…noticed your slip up earlier…” Grian trailed off, looking at his shoes at the lie. Of course everyone noticed. It’d taken an ungodly amount of time for Grian to stop laughing. Every time he’d start to calm down, he’d meet Mumbo’s chagrined face and start wheezing again. He had the kindness to be as quiet as possible for most of it so Mumbo wouldn’t be horrified and have all eyes on him.
But it would be a blatant lie to say that no one had noticed Mumbo’s outburst.
“You’re worse at lying than I am,” Mumbo scoffed, accepting his notebook from Grian. Their hands brushed at the exchange, and Mumbo tried with little success to ignore how his breath hitched.
“Well, if it’s any consolation, I really didn’t mind it.” Grian smiled, mischievously at first, but then it softened. Sunlight from the hallway windows bathed him in a golden glow. He looked like he was aflame, and all of his focus was on Mumbo. “It was adorable, really.”
Oh.
Mumbo couldn’t tell if he was just teasing him or not, and that made it so much worse. Because if he wasn’t and he meant it–
“I can’t focus in class with you saying stuff like that.” Mumbo didn’t realize that he’d muttered the words out loud until Grian’s brows shot up in surprise. Mumbo took a staggering step back, arms flailing wildly in the air like that would fix the situation. But no matter how embarrassed he was, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of Grian. He had to see what his reaction was, and besides, Grian was unfairly pretty in the sunlight.
Grian paused, scanning Mumbo for any signs that he’d been joking. When he found none, he let out a shuddering breath. His flush from earlier grew darker, more innocent and a tint that Mumbo had never seen before on him. Grian fiddled with the sleeve of his jumper, his smile shy and yet so bright at the same time.
Mumbo would be fine staying there forever, watching Grian shine.
But then Grian grabbed Mumbo by the collar and brought his lips to his, and Mumbo melted. All these confusing months, lingering touches and looks bubbled into one moment of sunshine. Grian pulled back before Mumbo could do anything, licking his pink lips. His face was still an inch away from Mumbo, so close that Mumbo could feel his heart beat against his ribcage and feel his stuttering breaths against his face. Mumbo wanted nothing more than to kiss him again, but he couldn’t get his body to move.
He was too busy watching Grian in awe.
Finally, Mumbo brought his hands up to cup Grian’s face and kissed him again. Grian moaned and leaned into the kiss. All felt right in the world, having Grian in his arms and knowing that whatever feelings Mumbo felt, Grian felt the same.
And Mumbo had all the time in the world to show him how deep his feelings went.