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Vincent had no idea what Wendell’s problem was.
Dr. Brennan and Dr. Saroyan had assigned the two squinterns to work together on finding cause of death for their current case, and Wendell was being more happy and helpful and kind than usual, and Vincent had been reciting more facts than he could remember doing, as he felt so, incredibly awkward right at the very moment.
Even worse, Wendell had removed his lab coat, complaining it was ‘too hot’ to wear it, and Vincent had found himself staring at him instead of the much less appealing decomposed corpse on the table in front of them.
“So, see anything, Vince?” Wendell said, smiling as he placed his hand on Vincent’s shoulder for a bit too much time than was really professional.
“Uh, did you know that crushes can impact your ability to concentrate and can result in reduced productivity, quality of work, motivation and energy?” Vincent blurted out, feeling awkward and wishing he hadn’t said anything as soon as he’d said it.
Oh, and great, he thought as he felt his cheeks warming up, I’m blushing too.
“Oh, okay…” Wendell said, laughing a little, but then he looked worried. “You feeling alright, Vince? You don’t look too well.”
“Yeah, I’m fine… just didn’t eat breakfast this morning…” That was a lie. He knew breakfast was the most important meal of the day and always made sure to eat it.
He hoped that Wendell couldn’t see through his lies, because, really, he was a terrible liar.
“You wanna go have lunch?” he looked up at the clock. “It’s lunch time just now.”
Vincent nodded. “Uh, yeah sure.”
~*~
They walked down to the diner together, and Vincent felt incredibly lucky that Wendell had asked him to go to lunch with him. He wasn’t even that hungry yet, but oh well. He may as well take up the chance to spend time with Wendell.
Wendell sighed as they sat down next to each other at the table next to the window.
“So… how’s life?” Wendell asked as he picked up a napkin and began to fold it in different ways.
“Good, I guess.” Vincent asked, feeling awkward yet again. “Um, interesting fact, it is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear.”
Wendell looked at him in awe. He really couldn’t understand how Vincent knew all these random things and where he could’ve learned them. He must read a lot, he decided.
“So, Vince, you’ve been acting a little,” he thought for a second, “weird lately.”
“I have been rather reliably told that I always act weirdly.” Vincent said, not looking at Wendell but at the napkin in his hands.
“No, but really.” Wendell had seen him with other people, and Vincent hadn’t ever acted anywhere nearly as awkward as he had ever been. Not just with him, but with everyone. He was always generally awkward, but it was just getting odd.
He first thought that Vincent simply didn’t like him, but he eliminated that option when he had agreed to eat lunch with him. Plus, Vincent had always seemed fine with him until Brennan and Cam started to get them to work together.
“I-I, uh… have a bit of a crush on someone and I don’t think they like me back. Well, I’m 99% sure they don’t like me.”
Wendell raised his eyebrow. “Who is it? Who wouldn’t like you? I can talk to them, if you want~”
“Haha, no I’m fine.”
“Just tell me.”
“Nope.”
“C’mon, I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
“No.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
Wendell was doing the puppy dog eyes at him now. Vincent was having trouble not telling him now.
“Of course I do.”
“Then tell me, please?”
“You.”
Oh crap. Vincent closed his eyes and started thinking of every random fact he knew to help him calm down. Cats can hear ultrasound. Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors. The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
He got worried when he didn’t hear Wendell say anything, so he opened one eye to see if he’d run away or fainted or something, but he hadn’t. He was just sitting there, resting his chin on his hand and smiling at him.
“So, haha…” Vincent laughed nervously, hoping that Wendell didn’t hate him now.
“Just so you know, I like you back.”
Vincent’s eyes widened as Wendell winked at him.
“So, we should, uh, eat then?” Vincent said, smiling as widely as he thought humanly possible. Wendell looked at him and nodded, and then quickly kissed him on the lips, making Vincent blush.
“Yeah, we should.”