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growing up knowing the littlest actions could cause great accidents due to his (lack of) luck, bennett learned to be perceptive of the things around him.
especially people.
he would pick up mannerisms and little tells that would indicate their emotions. and more often than not, he was on the receiving end of the emotion of annoyance.
he understands why people would be annoyed by his loud and outgoing personality, if anything he could get annoyed by himself at times too. so, to minimize negative emotions felt towards him, he learned when it was time to shut up.
razor was incredibly different.
bennett does see why someone who grew up with wolves would not know how to make facial expressions other than “intimidating smolder” as compared to someone who grew up with human parents or guardians, but still.
expression was human nature, and bennett could see mannerisms in razor that should mean something. but he never really understood what.
especially this certain one in his jaw.
he usually noticed it when razor thought he wasn’t looking, or wasn’t paying attention. in these scenarios, bennett would usually be rambling on about something that piqued his interest, speaking slightly loud and excitedly.
from the corner of his eye, he could spot that razor would practically grit his teeth, tensing his jaw, with his eyes narrowing slightly at him.
anyone with half a brain would say razor was feeling something along the lines of angry, maybe even inconvenienced, but that couldn’t be. razor never showed sign of hatred or dislike to bennett.
right ?
he really shouldn’t entertain these types of thoughts.
he really shouldn’t assume.
-
it was the early hours of the evening, the cool breeze rustled through the trees of wolvendom, as crickets and fireflies began to emerge from the shrubbery.
razor would usually be on his way back to see his lupical, to spend the evening eating and sleeping with them, but tonight was different.
not in the way that he planned anything, no. but bennett had stumbled into his path only about an hour prior, and something about the boy’s demeanor worried him.
he was still his usual loud and chatty self — he was speaking to razor right now about some things that happened throughout his day — but something about how he talked threw him off. if speaking could be compared to walking, his usual casual stroll felt more like a panicked jog, almost as if he’s doing it to avoid — or run away from — something.
“hey, are you okay?” bennett asked, grabbing his attention with a small wave.
with the sudden eyes on him, razor felt like he was a boar caught in human sight.
“ah — yes, razor okay,” he replied. “just thinking.”
bennett’s face faltered for a second, he looked almost guilty. “am i talking too much?” he laughed softly, putting his hand down. razor could tell he was trying to make it sound lighthearted, but there was genuine worry in the lilt of his voice.
razor didn’t understand humans, but he could at least grasp bennett.
“no,” he replied, “bennett talk nice, razor just —“ he paused for a moment, “distracted.”
it’s not really a lie
he could see that bennett was relieved by the answer, and continued to talk about his day once more. slowly but surely getting more excited and lively in his words.
but still, there was that urgency in his voice that razor didn’t know what to think of.
he decided not to push it, he really wasn’t the best with emotions and understanding the deeper parts of human behavior anyway.
listening to his voice, like a melody of a bard telling a grand story of heroes past. his eyes drifted around the flora, wolvendom always looked beautiful while bathed in the soft blues of the night.
after realizing he must have looked disinterested to bennett, he reverted his gaze back to the blonde.
oh .
he was greeted with a view infinitely prettier than the landscape he was gazing at.
he looked so happy, a large grin on his face as he kept rambling on, almost like he was talking to the sky, and the moon softly shone on his face in reply.
razor felt the sudden urge to sit closer to bennett, to lean on his side, to do anything . like bennett was pulling him in like a magnet.
the ambience of the fauna in the background made it feel straight out of a daydream, it was almost as if the world came to a stop, and razor was seeing everything in slow motion.
he definitely was not good with emotions, because this feeling was consuming his whole consciousness in that moment.
— to the point that he failed to realize bennett had glanced back at him before he could pry his eyes away.
suddenly, his happy and carefree expression was replaced with guilt, a tinge of fear even.
“you’re doing the thing again”
snapping out of it, razor has to take a moment to process the words he just said.
“doing what?” he asks, confused.
“that—” bennett hesitates, “that thing where you look annoyed at me.”
“razor… annoyed?”
bennett sighs, looking like he’d just been defeated by an entire hilichurl camp. the wind blew his hair softly, framing his face. “don’t think i haven’t noticed, i can tell you’ve been getting annoyed by my talking,” he looked up to the sky as he paused.
“it’s okay, really, i can keep quiet if you want. i can leave. you probably need to go back to your lupical and rest,” he added, sitting up straighter to show he legitimately was ready to get up and leave if asked of him.
“no,” razor suddenly said, unusually loud. he could see bennett was upset, and he understood enough human to know he would only get more upset if he were to spend the night alone. “razor... not mad.”
bennett refused to look in his eyes, opting to look down at a nearby sweet flower instead.
“then why do you clench your jaw and... glare at me,” he said softly.
ah, so that's the ‘thing’ he’d been doing.
“it’s—” he began, “it’s not annoyed, it’s lupical .”
the other cocked his head to the side, like a puppy hearing a whistle.
razor spoke slowly, trying to get the words out coherently. “when lupical show affection, we bite other — softly — not enough to hurt lupical, only enough to show,” he hesitated with his words, “ love .”
“razor don’t see other humans do the same — biting other human, so when razor want to show... love… ” he trailed off, looking down at the grass he was sitting on.
“oh,” bennett breathed out, barely audible.
razor looked up at bennett, “bennett… understand?” the other boy was flushed at the cheeks, adding more color to the already ethereal look the night casted on him, his green eyes boring into razor’s red ones.
“yeah, i think i do.”
they sat there for a moment in silence, it wasn’t uncomfortable or awkward, but the tension in the air signified they both wanted to say more.
“you know,” bennett began, looking away from razor’s striking red eyes for a moment. “humans do have their own way to show… love.”
razor curiously hummed in reply, “really?”
“it — ah — is only for someone you love a lot. although friends can do it, it’s usually reserved for more — romantic relationships,” he coughed, suddenly flustered.
razor flushed slightly at this too, he’d learned about romance with miss lisa, the kind library woman who taught him more about his vision.
“i guess it's kinda like the biting as well.” the blonde thought out loud, “except you just press your lips to the area instead of including the whole teeth thing.” his words were slightly mumbled, but razor was able to catch them.
bennett took his lack of response not as well as expected.
“sorry if i made it weird! i didn’t mean to say that out loud—” the boy had begun to go on a tangent, and his blush only started to get darker and began to spread up to his ears.
but all razor could think of was how pretty he looked.
he did not know what he was thinking or how his mind came to the conclusion he had to do this, but he found himself leaning towards bennett and planting a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth, effectively shutting the other up. the moment was fleeting, but it was enough to completely stun the blonde.
“like that?” he asked softly.
there was a beat of silence as bennett stared into razor’s usually steely gaze, now softened in the night. he brought up his fingers and touched it to his lips, right where razor’s were a moment prior.
“yeah.”