𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑊𝑖𝑡𝑐𝘩 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝘩𝑖𝑠 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝐶𝑎𝑡 | rowan laslow

non colony

You watched your peers eat, eyes trailing the food as it entered the cavern of their mouth. The scraping of teeth against metal utensils, the bobbing of the throat after they swallowed, you absorbed it all like a compelling piece of media. Something to tear into and write an in depth essay about for your YouTube channel. It makes Rowan feel like a show dog shoved onstage, performing for a judge with an unknown criteria. Nerve wracking.

He watches you watch them, feeling something close to apprehension, yet somehow fascinated by the alien interest. He pushes a plate towards you.

"Huh?" bewildered, you poke it as if you've never seen such a thing be offered to you before. Which might be true now that he thinks about it.

"You're not eating." he clarified.

"I ate earlier." you reply, like he's supposed to know that beforehand, then cautiously push it back with the tips of your fingers.

"Oh," he's tempted to press on, keep persuading you to join in the meal just to watch you progressively get more confused. It's hilarious. He doesn't though, because unlike you, he doesn't have a streak of sadism. There's no doubt in his mind if given the chance, you'd do it to him. But he's not you, so, "You were staring really hard. So I thought you might be hungry."

"Nah, don't worry about me." you wave his fictitious concerns away. "Think of me as like- a snake. Our dietary needs are so much more different than you think." he believes he has an idea. "See how there aren't a lot of vampires here?" that makes him look around, and you're right. He can count about three of your kind here. One in that loud table, and another tailing a blonde haired girl. Then of course, you. "We're here to hang out with our friends, not eat."

"So where are the rest of them then?" Rowan takes a swig of his drink. You visibly watch it go down, not even bothering for subtlety.

"Probably at the dorm. To sleep, study, loiter or something like that. The rest go everywhere, really. Usually to go play hooky. Only some people go to the library for the actual books." you chuckle. "Scares the nerds away." you make loud smooching sounds.

Someone shouts your name in a shrill voice. It's that same blonde haired girl from earlier. "You didn't come to movie night." she pouts. "We missed you, right Yoko?" she turns to her left where the vampire lingers.

"Not really. You could miss more movie nights." she shrugged.

"Watch where you sleep." you threaten.

Because he is who he is, Rowan retreats into himself. He cleans up quietly while you exchange banter, lets the inside jokes he's not in on fly over his head as he ducks away and leaves to stack his plate at the end of the bar. He expects to go under the radar, since he was already halfway there anyway without you even glancing at his direction, when your voice suddenly pipes up from behind. His heart launches down to the floor and he almost drops the glass in his hand but you catch it before it could completely slip off, bringing it up to close your fist over his. Force him to hold it tighter. It all happens so fast, he doesn't have time to process and stutter over it before you're stepping away and letting him handle it on his own.

"You didn't even say goodbye." you pout. The glass sways where he clumsily leaves it. He adjusts the balance before letting go.

"You looked busy." he mumbles. It's a flimsy excuse at best and makes him sound like a petulant child at worst.

"Are you sulking?" you raise your eyebrows. Like you're thinking, no way this guy is. But he is. It's as much of a revelation to you as it is for him. He didn't think he was sulking, not until you asked him, that is. You run a hand across your lower face. "If you want to, you can drag me off anywhere you want whenever. I won't mind." if anyone else said that, he would've thought they meant something else entirely perverse but you're genuine. It's a completely innocent offer that he can't believe- is actually reassuring him.

"Okay," he breathes out. "I'll think about it." he tells you, even though you both know he's well past that already.

"Okay." you parrot, because you're consistently a little shit despite everything. "Want me to walk you to your room?"

"No, I can get there on my own." he doesn't think he can handle being around you for the next half hour after that.

"Alright. Sweet dreams, Rowan." you squeeze his shoulder as you brush past him back to your circle of friends.

The spot tingles.

Damn, he's touch deprived.

---

AN: ngl bros i dont think im ever gonna be able to write rowan as a weirdo :/ y/n is just such an odd lil critter everything he does is like, tame compared to wtv the fuck theyre constantly up to so, sry tehe

you get a platonically jealous rowan for now, bc hes an insecure lil boy with only one(1) friend n he wants to keep them<33 y/n understands cuz theyre a freak too its all good this will be a great long lasting friendship!