Winterbloom [BL]

Chapter 9: An... Awkward Conversation

The question caught him off guard.

How?

He sort of just... grew up curious about plants. Oh right! There was also his dad's botany textbook to inspire his knowledge so...

There's no need to mention that I had nothing better to do as a kid than to roam around collecting leaves while playing imaginary friends in order to develop my curiosity in the first place.

And so he replied in his stoic vocals while continuing to examine his leaf, "I've liked them for as long as I could remember."

Dry!

In fact, it took Luan all his courage and a whole minute of deep breathing earlier on to even ask this question while knowing the truth full well. He felt guilty for hiding it but... he didn't want to give the secret away just like that. He knew Huey would be embarrassed, perhaps even angry later on - he couldn't really guess the reaction since he didn't know the current Huey all that well. In any case, this was special. Huey had to remember it for himself. Their reunion must be special!

"Cool," Luan replied equally dryly. Huey wasn't one to notice subtle fluctuations in other people's expressions - he lacked that kind of keen perceptiveness to emotional states. This time, however, perhaps because he had been a little more eager, a little more curious about this other person and whatever he was going on about, he did notice Luan's slight hesitance before probing the question and the downcast of his eyelids after his reply. He even picked up on that quiet sigh as Luan glanced sideways at Huey one last time before continuing his task.

What? Was there something else I was supposed to say? Or am I meant to sound more sociable and interested in the conversation?

Don't get Huey wrong, he was very interested in the conversation. It was precisely because he was so interested in their conversation and... ahem... the person involved in the conversation... that he felt utterly unable to compose his poor brain flying a thousand miles per second out of self-consciousness and could only resort to giving the most concise, feeling-less responses in an attempt to contain an unusual desire to bury his head into a bush or something and let the scent of leaves calm him down. Huey just had a unique sense of escapism, to say the least.

Here's the thing, Huey was indeed not a sociable person. He didn't care for small talk or any kind of social activity on that matter, all with one exception. Plants, of course (you should've seen it coming). Luan just now asked about his favourite subject, and to add to that, although Huey didn't talk much about himself, he'd go on and on about how much he loves plants, why, since when, his botanist hobbies, gardening routine, etc. Not to mention that the one asking was Luan who had been on Huey's mind recently, so he naturally was quite interested in their conversation. He just couldn't express it and for the first time in his entire twenty-two years of life did he feel at a loss about having terrible social skills.

Silence permeated the laboratory. The only sounds remaining were the tearing of leaves that Luan was busy cutting or Huey adjusting microscope slides as well as the occasional clashing of pen and paper as they took notes. It went on for a few minutes and to any onlooker, it would seem as though the two were intently focused on their tasks; nothing else in mind. They themselves assumed that the other was the same while in reality, in the midst of a thousand thoughts flowing through their minds, a singler image stood at the center with all other thoughts surrounding it; an image of the other. It was like the eye of a raging storm.

Though  it had been a few minutes past their small exchange, their thoughts were stuck there as though it only happened a second ago - as if they could simply continue the conversation from where they left off and it would continue flowing naturally, which is exactly what Huey decided to do after gathering his thoughts for a while.