Cat Boy

13 | sleep (or lack thereof)

"Do you think I should say something?"

Joshua blinks sleepily, his eyes hooded from a severe lack of sleep. He's usually put-together, but not when an advice-deprived teenager pulls him out of bed at one in the morning and asks him for love counsel. "Say something about what?"

"About...you know. The thing." Vernon makes a vague gesture with his hands. He doesn't look half as tired as Joshua, but there are circles under his eyes, and his hair is just as mussed from what Joshua guesses is a result of tossing and turning in bed, like the romantic novel heroes of old. The rest of him is not as romantic-novel-hero-ish, with a checkered flannel shirt that's been wrongly-buttoned, and science-y scribbles done in black marker on the inside of his palm and forearm. "The crush thing."

If it had not been an ungodly hour of the day, that is to say, a godly hour, Joshua might even have considered making a joke. But right now, all his energy is focused into not slipping off his chair and falling asleep on the floor. "To Daehyun?" he asks instead, mumbling and slurring his words. He can see stars behind his eyelids every time he blinks. "Do you want to say something?"

"I don't know, should I?" Vernon looks at him with a wide-eyed innocence that was the whole reason Joshua agreed to tutor him at such a time in the matters of the heart. One does not simply say no to a face like that. "I mean—is it okay to do that?"

"What?" Joshua frowns, momentarily pulled out of his mental slumber upon hearing the words. "Of course it's okay. Why wouldn't be it?"

"You mean why wouldn't it be?"

"Yes, whatever," he says with a wave of his hand. His other hand he's using as a chinrest, and his elbow is propped up against the edge of the table at a precarious angle. Joshua gestured at the boy violently, and ends up almost losing his balance and faceplanting on the tabletop. "You can say anything you want to. If you like her, then..."

Here, he trails off, having forgotten what he was going to say. Vernon leans back with a thoughtful frown as Joshua glares at his lap, trying to recall his train of thought. "I feel like if I don't say anything, I'll explode," Vernon says. Joshua takes a short break from his attempt at thought-recollection to appreciate how everything that comes out of love-struck Vernon's mouth could pass for a sappy song lyric. "Yesterday, when we came back from volunteering, I thought I—" He breaks off, blushing, and the pink-haired boy leans forward in interest. "After we—"

"You thought you what? After you what?" Joshua needles, a surprisingly energetic grin gracing his otherwise fatigued face. "Divulge the particulars."

"I don't know, I just..." Vernon's lips are pressed together in an expression Joshua likes to call the inward pout. He knows the younger's expressions inside and out, what each one means, and this one only serves to fuel his excitement. "I felt like I wanted to—you know."

"Kiss her?" There's a crazed grin on his face now, all traces of sleeplessness gone. Vernon interlaces his fingers and places his hands on the table, which leads to his sleeves being pushed back to reveal the beginnings of the markings twining his wrists. They look like trigonometric formulae, but Joshua can't be sure, it's been a long time since he dumped math. "Why didn't you?"

"Because she might not want to?" Vernon bites, but he couldn't be harsh if he tried. With his tousled hair and rounded eyes, he looks like a baby kitten. Joshua feels like he gets where Daehyun's coming from when she calls him cat boy. "I think she doesn't like me like that, but I keep thinking I should tell her, but what if—"

He continues rambling, but Joshua has heard enough. The boy leans back against the back of the chair with a sigh, a proud smile curving his lips. He truly feels like a parent watching their child grow up.