flowerofmtsilver | IC contact; phone

Bulba raised his eyes to meet Vinnie's, understanding. "For the most part, no. I was surprised, actually, but a lot of people just didn't really care. I think the person who gave me the hardest time about it was myself, really." He glanced down, grinning a bit sardonically at himself.

If things hadn't been the way they were now, it would have been a lot harder to talk about. If there hadn't been living, thriving (well okay it was sleeping now but) garden in the forest to prove that everything had gotten better since then, thinking about the memories would have stung much deeper. "I mean, it doesn't always work out. Char kicked me out when I told him. Couldn't stand the sight of me and left without telling anyone. It was the worst. I thought I had messed everything up but..."

Bulba shut his eyes tight, recalling the fights and bitter exchanges and everything that had happened in between. With a sigh he raised them again, studying Vinnie's intently. "... he just needed time. You're not any different than you were before." He raised a hand, gently brushing some of the green from the older saur's face with his fingers.

"You're still Vinnie. Even if someone hates the idea, if they really care about you they'll come around. It just takes some patience sometimes."

Ah yes. Patience, his old enemy. Why did it have to be so, so hard.

Vinnie had never thought of being gay as anything that abnormal. Growing up in a Garden with so many gay brothers seemed completely normal to him. It really hadn't been until now, when he really had to face the implication of having that perception of himself change, that he began to feel this uneasy twist in his gut.

True, there weren't a lot of people who put down Bulba for liking guys - not many he could remember off the top of his head, anyway. But that wasn't the only change in perception he was worried about.

"I don't even know what most've my team even thinks of me anymore. It's not like that can get much more nail in the coffin. And I can't even count how long I've known your team. After so long, I..."

His gaze fell away from Bulba's. "I don't want t'train with Jolt an' have him just see me as The Boyfriend. I don't want Char t'not see me as a rival either. I mean, I've only just started to understand him, but..."

He sighed. "They care about you. I just don't really belong."

He didn't have any idea how to approach the topic of Red team. Bulba hardly understood any of them anymore, save Sonny. It was more effective to just address what he (thought he) knew.

"It's just something new."

Bulba reached up with both hands now, gliding skin against skin as he cupped Vinnie's face to lift his gaze back up towards his. "You already have relationships with them, and they are what they are," he said, mimicking what Green had said earlier in a firm tone. "If I don't have to dump yours and Jolt's butts into a wheelbarrow next week I'll probably have to buy a new hat cause I'll be eating one of mine. And I honestly don't think I could stop you and Char from throwing punches at each other even if I tried."

"... I can't say things won't change," he admitted, frowning just a little. "Your guess is probably as good as mine about how but... You're definitely going to be more than just a boyfriend. You're Vinnie first."

And then he grinned at him, broad and toothy. "No one's going to let you off easy just because I like you, don't worry about that."

Vinnie grinned in return, warmed by the sight of Bulba's beaming smile, and nuzzled his hands back. It was true - he was still himself, foremost. They'd all already changed so much since arriving at the school, in ways he had no way of predicting, but Change was simply a matter of fact then. Just because they were due for more didn't mean he had to dread it. Even if things did turn sour... well. He had to keep moving forward regardless.

He breathed out slowly. Some things the Venusaur simply had no control over, so he had to learn to accept it. He had to learn to accept this, too.

"In my defense," he said, weakly but in good humour, "I make sure Jolt eats lunch sometimes."

Bulba relaxed at the sight of Vinnie's smile, though it didn't last for too long. As good naturedly as Vinnie had intended it, mother henning was still the shiny saur's lifeblood.

"... He hasn't been doing that thing where he skips it again has he..."

The thing Bulba was evidently already acquainted with.

"Uh." Oh boy was he getting Jolt in trouble oh no.

Honesty was the best policy though, Vinnie. The Venusaur confessed, "He was after the robots shit, but he's gotten better 'bout it. I talked t'him a bit.

"Don't grill him too hard about it, he... he just felt guilty 'bout hurting you."

"Oh."

It was said quietly, because there wasn't much to be said about that. Bulba gave a small nod. "Yeah... we talked about it too." And skull bashed. That counted. "There's no reason to get on him about it if he's gotten better." He tilt his head, his smile coming back small and appreciative.

"Thanks for looking out for him."

"Well... we're friends." He was pretty sure they were friends, despite the rivalry. Training until you passed out and accidentally turning him into a girl and taking him to buffets - friends did that, even if Green's team was pretty much the worst at admitting when they grew closer to people. So it was the least he could do.

It almost felt like something to be proud of, simply being able to understand and trust another person. To help them, even a little. Vinnie relished it. He didn't want that to change.

It was... harder to pin down what exactly he had with Char though. Way harder, recently. He almost wanted to bring it up, but refrained. It felt a bit like cheating, somehow.

Edited 2013-12-11 09:38 (UTC)

His smile widened again. It had been something he was worried about, whether or not the team would get along with Vinnie. He knew they already did for the most part, in their own little ways, but this was kind of different, wasn't it? Then again, the more he thought on it now, the more he realized that maybe they were kind of silly worries. He was probably just overthinking. That whole fear of the unknown was just a hard tune to get out of his head.

He was pretty confident that his sparky brother wasn't going to kick up a fuss. "Then he'll get a kick out of having more reasons to bug you, heh."

Bulba gave Vinnie's cheeks a pat, pursing his lips slightly at him. "I'm not going to let you off an easier than they would though. I won't be gentle about dumping you in the barrow if I catch you passed out in the stadium again, got it?"

Vinnie's shoulders slumped, and he pouted. Except it totally wasn't a pout because pouts weren't manly.

He muttered, "Yes sir," and was decidedly not adorable.

No.

No how dare he make that face. The face with the not pouting. How dare he.

There was only one thing to do with such a face and that was smooch it in punishment for its actions. The nerve.

And so a tiny smooch was bestowed upon his pouty not pout. "Good."

Well, the smooch made the pout go away, but it also made Vinnie flush bright red. Having a casual kissing partner was still a bit unbelievable to Vinnie - internally he was just laughing at how surreal all this was. It was almost like he was having an out of body experience each time, and going Is this actually happening?

It was. It was scary and it was nice. He almost wanted to kiss him back properly but... maybe he shouldn't? Maybe it was too much.

Pursing his lips into an awkward smile instead, he asked, "Can we maybe tell them a bit later though? I think I'm all out of coming out right now."

To be fair, even if he was the one doing the smooching, Bulba had been having similar thoughts. There had been several of these casual moments where he wanted to ask and verify that Yes this was a Thing that was Happening. No, he wasn't actually dreaming. It hadn't been that long ago that he had been rooted in the idea that this was an impossibility.

Yet there they were, comfortably leaning against his bedroom wall with their hands on each other and turning bright red.

Which was even worse than the other face.

Bulba refrained from a second smooch at the moment, though it looked like he was highly considering it, since he didn't want to scare Vinnie off. Baby steps into the land of gay and all that.

He chuckled. "That's probably a good idea. Taking it one step at a time is good." But that didn't mean he was wholly satisfied. "... Do you want to stay a little while though? Since you're here."

"Ummm." A few things ran through Vinnie's head at that moment. The first was that nervous feeling again, the one that surfaced when faced with something he wanted on instinct to do, but second guessed. The next was the fact that Green was in the very next room this very instant. He still felt like he was a bit on tetherhooks with the family right now, even if he hadn't been disapproved of.

It'd be pushing it. Maybe not for Bulba, but for his own ideas of what he was allowed to do at this point. Baby steps.

Also, he still had final exams.

"I... should probably get the rest've my studyin' done for exams," he sighed, uncertainty obvious in his voice.

Baby steps.

Studying was probably a wiser idea. Bulba could only encourage good study habits, especially when it was actually important. It should have been easy to encourage him to go do what he needed to do, but there was still a moment where he hesitated. It was hard to say how much they would really let themselves see each other before they told other key parties. Right now things were still calm, but they were still so new as well. It was unclear how selfish he'd be if he took advantage of the uncertainty in Vinnie's voice to insist he stay for at least a little while.

Even if he was still smiling enough, it was hard to keep his ears from drooping in disappointment.

"... Maybe yeah," the blonde said with a small nod, leaving the option still somewhat open.

Vinnie could see that droop. The fact that the younger Saur kept smiling despite the obvious disappointment conveyed by his ears only made him feel disappointed in himself as well. Bulba was just being overly considerate, as usual.

He was already screwing this up, wasn't he. Yeah, he was. He had to fix this somehow.

Turning an even deeper shade of red, Vinnie mumbled, "Sorry," before clasping his face in one hand and plunging down into a deep, apologetic kiss.

Whatever look of bewilderment Bulba might have worn in face of the other Venusaur's apologies was very quickly overshadowed. No one could say Vinnie wasn't good at surprises at least. His heart had leapt a little at the suddenly much more intimate shift. Bulba's eyes fluttered shut and he let himself lean into the kiss, savoring the way it felt and the sweetness that came with it. This was nice.

When their lips finally parted he lingered close, breathing out a soft laugh against his cheek.

"You don't always have to apologize to do that."

"Oh."

Vinnie hadn't even realized that particular pattern. He bowed his head just slightly, beginning to feel a little embarrassed at being such a novice, already biting back another apology.

Without saying anything else, he much more tentatively approached Bulba's lips again, this time planting a lighter kiss upon them as though to make up for the mistake. Fond in its touch, but brief enough to be missed as he pulled away.

Awkwardly, Vinnie bit his own lip in a worried expression right afterwards. That was too much, definitely, and the sheepishness was making him antsy. "I should... go..."

Bulba hummed slightly in content as Vinnie kissed him again, but it wasn't quite satisfying at all. Appreciated, certainly, but with far too much brevity. He followed after his lips for a moment but paused, stilling himself.

Glancing up at him, his brows furrowing slightly at the worried look that had crept on to Vinnie's face. Had that been bad, he wondered. Was this not okay...? He was still trying to get away, so maybe that's what he should have done. He had left it open, after all.

"I don't want you to," were the words that actually left his mouth though. He dipped his head against Vinnie's shoulder and took in a breath. "I know I should let you study but... I don't want you to go yet."

Unsure of what to say in response, Vinnie remained where he stood, helpless to move while Bulba's head resting against him. Wordlessly, he let his arms wrap around the smaller Saur, as silent indication that he wouldn't leave. Not yet, anyway. Not while he was like this. The only sound he made was a faint, low hum in his throat as he tried to figure out what exactly to do now. What did boyfriends usually do? It seemed strangely difficult to figure out how early a stage this relationship was when it felt like they'd known each other for so many years already.

He let his hands rest where they were in that light hug, and leaned his head so that it rested against Bulba's. Without realizing, Vinnie was beginning to smell sweeter - with a slight, almost unnoticeable change in his usual perfume.

This was actually very much okay for Bulba. He liked this. As for things that boyfriends did... Saying that they were the things they already did hadn't been that much of an exaggeration, as far as he was aware. The only real difference from his friendship with Kirby when they started going out was that they cuddled a lot more and kissed a little bit. When it came to Vinnie, though, this was the sort of thing they had already been doing for quite a while. It was already something that was warm and familiar.

He breathed in slow and deep, drawing in the soft beginnings of the other's scent and letting it wrap him up like Vinnie's arms. Bulba still wasn't sure when it had become a scent that he would seek out, but there it was. This time, however, there was more to it to be discovered that Bulba was not entirely expecting somehow. Warmth flooded across his cheeks as he took in the sweetness this time. There was just a tiny bit of... had it never been explained to him (if you could count a lot of teasing as an actual explanation), Bulba would never had paid mind to that extra, subtle new note to the signature of his perfume.

Bulba slipped his arms lightly around Vinnie's waist, returning the hug as his flower released its own response, mingling its own special sweetness with the other in the air around them.

Edited 2013-12-15 06:58 (UTC)

Vinnie breathed in deep - if he wasn't already red in the face, he would've been turning it. What was simply a slight change in sweetness before became something for him to covet once he recognized it. Its was reassuring - as though its presence was there to comfort him for his choices.

No... Bulba chose him. Chose. That word echoed in his head. It hadn't really occurred to him before to see it that way, considering he had kept the other Saur waiting on his answer so long. But it could've been anyone that Bulba fell for, and somehow he was it...

Being on the other side of the decision was a bit surreal. Vinnie had made the decision to leave his family, to join Red and then to leave him - and the uncertainty behind those decisions weighed on him. What he felt in Bulba's arms, though, was a strange kind of freedom and hope.

"Thank you," he said, soft enough to be a whisper. "For choosing me." Especially when it felt like no one else wanted to keep him.

What Bulba felt in that moment was something he was not sure he could describe. Something light and warm and fluttering. Sometime before he had felt something similar, but it had been so much more hesitant where here it felt like the whole of him was laughing. Bulba lifted his head enough to nuzzle his face against Vinnie's neck, breathing in more of that fragrance.

Thank you for finding me, he had said. Thank you for choosing me, he said now.

He held the other a bit tighter, as if answering the unspoken. Bulba was not about to let him go.

"Thank you for letting me," he murmured back, placing a soft kiss against his skin.

IC contact; phone

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I still don't have a kissing icon???

get on that???

goodness but I need more art

gosh!!

get on that

the tables have turned

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