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Vyncent isn’t a complete idiot. He is aware of the things happening around him. He hears the remarks that Dakota makes, he notices the knowing glances that he and Ashe give each other when Vyncent and William interact.
The problem, however, is that he feels like he is just enough of an idiot to not fully understand why these occurrences are happening. It feels like everyone is in on some joke that they won’t enlighten him about. Even Will seems to be in on this joke, with his pointed comments that seem to allude to some deeper meaning, and his panicked stammering everytime he catches one of the other’s comments as well.
Vyncent has tried to gain some sort of gauge on what the meaning behind all of this is, but everytime he shoots Will a confused glance at Dakota and Ashe’s behavior–he pointedly looks anywhere that isn’t Vyncent, and changes the subject as quickly as possible.
The most recent example of this strange behavior from Will in particular, is a certain comment he made after he came back to life for what must be the fifth time since they’d known each other. Granted, Vyncent was pretty exhausted and probably delirious, but he could have sworn that Will asked him whether or not he realized anything after he saw William die. Which is a weird question.
Vyncent didn’t even fully register it until hours after they came home from celebrating Ashe’s return. However, since then, Will’s question has been whirling around in his mind on a seemingly constant basis. He has spent days alone in his room at their old run down base trying to dissect what William could have possibly been alluding to with that question. Vyncent’s reaction to Will’s death seemed pretty par for the course to him.
Pain, anger, guilt, hopelessness, it all checks out. Those are completely normal things to feel in response to watching your best friend get ripped in half after you had sworn to protect them.
After what felt like days of Vyncent recounting his actions on that day and dissecting anything he felt that might have led to a realization, he was still just as confused as before, and increasingly frustrated.
He didn’t understand why everyone seemed to tiptoe around whatever this weird inside joke must be. He wanted to ask Will himself, but seeing that these jokes and comments were at both of their expense, and that Will seemed to do his best to ignore that they were even happening–he figured that he would probably just phase through a wall or something to get out of the conversation as soon as it started.
Since Will was out of the question, Vyncent had decided to attempt to think like him in order to get to the bottom of this mystery. William was always the clever one out of the two, but during Dakota’s absence he had taught him a couple of his mystery solving strategies.
So, it looks like right now is the perfect time for Vyncent to brush the dust off of William’s teachings and analyze all of the evidence. How hard could it be? He is determined to get to the bottom of this.
Vyncent paced around his room and wracked his brain on when Dakota and Ashes comments and glances had occurred. The first one he could think of was when they traveled to the spirit world for the first time, over a year ago.
Vyncent had told Will that he was glowing, which he was, that was a normal comment to make. However, he recalled distantly hearing Dakota and Ashe having a side conversation in reaction to his comment. Ashe had asked if they always acted like that with each other, which is a strange question. They weren’t acting weird.
On top of that, Dakota had said that they get ‘weird’ when they are alone. Which isn’t true. Vyncent stopped pacing and sat down on his bed, resting his face on his hands. Sure they spend plenty of time alone. Mostly watching movies together, but that was a normal thing to do with your best friend. How would Dakota even know how they acted while they were alone?
He let his mind wander to those movie nights with William, it’s nice to be able to share those quiet moments with Will. Especially when they constantly have the weight of the world’s fate resting heavily on their shoulders.
He thought back to their last movie night, the comfort of just being in each other’s presence, the relief in relishing in the calm after the storm. He felt heat crawling up his neck as he relived the memory of them giggling together on the couch, under the same blanket, a wasp documentary playing softly in the background. Will was shockingly warm for someone who is technically dead. He felt the heat rest comfortably on his cheeks. This was completely normal.
Vyncent collected his thoughts and moved to his next memory of interest, the night he jumped out of the window. After he had brought William out of his ghostly funk, they walked back to the rest of the group to find them exchanging and counting money. He remembered Will making a side comment about gambling on something. They refused to tell them what they could have been possibly gambling on.
That was interesting. Vyncent thought harder, since they refused to explain what had happened that had to mean it was about them, right? Dakota wouldn’t hide something from them, but even he chose to brush past what had happened while they were gone. The only thing that would make sense is if they were gambling on them.
Ok, so what could they have been betting on that involved the two of them? Vyncent let his head fall into his hands as he recalled that night. Will catching him as they fell, and bouncing together on his ghostly trampoline while clutching onto each other like a lifeline. He remembered Will’s expression like it was burned into his memory.
His eyes were widened with awe, like he couldn’t have imagined that Vyncent would care enough about him to jump out of a window for him. Which is ridiculous, of course Vyncent would jump out a window for him, they were best friends. He remembered how Will’s chapped lips parted as he searched Vyncent’s face for something. What could he have possibly been searching for? As he recalled the weight of Will’s gaze, the heat in his cheeks grew. Vyncent buried his face further into his hands, and continued to relive the memory.
His brain supplied the image of Will steeling himself for a moment and glancing down at his lips. Wait, what? Vyncent sat up abruptly at the thought. That didn’t actually happen did it? His mind must be playing tricks on him, because surely that would have been something he dwelled on after the fact. Like a taunt, the memory of Will quickly glancing down replayed over and over.
He shook his head as an attempt to get his burning face under control and regain his composure. This was normal. William had even commented on how good of friends they were after. Why was this affecting him now? It has been so long since that night, how long has that memory been living in the deepest corners of his mind replaying over again like a broken record?
Surely he was overthinking this, Will had gone through so much that day. He is looking too deep into that moment. They were best friends, that was absolutely normal for them. Vyncent took a deep breath and looked up at his ceiling. This was normal, right?
An abrupt knock shook Vyncent out of his thoughts. He took a couple more deep breaths to calm down his racing mind, and walked to the door as nonchalantly as possible. He opened the door to see, speak of the devil, William himself standing there.
“Oh thank god you are awake,” he said, sighing in relief. How late was it?
“Wait, what time is it?” Vyncent asked, taken aback at how much time must’ve passed. Wasn’t it light out when he started this?
“Vyn, it’s like 2am. What have you been doing in here?” William responded, raising an eyebrow. Playful smile tugging at his lips.
“Oh, uhm, nothing important.” Vyncent said with, what he was hoping, was a convincing smile. When did his hands get so clammy? “Just thinking.”
“Okay…” William said skeptically, “Anyways, you up for a movie or do you wanna go back to your thinking?”
Vyncent pushed away the thoughts of his investigation at the offer. “Of course dude, you know I’m always down for a movie.” Vyncent smiled wide, receiving a quiet chuckle from Will as a response.
“Okay come on, I’ll set it up,” William rolled his eyes with a smile and left his doorway. Leaving Vyncent to trail behind him as they passed the rubble in their old base and set up on the couch.
It’s always been a marvel that Will got the TV to work in the conditions they live in. He has always been so much better at technology than Vyncent. Vyncent watched him set everything up with a soft smile, letting Will drape a blanket over their laps. William quickly selected a random wasp documentary they hadn’t seen yet, and they let themselves drink up the warmth of the other’s presence.
They fell into their usual routine, softly cracking jokes and giggling at anything and everything. Vyncent distantly thought about how much he loved Will’s laugh. This was normal.
William rested his knee against Vyncent’s and Vyncent froze up for a second. Feeling the heat from where they were connected travel up through his body. Vyncent felt suddenly aware of how close they were. This was normal.
William was laughing loudly at something Vyncent said, burying his face into Vyncent’s shoulder to muffle the sound so they wouldn’t wake Dakota. Vyncent relished in the warmth, feeling his heart rate pick up. This was normal.
Vyncent looked down at William as he picked up his head from his shoulder, still muffling his laughter with his hand. Vyncent couldn’t stop his mind from noting how cute he looked. Vyncent quietly laughed with him, and burned the image of William in front of him into his memory. They were best friends. This was normal.
Their laughter died down, they didn’t look away. The movie still played distantly in the background. Will was wearing a wide smile, looking into Vyncent’s eyes with unabashed joy and adoration. Vyncent felt pinned under his gaze, face heating up. In the soft light of the television, he allowed himself to trail his eyes over all of William’s features. They’ve watched movies alone together a million times. This was normal.
He caught William’s eyes just in time to see him glance down quickly at his lips. Vyncent let out a shaky breath. He wasn’t going to brush that off this time. Vyncent mimicked the action, letting his eyes flit down to look at William’s lips. They were chapped just like that night he jumped out of the window. He wondered if they’d feel chapped pressed against his own. This was completely normal.
He heard Will inhale sharply, Vyncent slowly brought his gaze up to Will’s eyes. He felt his face burn deeper as his heart raced in his chest. This was normal, right?
“Hey, Vyn?” William said softly, bringing a shaky hand up to Vyncent’s face. Vyncent sighed shakily into the contact. Will was so warm.
“Hm?” Vyncent questioned, not trusting himself with words right now.
William took a deep breath, even with just the television light Vyncent could see the soft blush on Will’s face. There is no way he could be imagining that.
“Could I…” Will broke their eye contact, looking anywhere that wasn’t Vyncent. Vyncent wanted to grab his face and force him to connect their eyes again. “Could I try something?”
“Of course.” Vyncent said shakily. What was going on? The air between them was so thick it was getting hard to breathe.
William slowly brought Vyncent’s face close enough that he could feel his breath ghosting over his face. Vyncent let his eyes flutter closed, bringing a hand up to rest on Will’s waist.
Finally their lips connected. Vyncent relished in the feeling of Will’s lips on his, they were softer than he imagined. As he leaned into the kiss, he let his mind dig up the one thought he had been avoiding. All the pieces of the puzzle were laid out before him, all he had to do was connect them. He let the adoration flow through him like water. This wasn’t normal, it was better than normal. He liked Will, it felt so obvious.
As soon as the kiss began, it ended with Will pulling away first. They looked at each other with wide eyes and bright red faces.
“Do that again.” Vyncent said with conviction he didn’t know he had. “Please.”
Will laughed lightly, resting his forehead against Vyncent’s, “I could never turn down that request.”
William threw his arms around Vyncent’s neck, and Vyncent allowed himself to fall into William with a smile once again.