Archive of Our Own ^beta

“This piece of shit!!”

Wolfwood just looked at the old man who was kicking the car tire. 

The car sputtered to a stop ten minutes ago, stranded in the middle of the fucking sand dunes. Sure, there was a town about twenty iles away, but Wolfwood didn’t want to walk through the sand for more time than he needed to. 

Wolfwood went to the old man’s side, trying to see what was wrong with the car. The engine was smoking, and it didn’t seem it wanted to run when Meryl twisted the keys to start it. 

Roberto groaned, brushing a hand through his brown hair. He lit a cigarette, sagging against the car and looking at the sky.

“The things busted. We will have to take it to a mechanic.”

Wolfwood raised an eyebrow, shouldering Punisher. It was getting darker out, barely any light out. He knew they would have to make a fire if they stayed out any later, and looking at the situation, it looked like that was the case. 

“We’re not pushing this thing through the sand. And I doubt you guys have the money to call in for a tow. If they pick up anyway.”

This happened often. Vehicles given out in the middle of the sands were thrown away because it was the better option to leave the vehicle there than pay for the exorbitant price towing companies gave out. It was even a risk to call, most were not close enough to call for a tow vehicle.  

This was why the Sand Steamer was the preferred way to travel. Less likely to be stranded in the butt fuck nowhere.

Roberto sighed, waving the cigarette and dropping it on the ground. He turned back to the engine, grabbing his toolbox.

“I know, but I’ll look at it some more, but I ain’t a mechanic. A popped tire, I can fix it, but this-”

Robberto gestured at the engine that didn’t want to start.

“-Is out of my abilities.”

They both looked at the engine and back at each other. Wolfwood wasn’t a mechanic, either. Tell him to disassemble and reassemble a gun, he could do it in under ten seconds. But things that move with gears were out of his ability range. 

Footsteps came to their side, and he saw Vash walk up to them, a frown on his face, head tilted while looking at the engine. He looked to Roberto, who looked annoyed at the engine like it was the thing that killed his entire family. 

“You know what’s wrong with it?”

Roberto huffed and shook his head.

“Not a clue, Stampede.”

Vash looked back at the engine, thought for a second, and walked to Roberto. Vash held his flesh arm out, gesturing for the toolbox. Roberto raised an eyebrow and gave the box to Vash. Wolfwood and Roberto looked at Vash, who set the box on the part of the engine that wasn’t smoking, leaning over to look at it. He hummed, eyes flitting over the engine. He nodded to himself and looked back at them. 

“I think I can do it, just a second.”

Vash reached to his green arm and took off his prosthetic. Wolfwood blinked, and Vash removed his jacket, letting them see the black turtle neck long-sleeve shirt he always wore. He gave Wolfwood his jacket, and put his prosthetic back on, moving it around to make sure it worked. He nodded and rolled his sole black sleeve to his elbow, showing some of his skin. It was covered in some scars that stood out against the pale skin. No one mentioned it, not when Vash was concentrating on the engine.

“Hey, Wolfwood, can you put that in the car for me, please?”

Wolfwood looked at the red coat for a second and nodded, but realized Vash couldn’t see him. 

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“Thanks.” 

Vash went to work on the engine and leaned over with tools in hand. 

Roberto and Wolfwood looked at Vash, who was sucked into his task, quickly forgetting they were even there. Wolfwood leaned closer and whispered to him. 

“Did you know he could do this?”

Roberto shook his head, unreadable eyes looking at Vash.

“No, but I should have guessed. He’s a Plant Engineer.”

Wolfwood hummed, surprised. He didn’t think Vash could do anything other than fight and get in trouble. Guess everyone needed something to do for a living, even infamous outlaws. And Plant Engineer was certainly a profession.

“Wouldn’t have pegged him for one.”

Plant Engineers, from what Wolfwood observed, were snotty fucks who had the air of superiority. They walked around like nothing could happen to them because they were too important. Town authorities frothed at the mouth at the thought of having a Plant Engineer. It was just that rare of a profession. 

“I didn’t either. Guess an engine is easier than fixing up a Plant.”

Wolfwood gave that to him and watched Vash work through the engine. Roberto shook his head and went off to smoke some more, but Wolfwood stayed where he was. He moved to the car and jumped on top of the car’s roof, sitting with his legs over the edge. He looked down to see Vash focused on his task, flesh hand already starting to get dirty by the oil and sand in the engine. 

He brought up a foot, perching it on the edge of the car, putting a hand on it while he watched Vash do his thing. 

“Can you start it for me, Meryl?”

“Sure!”

Wolfwood heard the turning over of the engine and heard the most sacred sound of the day. The car gave a few hiccups but started up, the engine running just like it was supposed to be. Vash wiggled out from under the car, and gave a bright smile, giving Wolfwood a peace sign. 

“Job accomplished.” 

Wolfwood gave a slow clap, a smirk on his face.

“You sure did. Good job, Spikey.”

Vash beamed, and Wolfwood had to look away. Too damn bright. 

It also didn’t help that Vash had oil smudged on his cheek and shirt, hands showing the hard work he put into fixing the car. And without his coat, he could see Vash’s thin as fuck waist that was hugged by skin-tight clothes, and he had to breathe to control himself. It was attractive, and Wolfwood had never seen someone look so good while covered in car oil and sand. 

Vash pulled back the blonde hair from his face, letting some black transfer to his bright hair. Wolfwood had to look away and was glad for the interruption of Roberto, who grinned.

“Let’s get to the next town. It looks like Stampede needs a shower.” 

Vash blinked adorably and looked down at himself like he didn’t notice what he looked like. Vash started laughing sheepishly, scratching at the back of his head.

“I think your right.”

Roberto scoffed and got into the car, all relieved to move on. It was nighttime, but they could see the lights of the next town, so they weren’t too concerned about getting lost. 

Wolfwood sat in the back, Vash getting in next to him, jacket back on, trying to get the oil off his fingers. His tongue was out of his mouth, concentrating on working at the grime on his fingers. Wolfwood looked away but tossed Vash a bottle of hand sanitizer he kept on him to clean his hands after working with gun oil.

Vash flashed him a quick smile of thanks, and Wolfwood scoffed, not letting Vash see his face, which was slightly red.

It was not the time to think about Vash being cute. Or ever, preferably, but Wolfwood didn’t feel like that would work. 

“What are you doing?”

Wolfwood woke up to a clink of metal and some stuff getting pushed around. He looked to Vash, who froze and looked back with an embarrassed grin, hunched over something on the desk the hotel room had. Wolfwood swung his legs over the edge of the twin bed, looking at Vash with tired eyes. It was too early in the morning for this. 

Vash grinned slightly and went back to what he was doing. Wolfwood stood up and walked to Vash’s side, looking over his shoulder. There was a pile of mechanical parts and tools in Vash’s hands, but he was holding some wires. Wolfwood squinted, seeing Vash taking apart a hologram computer. They got it a few days ago from a wreck they passed by. Vash spent a few minutes searching and came out with the thing. It didn’t work, so they all forgot about it pretty quickly. 

Guess Vash didn’t. 

“What are you planning to use it for?”

Vash shrugged, not stopping his nimble hands, and before Wolfwood’s eyes, the thing was coming together.

“Nothing, really. Just fixing it to pass the time.”

Wolfwood raised an eyebrow, subtly impressed. He knew Vash had some mechanical skills when he fixed the car, but he didn’t know that transferred to fixing Lost Technology. Wolfwood had seen those holograms before, but they had been working for at least a hundred years and managed to not get damaged in the Fall. No one really knew how to fix the technology when it decided to not work anymore. Wolfwood thought about it and decided to not think about it anymore. Roberto said that he was a Plant Engineer, so it wasn’t that big of a stretch to think he could fix over Lost Technologies.  

Wolfwood sat on the desk where parts weren’t, tempted to light a cigarette, but even he knew he shouldn’t smoke this early in the morning.

“You could make some good money selling that.”

Vash shrugged again, not looking at Wolfwood back at the whiteish contraption, bringing it closer to his eyes. He turned it over every which way, trying to find a fault, but only nodded in satisfaction. Vash answered Wolfwood when he opened the hologram, and Wolfwood saw the blue hologram appear after glitching for a few seconds.

“I don’t do it for money.”

Wolfwood smirked, “I noticed. That doesn’t mean you can’t.”

Vash snapped the contraption shut, putting it in his inside coat pocket, and taking it out of sight. He looked to Wolfwood, who was still smirking. He grinned and waved a hand in front of his face, eyes curled.

“I’m good. I have enough on my hands.”

Wolfwood studied Vash, not trying to hide his appraising look. Vash didn’t react, and Wolfwood shook his head. 

“So you do.”

And that was that.

“Hey, want to play a game?”

Wolfwood looked over at Vash and the guy talking to him. They were at one of those sleazy dive bars that looked a minute away from caving in on them. Wolfwood was nursing a glass of whiskey that was more alcohol than water and didn’t care. It was the cheapest glass in this place, and Wolfwood was tight on money. He couldn’t take the jobs he would have with Vash around with his no-killing policy. And bodyguard jobs were out of the question because that would make Wolfwood ditch his charge to do that. 

With the amount of trouble Vash gets into on any given day, that was a no-go.

There were barely any double dollars in his pocket, and it was getting to a point where he might not even have some money to buy packs of cigarettes, and that was when he knew he was getting low. He had been snatching some from Roberto when his back was turned, but even that wouldn’t last long. Roberto started to notice and gave Wolfwood side eyes more than usual, and Wolfwood tried to look innocent, which only increased the glares. 

Roberto was lucky he didn’t snatch the flask too. 

Vash looked at the guy, beer in hand, and tilted his face while looking at the table the guy was talking from. It looked like the usual card table with decks of cards and a pile of bills ready at hand. There were three men at the table already, and one chair open. To Wolfwood, it only looked like the men wanted an easy mark to get money from since Vash didn’t look intimidating or give off the air a gunman should have.

To Wolfwood’s surprise, Vash nodded, took his beer, and sat at the table. He threw some double dollars on the table, leaned on it, and gave the men a charming grin. 

“Is this enough to deal me in?”

The dealer grinned and took the money, putting it in the pot with the coins and bills. The dealer dealt, throwing two cards to everyone and laying three cards up to show everyone. 

Wolfwood moved, going to Vash's side to look over his shoulder. Vash was smiling, his usual poker face but to everyone else, it gave away his feelings, that he had a good hand. All Wolfwood could see was his usual poker face, which was an empty smile. Honestly, Wolfwood had never thought it was a good poker face before, but seeing it right now made him change his feelings about it. 

“You never told me you play cards, Needle Noggin.”  

Vash shrugged and knocked to tell everyone else he was not upping his bet. The game went on when Vash talked, not taking his eyes off his cards and the other players, eyes flitting over them subtly. Wolfwood only noticed because he had known him for a while now. 

“I have to get money somewhere, Wolfwood.”

Wolfwood grinned and scoffed, almost in disbelief. 

“You get your money from playing cards?” 

Vash nodded and flipped his cards, and to Wolfwood’s surprise, won the hand. The men scowled, only the dealer keeping his cool. Vash smiled and pulled in the pot, probably at least fifty double dollars. Vash pushed in some money and gave a sunny smile, “Can you deal me in again?”

The dealer nodded, and there were some grumbles and curses, but the other three men through some more money into the pot.  

Wolfwood watched in an amused haze to watch Vash decimate the other three. He never lost, only cutting even or winning. He didn’t lose a double dollar, a sunny smile on his face. 

Wolfwood knew how to count cards, everyone who was worth their salt did, but Vash did something more than that. Wolfwood knew for a fact that he was counting cards, but Vash seemed to know what card would come next and after and would accommodate for that. He didn’t miss a thing, eyes gleaming under his amber glasses. 

Vash gave beamed and pocketed all his winnings once he figured out it was getting too risky to continue winning with sore losers, the three men getting angrier and annoyed the longer Vash won. Vash stood up, shuffling the bills and putting them in his jacket's inner pocket. 

“Well, I had fun, but I better turn in for the night. Have a good night, everyone.”

Vash and Wolfwood got out fast before the men decided to take their money from the blond, who was too good at cards to be real. 

Wolfwood laughed, amused to high heaven.

“How’d you do it, Spikes? I have seen people count cards before, but that was something else.”

Vash shrugged with a light blush on his face from Wolfwood’s praise. He scratched his cheek with a finger, not looking at Wolfwood.  

“It’s just math. I count the odds and make the best decision.”

“Uh-huh, of course. I know what card counting is, but that wasn’t all there was to it.”

Vash blushed brighter and brought out a hand. He flicked his wrist, and a card appeared in his flesh hand. Wolfwood blinked and saw it was the exact design of the card deck from before. Vash flicked his wrist again, and it was gone out of sight, looking sheepish. 

Wolfwood was chuckling, a gleeful look in his eyes. 

He didn’t know Vash had it in him. 

“You cheated.”

Vash scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously. 

“I never do if I already know if I am going to win, but I… make sure I don’t lose either. I need to eat somehow.”

Wolfwood barked out a laugh. His laugh got louder, genuinely amused by what he found out about the blonde outlaw. He wondered how Vash lived up till now since most jobs for gunmen are against his morals, so he wondered how he got the bread on the table. 

He stopped laughing, giving Vash a grin. 

“Remind me to never play cards with you.”

Vash pouted, making his face shift adorably. Wolfwood pushed that thought off. It only made the atmosphere more relaxed. 

“I play normally when nothing is at stake.”

Wolfwood chuckled, and lit a cigarette, blowing out a plum.

“Yeah, I don’t believe that for a second, Spikey.

“Hey!!!”

Wolfwood chuckled some more, and they walked in silence back to the motel. Before they could get there, but it was in eyesight, he spoke.

“But do cheat when Roberto sooner or later asks for a game. I want to see his face when he loses.”

Vash frowned, “That’s mean.”

“But it’s entertaining. Live a little.”  

Vash shook his head, and Wolfwood hummed, cigarette between his teeth. 

Before they entered the motel, Vash twirled on the balls of his feet to look at Wolfwood, who only raised an eyebrow at his actions. Vash smiled, reached into his coat, brought out bills, and shoved them into Wolfwood’s chest. Wolfwood grabbed them with surprise, not thinking but glancing at Vash in surprise when he did. 

Vash grinned, the dim lighting catching on Vash’s blonde hair like a halo. He looked every bit of an angel at that moment. 

Who was Wolfwood kidding, he always looked like an angel.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you are low on money. This is thanks for keeping me company.”

Wolfwood blinked and said, “Spikey, this is yours. You don’t have to give it to me.”

“I want to. Think of it as a gift. I usually had to fight to get out of bars when I win the amount I did, and if it wasn’t for you at my back, that would have happened. So, thanks.”

Vash gave a softer smile and went into the motel before Wolfwood could say anymore. 

Wolfwood looked at where Vash was and then at the money in his hands. He scoffed and put his money in his suit jacket pocket, shaking his head.

He noted another odd skill Vash had. 

He had a feeling it would only increase in time.  

It was yet in another small town that Vash showcased yet another skill. 

They were talking about room positions since there was only one room open with two beds. There were four of them, and they were discussing who would get the beds. 

“Roberto, you should get one of the beds.”

Vash said, already putting his bedroll on the ground. They all looked at him, and Vash tilted his head in the innocent way he does. 

Vash blinked.

“Your knee is bothering you, isn’t it? I can see how you’re trying not to stand on it.”

Roberto looked at Vash, blinking in surprise. Wolfwood was surprised because he didn’t even notice it, and Meryl was looking at Roberto with a glare like she couldn’t believe he didn’t say anything. 

“I didn’t think I was being obvious.”

Vash shrugged, not looking at them.

“You usually walk with an uneven gait, but right now, you were trying to walk evenly, which you don’t do. I only noticed because you didn’t try to walk in your usual gait.”

Roberto raised an eyebrow, looking subtly impressed. 

“That’s some detective work.”

Vash huffed and looked away.

“It was obvious.”

Roberto shook his head and sat on the bed, rubbing his knee. 

“Not really, Stampede. You are the first one who has noticed.”

Vash scrunched his face up, eyes slightly confused. 

“It’s not hard to figure out. I noticed it the day we met.”

Roberto didn’t lower his raised eyebrow, eyes thinking something and lit up. He pointed at Vash, who only looked confused. 

“I have an idea. What have you noticed about Newbie here?”

Meryl pointed at herself, both she and Wolfwood were confused about where this was going. Roberto only grinned, like he figured something out. It looked weird to see him so gleeful. 

Vash looked at Meryl, confused why Roberto asked but started talking. Vash scratched the back of his head, and his eyes turned appraising, looking Meryl over.

“Well… She lived in maybe a middle-upper-rank household since she doesn’t have the callouses on her palms that workers have, and she isn’t sunburnt. Probably played in the street since her knees are slightly scarred from tripping on the hard stone when she was a child since the scars faded with age. Studied at a university for three years, namely November university, since she said she grew up there. Three years because she didn’t want to waste money on a fourth year when she could graduate in three. Had one friend since childhood, since she was unused to a group of people. Maybe a girl who is a family friend that she has known since she was a kid. Made a lifelong friend and didn’t bother for more. Played baseball growing up, probably a pitcher by her arm and aim. Knows how to shoot a gun, not well, but she can. Probably too much of a knockback from a bigger gun made her give up on firing a gun. Hard on her shoulders. She sets her feet in a shooter stance sometimes. Your derringer would probably be a good gun for her with her stature.”

Wolfwood glanced at Meryl, who looked knocked off kilter, surprise on her face. Vash kneeled at Meryl’s feet, and before Meryl could step back, Vash used his flesh hand to take something out of her boot. Wolfwood saw it was a small knife, and he raised an eyebrow. Vash waved it around and put it back like it was nothing. 

“Knife in her boot. She always keeps that foot back and lowers her body, so it’s in arm's reach in a sticky situation. May not know much about the badlands, but knows enough that being unarmed is a bad idea. Good at dominoes by the way her eyes always move to the domino table when we enter a casino, but not enough to feel confident in winning always. That is why she never mentions anything. Likes spicy food but never orders it because it’s too expensive. She always looks at the spicy option when we eat at a restaurant. Likes sweet things but doesn’t mind citrus, and prefers lemon when given the chance.”

Vash opened his mouth to say more, then paused, getting a high blush on his face, and put his hands over his eyes, hunching over. 

“Sorry. People call it creepy when I do that.”

Wolfwood blinked, and Meryl was in more of a shock. She opened her mouth, closed it, but opened it again with eyes flicked on Vash, who looked away from her in embarrassment. 

“That's… all true. I have a childhood friend that lives on my street, and my family knew her family forever. Wow, how’d you figure that out? I didn’t mention a lot.”

Vash shrugged and gestured to all of Meryl. He was still looking embarrassed and didn’t look into her eyes. 

“It’s easy when you look at the whole picture and your habits. Anyone could figure that out.”

Roberto scoffed and eyed Vash, who looked innocent like he genuinely believed that claim.

“Stampede, I have been in this business for thirty years. I have never seen someone who could figure that out without more information. Not even that. It is almost impossible for me to get half of that, and I have spent more time with Newbie. I didn’t even know she had a knife on her. And I can guess you have an equal amount of information on all of us with that eyes of yours. Am I not correct?”

Vash looked down, and that was all the answers they needed. He kicked his feet, unsure. 

“People find it… unsettling. Like they think I can look right through them with zero effort.”

Roberto took a drink from his flask, and Wolfwood wanted to have some too. It looks like Vash knows a lot more than he seems, and in Wolfwood’s case, that wasn’t good. No matter how you looked at it. He wasn’t as subtle as he could have been in the worm, and now he had a feeling Vash noticed. But he didn’t mention anything, so something was off there. 

“I’m not saying it’s not, but we know you, Stampede. And next to your reputation, a good eye isn’t the breaking point.”

Vash brightened, and it looked like a weight was off his shoulders. Roberto noticed and shrugged. 

“But you should tell us if you notice anyone that is going to shoot at us. That would make everything easier.”

“I’ll make sure to remember that.” 

Wolfwood was only thankful that Vash didn’t go on him on what he noticed. 

That would probably end badly. 

Wolfwood woke up from a nap, blinking lethargically. 

The car was going over some dunes, going up and down in a way that would make car-sick people run for an open window. He heard some talk in front of the two journalists talking about the distance to July. Roberto was holding a map and trying to figure out the distance with his fingers. He was comparing the distance with the table of iles at the bottom, brows furled together.

Wolfwood stretched his arms as much as he could in the confined space, cracking his neck from where it was positioned. Sleeping in a car made nasty creaks in his neck and back that was a pain to work out. He didn’t know how Vash did it for this long. It didn’t even look to be affecting him, chipper and bright as ever. 

He looked to Vash, who had his head against the window, snoring quietly. They both always took the chance to get some sleep because they knew how rare it was to have undisturbed sleep. And when they stopped for the night, the two were always in the first or second shifts for night watch since they had slept so much. They didn’t complain because it made sense, but that didn’t mean Wolfwood didn’t want more sleep. 

Wolfwood studied Vash’s sleeping face, which was lighter and less masked than when he was awake. The striking blue eyes were closed, and Wolfwood took the time to study him without Vash knowing. 

Ever since they found out that Vash had almost supernatural observation abilities, the number of shootouts dropped drastically when Vash whispered to them that something was happening, and they got out of there before anything could happen. Wolfwood asked why Vash didn’t say anything before, and he shrugged and said it was hard to believe that he could just tell. Wolfwood hated when Vash spoke sense because the him that originally met Vash would only scoff and throw that idea out of his head that Vash could almost predict things was ludicrous. Wolfwood wanted to smack Vash upside the head because, after the first time, they would listen, but he knew he couldn’t. It would only activate Vash’s self-guilt thing he has going on. If Vash had thoughts he could have done something that would have helped someone, he would sulk like no one else. 

So Wolfwood stayed silent, and the other two did the same. 

Wolfwood heard sleepy mumbles from Vash, who only shifted in his sleep, moving his forehead against the hard glass. 

Cute.    

“Hey, Newbie. You went to a big girl school, so do you know what sixty-four times forty-three is? Because that’s how many iles we still have to cover.” 

Meryl huffed, annoyed, and glared at her mentor, “My degree is in Journalism, not math.”

“Two thousand seven hundred and nine.”

Wolfwood glanced to his side to see Vash yawn and rub his eyes underneath his glasses. The other two looked at him through the back mirror, and Vash squinted at the looks. 

“What?”

Meryl blinked, “Did you do that math in your head?”

Vash tilted his head and nodded. Wolfwood knew what they were all thinking and bit the bullet. 

“What’s five hundred thirty-three times six thousand five hundred and twenty-one?”

“Three million four hundred seventy-five thousand and six hundred and ninety-three.”

Vash rattled that off the moment the question left Wolfwood’s lips.

They stared at him, and Vash’s cheeks started to redden. Wolfwood scoffed, disbelieving.

“Didn’t know you’re a living calculator, Spikey.”

Vash shrugged, embarrassed. Honestly, he didn’t know why this surprised him when Wolfwood had seen him do more impressive maneuvers. Most people on this planet didn’t have the best education, not according to the standards the first generation had, but they passed by with learning to read and write. It wasn’t odd to have a kid stop their schooling at thirteen to help their family to bring food to the table. Wolfwood would have been one of those kids if… yeah, he was going to leave that thought there. 

The car went silent, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. They had all gotten used to Vash’s quirks, so adding another one wasn’t important. It was still a day to remember when they figured out another one. It was like they were getting through Vash’s walls, and maybe they were all looking forward to the day when Vash could trust them. 

But they all knew that wouldn't happen without a fight on Vash’s part. 

That just meant they would have to fight harder. 

“Hey, you a genius are somethin’?”

Wolfwood was drunk, with Vash drunk next to him. They were sitting on the hotel roof, a bottle of… something passing between them. Wolfwood was too drunk to remember and to look at the label, but it wasn’t something he needed to know. It got the job done, and that job was to get the two gunmen drunk. It had been a while for the two of them to just drink in peace without Meryl getting on their case about being alcoholics like Roberto. Wolfwood was not an alcoholic, thank you very much. 

He just found it hard to stop drinking after he started to. 

Vash blinked slowly, realizing Wolfwood talked and he should answer. 

“Hm. I don’t… know.” 

Wolfwood slurred, getting closer than he would usually, but he blamed that on the fuzziness in his head. And he unconsciously wanted to be near Vash, who was so radiant. 

“Ya’ don’t know?”

Vash nodded, a bit too sluggish than usual. 

“I mean, my Mo-My caretaker, she always called Nai and me her little geniuses, but that’s… well…”

Wolfwood nodded understanding, “A person telling their kids they’re very smart.”

Vash chuckled, eyes looking too distant to look at the scenery. Wolfwood nudged Vash with an elbow with enough force to get his attention. Vash was startled, blinking to realize he didn’t know what he was doing. 

“Thanks.”

Vash mumbled that, and Wolfwood heard that but didn’t add on. Wolfwood drank a gulp of alcohol from the bottle, sobering up to fast for his taste. He cursed his enhanced physique at moments like this. He passed the bottle to Vash, who took another swig. They were almost done with the bottle, and Wolfwood wasn't looking forward to going to bed tonight and worrying about Vash and his lightweight ass. 

Not like his ass wasn’t eye candy. 

Wolfwood rubbed his eyes, alcohol affecting his thoughts and what he usually wouldn’t give a time of day when sober.  

“Things come… easy to me.”

“Hm?”

Wolfwood looked to Vash, who was smiling softly, not looking at the undertaker but at something in the distance. Vash looked at him, and Wolfwood froze under those crystalline blue eyes that always made Wolfwood feel like sinking. The man was too pretty for his own good. 

For his good, too.

“I don’t need to spend a lot of time to learn something. Give me a few minutes, and I can pick something up like I have spent my whole life on it. It’s… tiring.” 

Wolfwood raised an eyebrow, but at Vash’s words, he didn’t press the issue. Vash can feel whatever he so wants as long as it wasn’t self-deprecatingly. He can’t stand Vash feeling guilty about himself.

“Sounds like you have good eyes, Needle Noggin.”

Vash shook his head, “Should have known you wouldn’t ask.”

Wolfwood grinned, holding up a bottle, “Yep, I have better things to worry about than your spiky head. Could tell me what you see more often, though, before we get shot.”

Vash smiled and turned to Wolfwood and didn’t lean in, but Wolfwood thought he was closer than before. He blinked and looked at the blue eyes that were sparkling with something.

“You want to know what I see?”

Wolfwood paused and nodded, somehow getting soberer by the second. The atmosphere turned tenser, but Wolfwood didn’t find it overbearing. Vash grinned wider and leaned in closer like he was sharing a secret.

“You haven’t been very discrete with those looks of yours.” 

Wolfwood almost choked on the gulp of alcohol he, unfortunately, started to drink while Vash was talking. He whipped his mouth with a sleeve and looked at Vash, who had a mischievous look. He didn’t know what he should do, but his mouth moved faster than his addled brain.

“Well, should have figured. Why didn’t you say anything? If you told me to stop, I would have.” 

Vash smiled, and it somehow turned softer. He moved closer, and Wolfwood eyed Vash over, lips only an inch away from his. He could feel Vash’s breath on his skin, and goosebumps traveled through his arms. It was too close but not close enough. Vash’s eyes glittered, getting softer and more grounded. 

“I didn’t want you to stop. I liked it. Especially if it was you who was looking.”

Wolfwood almost felt like the breath was knocked out of his lungs. He stared at Vash to see if he was kidding or not. He wasn’t. He could tell by those honest eyes that looked right through him. 

“How you phrased that could cause a misunderstanding, Spikey.

Vash lips were getting closer, and Wolfwood didn’t inch back, frozen where he stood. His brain tried to work and say this was not happening, that Vash wouldn’t feel that way for Wolfwood, the hired gun extraordinaire. Vash whispered against his lips, and Wolfwood had to fight not to look at them, and from this distance, he could see they were smooth and didn’t have a single crack in the flesh. They looked fucking soft. 

Stupid alcohol rattled brain.

“There’s no misunderstanding. I like you too, Wolfwood.”

Wolfwood flicked his eyes to Vash’s, who only looked at him with honesty. Wolfwood felt the last thread of restraint snap, and he met Vash’s lips. 

They were as soft as he thought they were. 

The next few moments caused liquid heat to flow into his stomach, Vash up against him, and Wolfwood tried to get closer, pulling Vash against him. The kiss was nothing more than a desperate clashing of teeth and tongue, nothing soft or sweet about it, but Wolfwood wouldn’t change a thing.

They parted with panting breaths, and Wolfwood grinned, pulling Vash into him with a small yelp, Vash not expecting the maneuver.

“Well, Smarty Pants, how do you feel like moving this to our room?”

Vash grinned, and Wolfwood could smell the alcohol from both of them, but at this moment, the alcohol was the furthest place in his brain. He wouldn’t let the drunkenness mess this up. 

“Took you long enough. If you didn’t take the hint, I would have jumped your bones.”

Wolfwood chuckled and pressed a kiss to Vash’s lips. He would not get tired of that anytime soon.  

“Better not keep you waiting then.”