Havi returned the girl's confident gaze and knew her meaning. She was reinforcing that she already had a connection to Vald in this life and reasserting that she wasn't about to lose it.
Oliver narrowed his eyes at her. "That rabbit was for both of us."
Bunny waved a hand of dismissal. "You hated her. She liked me better anyway."
Vald laughed. "You better go meet your mom. She'll be waiting."
Havi smirked at the little girl as she was forced to return to campus with her brother. She glared back but it didn't seem like either student noticed their exchange.
"Are you a big fan of fantasy games?" Vald asked.
Havi shrugged and nodded at the same time. "A bit." He changed direction to head to his apartment. "I like them better than most other genres."
"Do you like rpgs best then?"
"For the most part. I like imagining myself as the protagonist instead of distancing myself from them."
Vald grinned. "Same here. There's just a rush I get from slaying a dragon or rescuing a damsel in distress. It means more if I feel like I'm the one who did it instead of some pixelated character on a screen."
"Do you LARP, then?"
Vald laughed. "Oh no, I'm way too shy for that. Role-play stays behind closed doors for me."
Havi didn't want to think of the double meaning there. "You seem like the type of guy who would train with a sword, embarrassed or otherwise."
Vald chuckled. "Yeah, I tried to in high school. My parents made me stop. They thought I was going to hurt myself or someone else. My friends would practice with me but wouldn't help me continue practicing in private. They were too scared of my parents."
"I'm sorry."
"It's no big deal. I don't even know why I'm telling you this." He met Havi's gaze. "I've only known you for a short time, and you're my professor to boot. I sometimes can't believe you're only two years older than me, but then at other times I can't believe you're really a professor and so far ahead of me in life."
Havi stayed quiet. Their age difference in their old lives had been the same but so much less prevalent. Their stations in life weren't nearly this different.
"It's just… talking to you seems so normal, like I'm talking to Trevor or Oliver who I've known since I was little. Well, since Oliver was little in his case."
"How'd you become friends with Oliver and …Liz."
Vald didn't seem to notice his stumble. "They moved into my neighborhood when they were nine. Oliver's a genius and didn't get along with kids his own age, and since he was placed into my class at school he was picked on a lot. I didn't want a kid like him to be bullied so defended him and I guess I ended up as his body guard."
Vald laughed. "He's just kind of stuck around me since. Liz just sort of started tagging along recently. She used to have a huge crush on my friend Trevor but I guess that's gone now. I think she likes me now but…" He trailed off.
Havi thought it was cute how easily he could get the former prince talking. The former him would've asked more questions by this point.
"What about you?" Vald asked. "Do you have a lot of close friends?"
Havi smiled. He certainly had impeccable timing. "Not especially. People don't like me all that much."
"But there's that other professor right? Professor…"
"Clarissa."
"Yeah."
"She's a friend I suppose, but nothing more than a co-worker. I met her when I started this job and she seems to enjoy bugging me about my personal life and doing my work properly. She seems to think she can set me up with one of her friends whether I agree to it or not."
"Oh, you're single then?"
"Yes. I doubt anyone would want to date someone like me."
"I see. That's pretty pessimistic of you. A lot of the girls in class think you're pretty hot."
"What about you?" Havi was trying not to look at the brunette but couldn't help it as he asked. "Surely someone as popular as you isn't single?"
Vald's face reddened. "Well, I guess I just haven't found anyone I wanted to go out with yet."
I'm a little sad that I'm super stressed but it got me to return to this fanfic so YAY! I really should find a better way to write my fanfictions but I just keep saying that I'd be faster and more focused on Crimson Spell if the mangaka published longer chapters more often. *shrug*