Vald couldn't believe he finally built up the courage to ask if Havi was single. His heart had been beating out of his chest and he had prayed his professor couldn't hear it. Then Havi's follow-up question asking about him made his heart stop.

"Is that so?" the professor said in response.

Oh how Vald wanted to confess his feelings and beg Havi to date him despite them being teacher and student at the moment. They were only four* years apart in age, so surely it wasn't that big of a deal. They could keep it a secret from the school for the rest of the summer semester and then there wouldn't be that forbidden power dynamic between them.

Vald didn't realize he had even thought about it that much before those ideas popped into his head. He really liked Havi and felt immediately comfortable with him, like they had been friends for a long time. He wanted to be around Havi more than he ever wanted to be around anyone else.

"We're almost there," Havi said. "Just a block more."

Vald realized he had gotten quiet and nodded. "Sorry, got lost in my head for a minute there."

Havi smiled that polite smile that didn't reach his eyes. "It's fine. I was thinking myself."

They spent the next few hours at Havi's apartment playing video games like was common among people their age. They were able to forget their positions for a short time and just enjoyed each other's company. Vald ended up staying past dinner and ordered them something to eat so they could continue marathoning games.

Havi stayed reserved during most of the night but was very intense when he was involved in a game. Vald liked watching him focus. He was so single-minded and barely registered anything else that was going on around him when he focused on a problem in the game.

The professor finished the game in three hours. It was supposed to take nine hours just for the story but somehow he managed to finish it in a third of the time.

"How?!" Vald demanded. He had played the game for the first three hours and had gotten just shy of a third of the way through the game as it was intended, but Havi just breezed by like it was nothing.

Havi laughed. "You showed me what to do."

"Only for the beginning!" Vald said. "After that you were in the dark. You didn't use a walkthrough either, I was paying attention."

"I'm just fast at games. I don't get lost on side missions that don't add anything to the plot and only distract from the main goal. I took shortcuts when available and aimed to kill as few enemies as possible to get to the bosses quicker. And with the bosses I aimed for their critical weak points to finish them off with as few strikes as possible and without wasting time."

Vald pouted. "You make it seem easy."

Havi shrugged. "To each his own."

Vald continued playing the game with Havi watching and tried to copy the older man. He wasn't as good at the game and ended up dying a lot. Going on the side missions gave you more power-ups and stronger weapons which helped the player defeat enemies, though the stronger weapons weren't required. The player had to sacrifice speed for decreased difficulty. Havi was good enough not to rely on the game's extra help but apparently Vald wasn't.

Havi eventually fell asleep on the couch while watching Vald play the game. The student only noticed when his breathing began to be loud enough to hear over the game's music and sound effects. Vald glanced back and felt himself blush.

The professor's sleeping face was too beautiful for words.

Vald didn't even think as he shut the game off and moved to kiss the sleeping man on the lips.

Havi's eyes flickered open like he was sleeping beauty waking after being kissed by a prince. Vald almost laughed that now he was comparing himself to a prince. He would have but was too caught up in the embarrassing situation of being found out after kissing his professor in his sleep.

"What time is it?" Havi asked with a groan.

Author:

*I said two years last chapter but I should've put three years. Vald should be 18 and Havi should be 22, I'm not sure where I got that info but it's in my notes, so these are their ages in my fanfic at least. Sorry about that.

But hey, 50th chapter! Can't believe I've written this much and have quite a bit left. I have an idea for an ending though, so I see a light at the end of his long tunnel. Hope you've enjoyed reading since this, especially since we're going on three years soon enough. I kinda hope it's done by then, but I'm super slow so no promises.