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"you ever smoked before, vash?"
vash looked up at the man with curious eyes. he heard the flicker of flint and saw the ignition of a lighter, flame raised to the head of a cigarette held between wolfwood's lips. his gaze lingered on wolfwood's lips before he looked away into the distance, hopefully before wolfwood could notice. "hm… i don't remember. i don't think i have?" vash responded, partially thinking out loud to wolfwood.
wolfwood hummed, taking a drag of his cigarette before speaking again. "wanna try?" he held the cigarette between two fingers, turning his head to face vash and shooting him a sly grin as he offered the lit cigarette to the blonde.
vash stared at the cigarette before shaking his head with a smile, using one hand to wave off the offer. "no, i really shouldn't, i'm not really the kind of person who smokes…" he chuckled, only for wolfwood to let out a small noise of disbelief and slight disappointment in response.
"c'mon, needle-noggin. don't knock it 'til ya tried it," wolfwood insisted, waving the cigarette in front of vash's face. vash backed up slightly, nose scrunching up at the smell, sticking his tongue out at wolfwood stubbornly as he let out another noise of refusal in response. wolfwood laughed at vash's expression, placing the cigarette back between his own lips and taking another drag of it. "your loss, then." a pause. "coward."
that seemed to do vash in, the blonde letting out an indignant yet playful gasp at the name. "i am not! fine then, hand it over." vash stuck his hand out to take the cigarette from wolfwood, waiting for wolfwood to hand him the cigarette.
"that's my boy," wolfwood grinned as he handed him the cigarette. vash snatched it away from him, shooting him a glare, clearly still annoyed by the nickname. he knew how dramatic vash loved to be. wolfwood put his hands up nonchalantly, still smiling at vash the entire time.
the blonde rolled his eyes and scoffed before taking a deep hit of the cigarette—
and immediately going into a coughing fit.
wolfwood laughed with his entire chest as he watched vash, patting him on the back as he spluttered and coughed, smoke being pushed out from his mouth with every heave. once vash settled, he shot another glare at wolfwood, sighing deeply as air re-entered his lungs.
"so?" wolfwood asked, the question annoyingly simple considering vash nearly died after one hit. (of all things to take out the stampede, a man who could endure the most fatal wounds and laugh like it were nothing and live, would it really have been a cigarette?)
"horrible." vash shot back, a hand slipping underneath his shades to wipe away the tears that had gathered at his eyes from his coughing fit. the sight only made wolfwood snicker, in which vash only looked back up at wolfwood. "what? what is it now?"
"nothing. just funny," wolfwood grinned. okay, well, it wasn't just that, wolfwood also thought he was kind of cute. but he wouldn't say it out loud, that'd be embarrassing for him. (plus, if he got too close, he knew vash would get hurt. he didn't want to do that to him; vash has already got enough shit going on for him as is.) wolfwood always thought vash was cute, especially when he was messing with him— it was one of his favorite pasttimes.
"oh, shut up. it's my first time! unlike you, god knows how long you've been smoking, you have no right to judge me." vash crossed his arms and turned away with a pout. "i told you, smoking really isn't my thing anyways."
wolfwood hummed in thought before coming up with a genius idea. "alright. maybe you're not good at doing it yourself, whatever. but that ain't the only way to do it," wolfwood dragged out the last sentence, purposely trying to create intrigue for vash. it worked, watching vash slowly turn his head to look at wolfwood once more.
"and how is that?"
bingo. wolfwood grinned once more, taking the cigarette from vash's hand. "would ya let me show you?" his grin was devious once more, and while vash definitely noticed this, eyes narrowing in suspicion, he let out a sigh and nodded.
"alright, if you say so. gimme a sec, will ya," wolfwood straightened up and took a deep drag from the cigarette, his eyes fixed on vash the entire time. vash's expression was one of confusion, one eyebrow cocked and arms crossed— before turning into one of shock as wolfwood took his face in his free hand.
wolfwood placed his thumb on vash's lips, signalling him to open his mouth— vash followed, face flushed and eyes wide with shock as he attempted to figure out what wolfwood would do next. in that moment, wolfwood leaned in closer to vash's face, lips just ghosting over vash's as he blew smoke into his mouth. even through the shock, vash at least knew to inhale once the smoke was blown into his mouth. good, so he wasn't completely broken by wolfwood's (admittedly brave) little move. wolfwood then pulled away, grinning as he watched vash almost chase after his lips for a fraction of a second before straightening up, stiff as a board, and turning away from him.
"how about now? how was that?" wolfwood asked, a teasing lilt in his tone.
"was that really necessary?" vash asked, and even though wolfwood couldn't see his face very well, he could just hear how flustered vash was through his voice. it only made wolfwood laugh once more.
"if the first way didn't work, then that's the only other way i can offer to you. you didn't answer my question, though; how was that?" wolfwood snickered, taking a final drag from the cigarette before dropping it onto the ground and putting it out with his shoe, exhaling deeply as he watched the smoke dissipate into the air.
vash was silent for a few heartbeats, as if mulling over what to say in his mind. truthfully, his mind was running a million miles per second in circles, so words came to him a little harder than usual. after composing himself, vash mumbled, "i wouldn't mind doing it again…"
"hmm? you're gonna have to speak a little louder than that, needle-noggin," wolfwood teased, leaning down slightly and putting a hand to his ear to emphasize his words, vash finally looking over at him and shoving him away playfully.
"i said— i said… it wasn't that bad." vash spoke a little louder, and he couldve sworn he saw wolfwood flush the slightest bit darker and his smile grow a little bit fonder; maybe it could be his eyes fooling him, he thought, mentally shaking away the image in his head.
"see? don't knock it til ya tried it," wolfwood echoed his earlier words, lightly elbowing vash, always a grin on his face. "now which way do you prefer to smoke? i don't care either way," wolfwood shrugged, straightening up and shoving his hands in his pockets.
"seriously? you're seriously asking me?" vash's tone held slight irritation, though the both of them knew he was just being playful, as always. and yeah, wolfwood just liked messing with him, and wanted to hear it from him.
"i'm seriously askin' ya, man. next time we go for a smoke break, at least i'll know what to do." wolfwood chuckled. "whatever works for you, needle-noggin."
once more, vash took a few moments to think it over, a long hum in his throat before finally answering. "i'll— try smoking myself next time, but, you know… the other method isn't that bad either." vash sounded almost defeated in that last part, an admission of guilt. but wolfwood only smiled, he knew he had vash exactly where he wanted him. he was satisfied messing with him for the night.
"sick. you know i'm always willing to help out, so next time you need a little help, let me know." wolfwood offered, shrugging nonchalantly as he stared off into the distance, eyes turned to the night sky and the planet's moons.
"whatever you say, mister," vash pocketed his hands and kicked the ground, looking downwards. neither of them were looking at each other, so both found it safe to smile.
maybe they should smoke together more often.