No one else had sat in the empty seat on his other side. In fact, a quick glance showed their entire row was empty aside from the two of them. When he turned and looked over his shoulder, it was painfully obvious the six students located three feet up and four feet away from them, occupying the row above, were trying really hard to ignore Rabbit and Baikal.
Almost like they’d been told to or something.
Still, it was too obvious that the surrounding students were trying not to look their way. That they were no doubt straining to hear something.
That this would be the hot topic of discussion for the rest of the day all over campus.
Rabbit made to stand, opting to just skip class altogether to avoid being gawked at for the next two hours, but Baikal planted a strong palm on his left thigh and forced him back into place with a heavy thump that ended up forcing the plug in so deep he winced.
“Just sore, huh?” Void taunted, calling his bluff about having removed the toy. He slid the coffee closer to Rabbit. “Here. In a moment, you’re going to need it.”
“No. I don’t want to accept anything from you.” Despite his words, he was sure to keep his voice lowered the same way Baikal was.
“Tough luck, little bunny, because you’re going to. You’re going to take everything I offer and then some, and afterward, you’re going to thank me for it. Is that understood?”
Rabbit kept his outward composure even though on the inside alarm bells were clanging. “No.”
“What’s wrong?” Baikal eased in even closer and this time Rabbit was smart enough not to try and move away. “Mad at me for last night?”
“Yes,” he said, not bothering to withhold that. “You broke into my house and scared me half to death, Void. That’s not okay.”
“It is if I say it is.” Baikal shrugged.
“You can’t—”
“The deal was you give yourself to me, remember?” His hand squeezed Rabbit’s thigh under the table possessively. “I’ll do whatever the hell I want with the things I own. If I want to crawl through the balcony and slip beneath the covers with you, I will. And if I tell you to drink,” he tapped one long finger against the table in front of the coffee cup, “you’ll fucking do it. Especially since that last part is for your benefit, not mine.”
“What does that mean?” Rabbit’s skin prickled and he glanced at the coffee, noting the flavor finally. Mint chocolate. Like the candy bar currently stuffed into the side pocket of his music bag.
“You won’t be needing that,” Baikal stated, pulling the bag off the table and dropping it into the empty seat on his other side, out of Rabbit’s reach. “You’ll take what I provide or you’ll get nothing at all.”
“Asshole.”
He hummed in agreement, but before Rabbit could find that suspicious said, “I’ll be playing with yours soon.”
He gaped at him and then glanced around a bit frantically. He figured with a statement as bold as that if anyone nearby had managed to hear they wouldn’t be able to hide it, but everyone was still looking in every direction but theirs.
The professor chose that moment to call for the start of class.
“Pay attention, little bunny,” Baikal said, dragging the cup even closer, “And you might want to take a sip of this now.”
Rabbit wanted to keep arguing, but the professor began the lecture, the microphone attached to his shirt projecting his voice to them all loud and clear as he began pulling up information on the large projection board.
With Void still breathing down his neck, Rabbit forced himself to snatch up the drink and take a deep drag, sending him a silent “you happy” look that the Brumal Prince responded to with a light chuckle. He hated to admit it, but the mint chocolate latte tasted amazing, and since he’d already programmed his body to find that particular combination soothing, some of the tension did ease from his shoulders.
The candy bars had become a coping mechanism for him, something even his own mother hadn’t picked up on, and yet here was Baikal, constantly plying him with the stuff when he thought he needed it.
Like back at the theater when Rabbit had watched the video footage of his mother beating up—
He sucked down another deep gulp and set the cup aside, urging himself to focus on class. It was hard with everything else around trying to snag his attention, but he was determined. As soon as he made it through this, he could escape to the music building where Void wouldn’t bother to follow and—
Rabbit jolted in his seat, loud enough he bumped his tablet and it clattered against the surface, drawing attention. He’d almost knocked over the coffee as well, but Baikal had grabbed that before it’d tipped.
“There was a nia bug,” Baikal lied to the onlookers. No one really liked nia bugs, nine-legged arachnids that bred during this time of year and crawled all over everything.
He didn’t like them either, but Rabbit barely processed Baikal’s story, too aware of the strange buzzing that was happening inside of him.
The plug was vibrating.
